Advertisement The Labour Party today blamed the coronavirus pandemic for 'restricting' the opportunities' for its politicians to campaign across Britain after the Conservatives racked up a string of stunning poll victories in the local elections. The post-mortem deepened for Sir Keir Starmer's party today with results now in from 84 of 143 English councils. The Tories recorded a net gain of seven authorities and 173 seats, while Labour had a net loss of four and 164. Labour was thrashed in the Hartlepool by-election, with Jill Mortimer securing a majority of almost 7,000, while Tory Ben Houchen won a second term as mayor of Tees Valley with a whopping 73 per cent share of the vote.