Labour in meltdown

Yesterday's local election was the perfect opportunity for the electorate to give labour a bloody nose. The Labour party lost over 200 seats (mostly to the Conservatives). My ward which had been predominantly labour is now tory.

I'm really surprised at the turn of events, i thought it was about local issues but it has somewhat turned into a referendum on the performance of the current government.

In my ward the conservative councillors hardly campaigned, it was the incumbent labour councillors that were running around, going from house to house, sending out fliers etc, and they still lost.

The political landscape is definitely changing, the British National Party is making inroads in London, winning 11 seats in Barking. While the conservatives (under new leader David Cameron) are back in favour after a decade out in the political wilderness.
People are really pissed off with the Labour government and even though they voted them back in at the national elections last year, the electorate was prepared to punish them at the local level this time around.