Boris Johnson is under increasing pressure after the Tories lost almost 500 seats across Britain following the backlash over partygate and the cost of living crisis.
The Prime Minister admitted it had been a “tough night” at the local elections as the Conservatives lost 486 council seats, while some MPs such as Aaron Bell - who has submitted letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister - said Mr Johnson’s leadership must be addressed.
With disquiet rumbling in the party, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi also called for the MPs to unite in order to come back from a bruising electoral performance which saw the party lose strongholds such as Wandsworth, Westminster and Barnet to Labour.
While the Tory party suffered severe losses, the DUP also dropped in the polls with Sinn Fein becoming the biggest party in Northern Ireland for the first time in its history.
Of the 84 seats declared, Sinn Fein has won 24 while the DUP has 23 a 6.7 per cent drop in its vote share in comparison to 2017, which polling expert professor Sir John Curtice, said could be attributed to the issues surrounding Brexit.
Writing for the BBC, Sir John said: “The result in Northern Ireland is also part of the legacy of Brexit too.
“The unionist vote has fragmented because of the divisions within the community over whether or not the Northern Ireland Protocol is something that can be amended satisfactorily or whether it needs to be scrapped.”
He added: “So the real question now is how is the UK government going to successfully negotiate the protocol problem in such a way that the DUP can be persuaded into the executive and it doesn't cause too much damage with the EU. That is his most immediate political headache.”
Reacting to the results during a visit to a school in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency, Mr Johnson told reporters: “It is mid-term. It’s certainly a mixed set of results.
“We had a tough night in some parts of the country but on the other hand in other parts of the country you are still seeing Conservatives going forward and making quite remarkable gains in places that haven’t voted Conservative for a long time, if ever.”
