Local election voters may punish Tories as NHS strikes drag on

Chair says party could lose 1,000 English seats on 4 May, despite voters finding Rishi Sunak more palatable than his predecessors Even by the standards of political expectations management, Greg Hands’ message in his Sunday morning interviews was stark: the Conservative party, which he chairs, should expect to lose more than 1,000 councillors in next month’s local elections.When party bigwigs make such predictions they usually do so against a context of significant wins the last time