UK Features
ANALYSIS: Labour losses hurt Brown and signal change for Britain
By DPA
May 2, 2008, 11:00 GMT

London - Almost exactly a year after Tony Blair announced that he would step down as Prime Minister, the British electorate has given an unmistakeable sign that the country is in a mood for change.

The message is bad news for Gordon Brown, who succeeded Blair 10 months ago, and who on Friday presided over the worst election result for Labour since The Beatles were around in the 1960s.

'It's been a bad night,' Brown, 57, said about his first major test at the ballot box.

Although these were local elections, and not a general election, nobody is denying the impact the poor showing has had on national politics.

It also throws into sharp focus the mistake Brown made last October when he decided against holding a 'honeymoon' general election.

Since then, the austere leader and former long-term Chancellor of the Exchequer has not had much luck, stumbling from one crisis to the next, and 'dithering' over decisions until pushed to take them.

'It's the economy, stupid,' is the defence, as Brown Friday blamed the 'difficult economic situation' sparked by the international credit crisis for Labour's demise.

Rising inflation and steep increases in the price for fuel and food had all contributed to the voters' frustration.

Especially for Brown, however, it must be galling to realise that voters appear not to trust him to have the leadership mettle to steer them through hard economic times.

The irony is, furthermore, that Labour voters, who a year ago wanted Blair out, have had their change of leader - and it has not worked.

Brown has done away with the glamour and the spin of the Blair years, and he is in the process of disengaging from Iraq, but he has failed to capitalize on the early enthusiasm shown for the changeover in Downing Street.

The coincidence of the economic slow-down, and the prospect that things will get worse before they get better, spell additional bad luck for Brown, who waited for 13 years to get to the top of British politics.

But analysts believe there is more to the story than just dissatisfaction with Brown's leadership, and in that sense, one could almost feel sorry for the hapless leader.

After 11 years of Labour rule, Britons are ready for a change, analysts say.

They believe that this is underlined by electoral losses in Labour heartlands in northern Britain, and above all in Wales, where it used to be said that 'Labour votes are weighed, not counted.'

Computer projections have shown that Labour's national share of the vote could drop to 24 per cent, lower even than the paltry 26 per cent scored under Blair during the height of the Iraq war.

The results have been described as the 'mirror image' of 1995, when Conservative leader John Major received a drubbing from Blair - two years before New Labour came to power.

A Conservative win at the next general election, due in 2009 or 2010, was now 'conceivable,' said one analyst.

That prediction would gain further weight if, as widely expected, the Conservatives win the mayoral contest in London, ousting Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone after 8 years at the helm.

'This is a big moment,' Conservative leader David Cameron said about the party's gains.

'But I don't want people to think that we can win an election just on the back of a failing government, I want to prove that we can bring about real change.'