Rishi Sunak has been accused of a "phantom election launch" as the Conservative Party quietly kicked off its local election campaign - last week.
The Tory Party did not invite national media to the launch amid warnings they risk losing more than 1,000 council seats when voters head to the polls on 4 May.
In total 8,141 council seats are up for grabs in 230 councils across England, with the Tories, who are trailing Labour in the national polls, defending over 3,000.
One report appeared of the Tories' launch in the regional newspaper The Express & Star, with the Prime Minister saying the Black Country was the "perfect place" to begin campaigning.
Mr Sunak ,the report added, visited the Black Country Living Museum "where he took a ride in an authentic old car and tried the attraction's famous chips".
Vowing to "fight for every vote", the PM was joined by Greg Hands, the Chairman of the Conservative Party, and the Tory Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street.
He also admitted that it would be "challenging for a party that's been in power" for almost 13 years, according to regional media reports.
The event on Friday last week took place ahead of the Liberal Democrats and Labour launching their own campaigns, which both parties have sought to publicise widely.
A Labour source told The Daily Express: “Rishi Sunak’s phantom election launch is the perfect metaphor for a Tory government that after 13 years is out of ideas, out of touch and out of time.
"Contrast that to Labour yet again leading the way with fully funded plans to help families with the cost of living."
The Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper also told The Mirror: “Announcing their election campaign with but a whisper is a pretty telltale sign of how the Conservatives are feeling about May’s local elections.
“Rishi Sunak would be right to keep quiet about the Conservatives electoral prospects this May, with Liberal Democrats parking tractors on their blue wall lawns.
“His Government has taken people for granted, made the cost of living crisis worse and driven local health services into the ground. It’s time for communities to send him and the Conservatives a message they can’t ignore.”
Speaking on Thursday in Swindon, the Labour leader Keir Starmer will tell an audience a Labour government would have frozen council tax bills.
His commitment comes as the average bill is set to exceed £2,000 for the first time with families hit with a 5.1% increase from April in many areas.
