Politics: local election winners and losers

Was it really Labour's night?

Of the 279 English local authorities where voting took place last Thursday, the Conservatives won 157 of them, an increase of four. This was astonishing in that Tories were fighting these elections from an already high base, are driving through unpopular measures to reduce national debt and would have expected to be penalised by voters. Yet on the night, the Tories remain the strongest party in local government by a wide margin, with 4,820 councillors in these particular local authorities, an increase of 81.

Labour did even better, but not by enough to claim victory on the night, as it were. They ended the count with 57 councils, an increase of 26. There were 2,392 Labour councillors elected to these bodies, a net increase of 800. Labour will need to perform far better than this if they expect to be returned to government at Westminster in the general election in four years' time.

By a clear margin now, the Greens are the country's fourth party in local government. Despite failing to win outright majorities on any council, they are now the largest party in Brighton and Hove and the official Opposition on other councils. They now have a total of 78 councillors on those local authorities which voted in England, a net gain of of 13.

The only other party to enhance its representation on those councils last Thursday, were the English Democrats. They remain small, but increased their net gain of councillors by one, to end the count with two councillors.

The UK Independence Party failed to make any impact, so had no net gains and remain static with seven councillors representing wards on those English councils where voting took place.

Other parties all lost seats. The Liberal Democrats had a dreadful poll. Yet, they remain England's third party by a distance, with outright control of 10 councils, a drop of nine, and 1,056 councillors, a net fall of a 695. It was their worst performance in local elections since the party was formed by the merger of the old Liberal Party and the Social Democrats in 1988.

The far-right British National Party ended the count with two councillors, a fall of 11. Other fringe parties all lost momentum. The old-style Residents Association ended the night with one council and 48 councillors, a drop of three. The rump Liberals further declined, with a net loss of two councillors, bringing their tally to a total of eight. A local phenomenon named after a Lincolnshire town, Boston were almost wiped out, dropping one council and fourteen councillors to end the count on four. A local pressure group called Independent Community and Health Concern now have only one councillor, after experiencing a net loss of three.

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