Blair's poll disaster

Tony Blair's leadership came under intense pressure today as Labour crashed into third place after disastrous council election results.

A day of anguish for Labour saw hundreds of seats tumble and even Newcastle, one of its strongest northern cities, fall to the Liberal Democrats. Ken Livingstone, once seen as a shoo-in for a second term as Mayor, was heading for only a narrow victory with his powerbase at City Hall weakened by a Tory surge on the London Assembly.

A series of senior Left-wing figures quickly called on Mr Blair to go, including Clare Short and Glenda Jackson. And an ominous note was sounded by Nick Brown, an MP for Newcastle and

close ally of the Chancellor. He said voters in the city had cited problems with "senior figures in the Government" and that he would be speaking to colleagues over the weekend on how the party should respond.

"We have got to listen to what people are saying," he said. With results in from 131 councils, Labour had lost more than 334 seats while eight councils had slipped from its control, including such bastions as Swansea, Bassetlaw, Burnley and St Helens. Farther south it lost Slough, Hastings, Oxford and Thurrock.

The biggest upset was the collapse of a 30-seat majority in Newcastle, ending three decades of solid Labour rule. The Liberal Democrats achieved a majority of about 18 in their best result of the day, helped by tactical voting by Tories. Labour also lost control of Leeds for the first time in 24 years.

Cardiff, where Labour had enjoyed a 23-seat majority, fell after 25 years.

The Tories took an extra 196 seats and power in 11 more authorities, including Trafford, Swindon, Brentwood, Eastbourne and Dudley. The Lib-Dems were up more than 100 seats but down by two councils.

Former transport minister Ms Jackson accused the Prime Minister of single-handedly destroying trust in Labour. "This is a vote against Tony Blair," she said.

"Iraq is the Prime Minister's war and that is what has caused this. He should resign, clearly. He should have resigned months ago. He is not only an electoral liability nationally, he is a liability internationally too."

Former international development secretary Ms Short said: "The electorate is sending a message to Tony Blair because the Labour Party

"What we did in Iraq has brought disgrace and dishonour on Britain around the world." Calder Valley MP Christine McCafferty called on Mr Blair to admit he was wrong over Iraq. "If he does not do that I think many voters will think it is time to have a new leader," she said.

John Prescott described the council results as "a kicking" and added: "It's not a great day for Labour." Mr Blair's aides shrugged off the calls on him to quit and said the results, though "terrible", were expected.

"The key thing is there is no sign of a real sea change to the Tories," said one senior adviser. "A lot of people took the chance to protest over Iraq in council elections where they knew they would not risk the defeat of the Labour government."

Labour saw its share of the overall vote slump - down by 16 per cent from the general election to a paltry 26 per cent, according to estimates based on key areas. That was low enough to leave MPs trembling in marginal seats. Former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle said Mr Blair would face a "volatile situation" from Labour MPs.

It was a good night for Tory leader Michael Howard who took a 38 per cent share of the vote. But it appeared that defections to the UK Independence Party - which some hoped would force Mr Howard to adopt a tougher anti-Europe line - had cost the Tories the chance of a stunning national victory. Charles Kennedy's Liberal Democrats outperformed Labour for the first time in a council election in modern times, scoring 30 per cent of the vote and gaining 70 council seats.

If the results were repeated at a general election, Mr Blair would be out of office and the Conservatives the biggest party in a hung Parliament.

That, however, did not look likely as a poll taken during voting showed many voters would return to Labour in a parliamentary election.

And most analysts forecast that Mr Howard will feel the heat on Sunday when the ballot papers for the European elections are counted.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw insisted Mr Blair's position was "very secure". He said previous governments had bounced back to general election victories after drubbings in local polls.