Local elections 2023: We need to reflect and do more, says Lucy Frazer after Tory losses

The government needs to reflect and do more, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer has said following bruising losses for her party in local elections in England.

Some Conservatives have blamed Rishi Sunak after the party lost more than 1,000 councillors in Thursday's vote.

But, speaking to the BBC, Ms Frazer said that, despite a difficult start to the Tories' campaign, voters "were beginning to give Rishi Sunak credit".

Labour's Wes Streeting said the "best is yet to come" for his party.

Speaking to the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, the shadow health secretary said he was "confident" Labour would form the next government.

The party won control of 22 councils including crucial battlegrounds such as Medway, Swindon, Plymouth, Stoke-on-Trent, and East Staffordshire.

Pressed on whether the party had made enough progress to form the next government, Mr Streeting argued people who voted for small parties in these local elections, would switch to Labour in the next general election, expected in 2024.

He did not rule out forming a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, saying Labour was "just not in the ball park of talking about coalition governments".

Speaking to the same programme, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey - who also enjoyed a positive set of results on Thursday - ruled out going into a coalition with the Conservatives, but refused to do the same for Labour.

He said it was a "hypothetical question" adding that he would not "take the voters for granted".

Asked if the government would change following the party's poor performance, Ms Frazer said: "We absolutely need to reflect."

She argued the results needed to be seen in the context of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which she said had affected the cost of living crisis.

She also said Rishi Sunak had only been prime minister for six months and "when people see us delivering then we will regain the trust of the British people."

"We need to do more, we need to deliver, we are delivering."