For 22 years it has been a red island in the blue sea of the southern counties, but yesterday, Labour lost control of Reading.

The loss of five seats, including that of David Sutton, Labour’s council leader, has left the town rudderless. Though the Conservatives did not make the gains that some had predicted, nor surpass Labour as the largest party, Reading Tories claimed that the result capped a remarkable resurgence in a region with a large working-class electorate. They now hold 18 seats to Labour’s 20.

Five years ago the Tories were limited to three seats in the relatively salubrious ward of Caversham where detached houses march up the wooded hillsides. Richard Willis, the Conservative election agent, said: “We now have all ten seats north of the Thames and we have made gains in the south and west.” He thought the Tory gains followed “a national pattern” and would presage the weakening of the majority of Martin Salter, Labour’s MP for Reading West. “We have done better today in the west, and that seat also has wards in West Berkshire which have been very Conservative.”

Labour was quick to point out that the Tories had not become the largest party in the town. “It’s not a bad result against the national backdrop,” said Tony Page, who held his seat in the town centre. “At the same time we have regained overall control in Slough. The Thames Valley doesn’t look too bad.” He maintained that the Conservatives had campaigned on national rather than local issues and support for the local council had held up despite the woes of Gordon Brown’s Government.

“The 10p tax didn’t feature in my constituency and I represent one of the poorest wards in Reading. People have focused on local issues.”

Gareth Epps, the acting leader of the Liberal Democrats in Reading, believed that national issues had been more influential in the suburbs, where the Conservatives made gains, than in the central wards, where Labour largely held their ground.

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