BAD local election results for the Conservatives have prompted calls for Theresa May to quit after the party lost more than 1000 seats in England.
The Tories have lost 1132 seats and 36 councils so far, while the Liberal Democrats have gained nearly 550 councillors.
Brexit seems to have been a deciding factor for voters, with Labour also losing more than 70 seats to date.
Council results continue to come in for England and Northern Ireland.
With the Tories losing heavily across England as it suffered a "Brexit backlash", a number of prominent Tories said the Prime Minister should go.
Crispin Blunt said the party needed to replace May with a new leader.
He said: "I've been trying to get her out openly since December.
"Lots of people are trying to get the message over."
Sir Bernard Jenkin said voters thought the Prime Minister had "lost the plot".
"They can see she is not in control of events," he said.
"Certainly, among Conservative activists and council candidates, there is an almost universal feeling that it is time for her to move on."
Sir Bernard told the BBC: "If the Conservative Party doesn't mend its ways pretty quickly, the Conservative Party is going to be toast."
Former Cabinet minister Priti Patel said voters felt May was "part of the problem".
She told the BBC: "I just don't think we can continue like this.
"We need change, we need a change of leadership. Perhaps the time has now come for that."
However, Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi called on Tories to rally around the PM.
He said: "Because we haven't been able to deliver Brexit on March 29, we are seeing these results.
"The Prime Minister has stretched every sinew, she has tried everything. We can keep blaming the Prime Minister; ultimately it is in the hands of us parliamentarians."
Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said voters were angry over the impasse on Brexit.
She said: "I think the message is pretty clear. It seems to be a plague on both your houses to the Conservatives and the Labour Party, who they see as a block on finding some sort of resolution to Brexit.
"So, we know that the talks are ongoing; hopefully, this will focus minds in the room and, hopefully, we can get past the impasse that we are in and move on to the next stage."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel