Big losses for Conservative councils

The Conservatives have lost seats in the North, South and Midlands, with Labour and the Lib Dems scooping up victories.

Former chairman of the Local Government Association, Lord Porter, has lost his seat on South Holland DC, marking the end of his 20-year reign as leader.

The party has, however, held the council.

Finishing fourth in the count, Lord Porter paid tribute to his council staff and said: ‘If it is time for me to go, it is time for me to go. The electorate is never wrong.’

Elsewhere, LGA improvement board chairman Cllr Peter Fleming was ousted from his seat and as leader of Sevenoaks DC, as was environment spokesperson David Renard after a decade leading Swindon BC.

Cllr Paul Bettison, leader of Bracknell Forest BC was lost his seat after 26 years, and in Lincolnshire, South Kesteven DC leader Kelham Cooke was also ousted  – as was his deputy – with the Conservatives losing control of the council.

At Boston BC the Tories lost 10 councillors, with independents taking the majority of seats.

Stoke-on-Trent Council, the Red Wall council that has been the darling of the Conservative Government, has gone to Labour – as have the formerly Tory-led Kent CC, Plymouth City Council, Swindon and Bracknell Forest councils, East Staffordshire BC and Medway Council, which the party had not held for more than 20 years.

Labour replaced the Tories as the largest party in Hartlepool and Worcester.

Leader Keir Starmer hailed 'fantastic results across the country,' which he said were 'all about the cost of living'.

The Tories lost South Gloucestershire and Central Bedfordshire councils, Brentwood, West Devon, North Warwickshire and Welwyn Hatfield BCs, Tamworth, North West Leicestershire, East Lindsey and Hertsmere DCs, but won Torbay Council from no overall control.

West Berkshire and Windsor and Maidenhead councils, along with Stratford-on-Avon DC, were won by the Lib Dems from the Conservatives.

Labour’s Chris Cooke defeated independent Mayor Andy Preston with a 20% swing at Middlesbrough Council, which received a Best Value notice earlier this year, but lost Slough Council, which has Government-appointed commissioners, to no overall control.

However, the Conservatives did hold on to Braintree DC and gained Wyre Forest DC from no overall control.

The Lib Dems failed to gain overall control of Portsmouth City Council while Labour won Gravesham BC from no overall control.

Mark Coxshall, the Conservative leader of struggling Thurrock Council, which is under Government intervention, lost his seat to Labour but his party continues to have a majority on the authority.

Leader of Thurrock's Labour group, John Kent, said: 'The people of Thurrock have given their verdict on the Conservatives' catastrophic management of the council's finances. 

'People have said what you've done is untenable and they've had to pay the price.'

Chief executive of the LGiU think-tank, Jonathan Carr-West, described the night as a 'steady stream of losses, not a tidal wave’.

Overall, the Conservatives were down 1,061 seats, independents down 90, and residents associations down 13.

Labour made the most gains in terms of seats, picking up 538, followed by 407 net gains to the Liberal Democrats and 241 more for the greens.

In total, Labour now holds 2,674 seats to the Tories’ 2,296.

Council control: