Labour to be pushed into third place?

The Labour party has slipped behind both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in yesterday's local elections, forecasts have claimed.

Analysis of ballots cast on Thursday shows Gordon Brown's party has 24 per cent of the vote share, compared to 44 per cent for the Tories and 25 per cent for the Lib Dems.

At 04:00 BST, the Tories had won control of six councils and appeared on course to reach their target of gaining 200 councillors.

Labour meanwhile lost five councils, including Nuneaton and Bedworth, which it had held for the last 34 years.

According to the BBC, which carried out the vote-share research, the results could be Labour's worst for four decades.

Among the Tories' other big wins were Maidstone, Harlow, Bury and Southampton, where the Lib-Lab agreement fell away despite two Labour MPs representing the city.

But David Cameron's party lost control of Coventry, where Labour had launched their campaign, to no overall control (NOC).

The Lib Dems had endured a mixed start to the evening, gaining Kingston-upon-Hull from NOC) but losing West Lindsey to the Conservatives and Liverpool to a hung council.

Initial forebodings that Gordon Brown was in for a rough night in his first electoral test as prime minister have now fully materialised, with Labour's support waning in its northern heartlands.

In Wales Labour lost control of Merthyr Tydfil, Blaenau Gwent and Flintshire.

...

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/politics/labour-pushed-into-third-in-local-elections-$1220988.htm

London still to declare

Overall the Tories won control of 8 councils, Labour lost control of 6 and the Lib Dems have 1 council less then they did before.

In terms of percentage the Tories are on 44%, the Lib Dem's on 25% and Labour 24%.

The results in Wales are also of note.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7375223.stm

My own Council has ended its brief period of being Tory controlled and gone back to being NOC.