UK: Early local election results indicate a strong showing for the Tory Party - BBH

The research team at BBH notes that early results of the UK local elections indicate, as expected, a strong showing for the Tory Party as they appear to be gaining seats against all the other parties.  

Key Quotes

“One early takeaway is that UKIP voters are joining the Tory ranks.    That the Tories are doing well is hardly surprising.”

“This is, after all, why May called for a snap election, circumventing another Cameron-era move (to fix the election schedule).  Labour, the main opposition party, has not managed to attract many of the people it claims to be representing.  The Tory majority in Westminster is expected to swell after the June 8 election.”

“If May was not bound by Cameron's fiscal policy or the fixed election schedule, why was she bound to take the narrow victory of Brexit as a binding commitment as he did?  It was offered as a non-binding referendum.  It passed by the narrowest margins.  And what we have seen in other important referendums, such as in Scotland or the recent PD primary in Italy, the franchise extended to younger cohorts, though not in the UK.”

“Now quite possibly, May finds she is in over her head.  That is what the press reports about Juncker and Merkel's comments from the recent summit with May indicate.  One might take exception as some of the languages, but the common thread was that the UK was not realistic about what was involved and the asymmetry of power once Article 50 was triggered.”