Blair battered in local vote

Tony Blair

LONDON - English voters dealt British Prime Minister Tony Blair a blow as early results today showed his Labour Party losing seats in local elections and a minister predicted a cabinet shakeup.

The Labour government has faced a barrage of criticism in past weeks over the failure to consider deporting foreign prisoners, hospital staff cuts and his married deputy's admission that he had had an affair with his secretary.

"I think it's going to be a difficult night for us as a party," Labour minister Valerie Amos said.

Her cabinet colleague Geoff Hoon said he expected Blair to shake up his cabinet later on Friday in a bid to give his government fresh impetus.

"This seems to be about the right time, it is time for a new team to take over," Hoon said. "There is going to be a reshuffle, I am sure," he added.

Analysts say very poor results could increase calls from within Labour for Blair to name a departure date or hand power to his presumed successor, Finance Minister Gordon Brown.

Blair, in power for nine years almost to the day, has said he will not stand for a fourth term in national elections, due by mid-2010.

Some 4,360 seats on 176 local councils in England were contested on Thursday. The loss of many more than 200 seats would be seen as a bad result for Labour, analysts say.

With results in from 48 councils, Labour had lost control of two but neither was won outright by the Conservatives or the Liberal Democrats.

Voters traditionally use local elections to punish the government of the day, though local issues such as crime, litter and loutish behaviour were high on some voters' minds.

The Labour Party suffered heavy losses in local elections in 2004 caused partly by public opposition to waging war on Iraq, but went on to win a national election the following year.

A week ago the government admitted it had released more than 1,000 foreign criminals who had served their sentences without considering deporting them, and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who had lectured the Conservatives on morality when they were in power, admitted his affair.

Controversy over foreign criminals revived on Thursday when British media said a foreigner facing terrorism charges had served a prison term for robbery in the late 1990s but had not been deported on his release.

They said he could not be named for legal reasons. An Interior Ministry spokeswoman declined comment.

The elections are also a test of strength for the main opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, both of whom have new leaders keen to show they can deliver results.

The Conservatives must win more urban votes to stand a chance of winning the next parliamentary election due by 2010.

Far-right groups, helped by the emergence of violent crime by foreigners as a top electoral issue, also stand to make gains, particularly in east London.

- REUTERS