Kemi Badenoch, leader of the UK Conservative Party, has warned that simply sacking her or changing the party leader will not resolve the Tories’ issues following their disappointing performance in the May 1 local elections.
After the party lost 674 council seats and control of 16 authorities, while Nigel Farage’s Reform UK gained 10 councils and 677 councillors, Ms. Badenoch addressed the media. “Reform had a good night. We had a bad night. And what this shows for a lot of people who hoped that just changing leader again would fix everything is that that’s not going to be enough,” she told the BBC on Sunday.
Having taken over from Rishi Sunak in November 2024, Ms. Badenoch remarked, “We tried that previously. And that brought us to a historic defeat.”
The Tory leader emphasised that her party would develop a plan to return to power, but would not engage in empty promises for the sake of winning elections. “We are going to come out with the policies that people want to see, but what we are not going to do is rush out and tell the public things that are not true just so we can win votes,” she stated.
Ms. Badenoch concluded, “This is not about winning elections; this is about fixing our country. Yes, of course, you need to win elections to do that, but you also need a credible plan.”
