Mixed results for Lib Dems
The Liberal Democrats have lost West Lindsey to the Conservatives but gained control of Kingston-upon-Hull.
The latter was one of the first results to come in and looked promising for Nick Clegg’s party, who gained five seats.
Three of their gains were from independents while two were from Labour. Labour took one seat off an independent.
“It’s a fantastic result,” local councillor Dave McCobb told politics.co.uk.
“We’re two years into running Hull city council, so it’s a good endorsement by the people of Hull.”
Mr McCobb attributed his success to “disillusionment with Labour nationally” and Labour’s “appalling track record” on local issues.
“In big northern cities like Hull, it’s actually the Lib Dems who are the challengers to Labour,” he added.
Shortly afterwards news of the loss in West Lindsey filtered through. Here the Tories took four seats from the Lib Dems, enough to swing control of the council. Only 13 seats were up for grabs.
The Lib Dems are trying to improve on their 2007 record, when the party lost 246 seats. By 02:00 BST they had gained just one councilor overall.
