Tories heading for another drubbing in the local elections

If you are a Conservative MP worried about the next general election, the results thus far will cause alarm

• England local elections - latest updates

More or less every time you turned on the radio or opened a newspaper in recent days a government minister was there, warning gloomily of a tough night" for the Conservatives in the local elections. They were not wrong. But just how tough is the big question to come for Rishi Sunak.

Divining UK-wide political lessons from early results in low-turnout elections from an arbitrary selection of areas across only England is, of course, hugely difficult, which is where the work of the party media spinners comes in.