Morning’s results worsen Labour losses
The final third of official results from councils in England and Wales has seen Labour’s total losses plunge past the 300 mark.
Since 05:00 BST the Conservatives consolidated their strong early start, taking a range of late-reporting councils including Redditch and Solihull.
Most recently Epping Forest has been confirmed as a Tory hold, with the British National party losing two of their six seats.
Solihull is bad news for the Liberal Democrats, who hold the local MP in this area of Birmingham but saw the council slip to the Tories, although Nick Clegg’s party have been buoyed by a positive result in Sheffield.
Labour lost five seats in the city while the Lib Dems gained five. As the Lib Dems had predicted the only Tory seat on the council was lost.
The Lib Dems also did well in Burnley, where they took control from no overall control. Overall they have gained just one council across England and Wales.
The biggest story across the board is Labour, who crucially lost Reading – a vital stronghold in the south-east – to no overall control.
Their five losses on this council were taken by the Tories (four) and Lib Dems (one), meaning they hold 20 of the council’s 46 seats.
Better news came from Durham, where the new unitary authority will be dominated by Labour councillors.
And this afternoon it emerged that, in a reverse of the national trend, Labour had gained Slough from no overall control.
