Tories claim to have turned tide

The Conservatives strengthened their hold on the South-East, taking control of three councils as Labour and the Liberal Democrats suffered high-profile defeats.

With results in from 29 of the 48 councils in the region that held elections, the Tories gained control of Brentwood in Essex, Eastbourne in East Sussex and Worthing in West Sussex.

Labour began the night in control of seven of the 48 councils being contested. With more than half of the results in, it had lost two.

Labour's biggest loss was Oxford, where both the Lib-Dems and Greens made gains to leave the council hung. Hastings in East Sussex also fell, with no party in overall control.

The Lib-Dems lost Eastbourne, which was on a knife-edge, to the Tories when one seat changed hands. And the party narrowly failed, again by a single seat, to take outright control of St Albans.

This gives the Tories control of 18 of the 29 councils declared, with the Lib-Dems running three and leaving Labour with only one - Stevenage. Seven are under no overall control.

Labour should hold rock-solid Thurrock, which will be declared later today, but party bosses were today nervously awaiting the results in Slough and Reading. Like Thurrock, both are unitary authorities - meaning they run services provided by both district and county councils - and both have all their seats up for grabs - making them more vulnerable to a shock result.

The general picture was modest

Tory gains, but the vast number of councils remained under the same political leadership because, in most cases, only a third of seats were up for election.

In Eastbourne, victorious Tory leader Graham Marsden pointed to an increase in the turnout of seven per cent to just under 41 per cent - good for local elections - as further proof of recovery for the party.

He said: "There is a groundswell and it is completely down to the resurgence of the Conservative party under Michael Howard."

In Hastings, Labour's majority of 10 was wiped away as the party lost six seats to a mixture of Tory and Lib-Dem candidates, leaving the result a hung council.

In Brentwood, Tory gains ended 12 years of Lib-Dem domination. "I think it shows that we can turn the tide and the tide is turning," said Conservative shadow cabinet minister Bernard Jenkin.

"We were optimistic but I think we won it by a bigger margin than we anticipated."

A recount was taking place in Milton Keynes, which was previously held by the Lib-Dems.