Smash hit

In the end the Labour vote scattered to different parties, with the Liberal Democrats, Tories, BNP, Respect, the Greens and other minor parties benefiting. The Liberal Democrats took seats from Labour in Camden, Brent and Haringey while the BNP and Respect took Labour seats in Barking & Dagenham and Tower Hamlets.

Labour managed to hold up its vote in the North, with the Tories failing to make the breakthrough that they needed. Labour actually gained seats in Manchester, where the Tories had banked on getting their first councillor in Labour’s Northern heartlands. The party’s ability to keep its urban strongholds, apart from a couple of councils, was due to the Tories’ inability to make any headway, partly because they have so few activists in the North. It also reflected what could be a high watermark for Liberal Democrat ambitions in the North.

The Labour Party was more vulnerable in the Midlands, losing Newcastle-under-Lyme, Derby, Stoke-on-Trent and Redditch.

Mick Salih, the Labour leader in Stoke-on-Trent, fired a parting shot after losing his seat. Mr Salih said that Charles Clarke, John Prescott and Patricia Hewitt were arrogant and that the Labour Party had become the Conservatives in disguise.

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Camden’s loss was also blamed firmly on the Government. Raj Chadra, the former council leader, who lost his seat, said: “I regret that the national circumstances meant a very good council in Camden has been lost.”

Frank Dobson, MP for the Holborn & St Pancras constituency, said: “If it had been about the merits of Camden council, Labour would have retained control. Labour have a good record here and they suffered because of government policies and government popularity.”

LABOUR

NATIONAL SHARE OF THE VOTE 26 per cent, 7 per cent down on 2004

NET LOSS 18 councils and 317 councillors

COUNCILS LOST TO NO OVERALL CONTROL Barrow-in-Furness, Brent, Bury, Camden, Derby, Hounslow, Lewisham, Merton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Plymouth, Redditch, Stoke-on-Trent, Tower Hamlets, Warrington

COUNCILS LOST TO CONSERVATIVES Bexley, Crawley, Croydon, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham

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