Labour could get 'a nasty shock' in local elections
Francis Elliott
May 3 2018, 12:01am, The Times
James Duddridge, MP for Rochford & Southend East, strikes the Tory "power pose"
Labour may be heading for fewer gains than expected at today's local elections, according to a new forecast.
Jeremy Corbyn's party had been put on course to win an extra 200 seats after an analysis by Michael Thrasher and Colin Rallings that also predicted 75 losses for the Conservatives.
Yesterday, Stephen Fisher, another election expert, suggested that Labour may win only 135 seats in 150 councils in England, with the Tories making a net gain of eight.
Much of the contrast arises from differences in modelling. Professor Fisher gave more weight to opinion polls, and warned that his forecast was subject to more uncertainty than usual.
Labour has lost ground to the Tories in recent polls, despite the Windrush scandal of Caribbean-born Britons wrongly caught…