Prime Minister Johnson battles for local council elections...Loss of points earned in the war in Ukr

Britain's ruling Conservative Party was alarmed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's defeat in decades-long traditional strong regions, including southeastern England, as a result of the local council election on the 5th.

The local election, in which 7,000 city council members are decided, is not directly related to the direction of the regime, but it has been noted as it serves as a wind gauge for public sentiment.

Prime Minister Johnson embarked on an early general election adventure in December 2019 ahead of the conclusion of the Brexit negotiations, adding 47 seats to 365 seats from the seats he inherited half a year ago, exceeding the majority by 45.

On the other hand, the main opposition Labor Party, led by left-wing Jeremy Corbyn, lost 59 seats and sank to 203 seats. It is more than 160 seats apart from the Conservative Party.

Two and a half years later, the first national election was held, and Johnson's Conservative Party faced public sentiment of a clear decline in support, although not a crushing defeat.

COVID-19 has been raging since early 2020, and Johnson has made serious mistakes in many ways in his response. Ignoring the initial lock-down measures, 176,000 people died in Europe, the largest number except for Russia, and the economy fell to minus 9.4% in 2020 when the eurozone grew by minus 6.3%.

In 2021, the economy rebounded by 7.5% plus, but it has not yet recovered to its pre-COVID-19 level. In this situation, inflation, which reached a supply shortage in 2022, reached a 30-year high of 7.0%.

It is diagnosed that the anger of those suffering from such high inflation prices was reflected in the vote. Another big negative factor was that Prime Minister Johnson was found to have had several drinking parties with his aides when social distancing was strictly implemented so that he could not meet a single person unless he was a family member in the early days of COVID-19.

Prime Minister Johnson, who was driven by such a "party gate," took the lead in supporting Ukraine more than anyone else, seeing it as a good opportunity to change the situation when Russia's invasion of Ukraine broke out. Although he has played a remarkable role internationally, he seems to have failed to restore public sentiment in Korea.

At the height of the party scandal, there was a mood of a coup d'état in the Conservative Party, but it has since subsided a lot. The party atmosphere may turn bad for Johnson due to sluggish local elections, but the rebellion is not expected to materialize.

Still, Labour leader Keir Starmer is encouraged by the election results, calling them "fantastic." The regular general election must wait until 2024, but in the meantime, a dramatic situation could occur in the fifth-largest country in the world economy with a population of 68 million.

Date: 2021-07-08

Reporter: 서화목