Losses for Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party are on the horizon in the UK local elections.

After the announcement of the first local election results, the Labor Party is expanding its position in London in particular, but is unable to make the hoped-for gains in rural areas and small towns;

in some regions it even lost votes.

In many places, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and independent candidates benefited from the Tories' losses, but also from those of the Labor Party.

In Scotland and Wales the count was still being counted on Friday morning.

Jochen Buchsteiner

Political correspondent in London.

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The first more reliable trends in Northern Ireland, where parliament was elected in Belfast on Thursday, are not to be expected before the afternoon.

A result will probably not be available before Saturday.

Losses for the British ruling party had been expected.

Pollsters attribute it to the traditional protest attitude of citizens in the middle of a legislature, but also to the prime minister's affairs, including "Partygate", and the general price hikes.

Tories lose electoral district in government district

The Tories consider the loss of the Westminster Council, which had been in conservative hands since it was founded in 1964, to be particularly painful.

Up until these elections, the central London district, in which the government district is also located, had acted as a bulwark against the progressive “laborisation” of the British capital.

The Conservatives also lost their majority in the London Boroughs of Barnet and Wandsworth;

the latter had been a Tory bastion since the 1970s.

Labor leader Keir Starmer spoke on Friday of a "turning point" for the party, which is now "back on track" to win general elections.

But voting trends outside of London give little support to Starmer's exultation.

Pollster John Curtice on Friday said it's possible the Labor Party outside of London will even end up "a bit below" the 2017 local election results.

The local elections, held in parts of England, as well as Scotland and Wales, were widely perceived as a test of Mr Johnson's spirit.

Party representatives had lowered expectations significantly.

The Tories commented on the trends on Friday morning in a correspondingly undramatic manner.

Only a few voices were raised calling for consequences.

Tory MP David Simmonds attributed the losses in London to "Partygate" and recalled that Johnson had said he took full responsibility for the election result.

"That's what he needs to do now and answer that question," Simmonds said.

A broad inner-party front against the party leader and prime minister did not seem to build up on Friday.

Oliver Dowden, who leads the party operationally, spoke of "challenging and difficult times", which he justified with "a lot of difficult headlines in recent months".

However, the Labor Party has "no momentum" and the Tories must now focus on "strong leadership" in dealing with the economic crisis as well as in dealing with Moscow.