Tories Advance in Brit Local Elections

Britain’s Conservative Party oustripped forecasts of 600-700 by gaining over 875 seats in the British local council elections.  As the BBC put it: 

It may not have been the surge many had been hoping for, but Mr Cameron has always stressed the party has an electoral mountain to climb if it is to win the next general election and, with around 800 seats gained, it outstripped its forecasts.

But the goal of the Tories was to make real improvement in the North (wiped out in the 1997 general election) and to chip away at the Liberal Democrats (many disaffected Conservative voters have been sojourning with the LibDems).

And that is exactly what the Tories achieved.  They had some notable successes in the north of England, and in their 875+ gain they took almost 500 seats from Labour and almost 150 seats from the LibDems.

The centerpiece of the Cameron strategy is to appeal to centrists with themes like work/life balance and global warming.  Those centrists are the LibDem voters that the Conservatives must attract if they are to win the next general election.