NORTHALLERTON, England — As the results of local elections across England and Wales were tallied on Friday, the early count showed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ruling Conservative Party losing seat after seat on town councils, while the opposition Labour Party soared.

Labour also scored a stunning win in a special by-election in the seaside city of Blackpool to replace an outgoing lawmaker in Parliament. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer declared the victory “seismic” and said it sent a direct message to Sunak: the British “want change.”