Labour's gains in the likes of Dudley will be ignored by the media in favour of its gains in London. Which will then be followed by the usual stuff about how Labour is an out of touch metropolitan party. So predictable.
I mean there is a numeric reason right now in addition to the geographic one. Labour +2 in Dudley, whereas it's looking like say +6 at least right now in Southampton, +3 in Hillingdon, +5 in Barnet, and +8 in Wandsworth.
There is also the signal and noise phenomenon. The Black Country was one of those areas where Labour fell backwards hard in 2019 and 2021, so just holding the 2018 map from when they we still decent in these types of areas is a clear victory. But it doesn't look like a victory.
Gaining two in Dudley is proportionally equivalent to gaining about five in Wandsworth, given the number of seats being contested.
