Labour are no longer in control of a single county in England following last week's election – and the Lib Dems now claim to be the second party of local government. As the local government map turned blue, the Tories celebrated taking control of 30 councils and 26% of the seats in the Euro Poll. The Conservatives won from Labour in Derbyshire, Lancashire, Shropshire and Staffordshire, and from the Lib Dems in Devon and Somerset. The Lib Dems secured control of Bristol. In the new unitary councils, Central Bedfordshire is Conservative, while Bedford is a hung council. The BNP won its first county in Lancashire. As directly-elected mayors, Stuart Drummond has been elected for a third term as Mayor of Hartlepool and Peter Davies has been elected in Doncaster.
