This morning the Labour party is waking up to both disaster and relief. Disaster because the party is falling into third place in the Scottish Parliament – and third to the Conservatives, a party it has long teased for being unpopular and unacceptable north of the border. And relief because so far in English council seats, Labour is holding its own in a way that pollsters did not predict. If today does, as widely expected, finish with a victory for Sadiq Khan in the London mayoral contest, Jeremy Corbyn can face his critics in his party with a fair amount of confidence. He can even brush off the humiliation of coming third in the Holyrood elections because disaster for Labour in Scotland has been priced in for a good long time.
With around two-thirds of councils declared so far, Labour has so far made net losses of 24 seats, which is considerably less than the 150 seats predicted by Rallings and Thrasher.
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