Bad Night For Labour At The Polls

By Sky News SkyNews - Friday, May 2 02:46 am

The Labour Party is heading for its worst local election result in more than 30 years.

The Conservatives are the biggest gainers, with significant wins around the country, with Bury, Southampton and Harlow among its major triumphs.

In a comment on his Webcameron website, Tory leader David Cameron said: "It looks like it's going very well."

Bury was one of the Conservatives' principal targets, even though Bury South Labour MP Ivan Lewis told Sky News the victory was not as a result of people switching from Labour to the Conservatives.

The victory in Harlow is also significant as it is regarded as a seat which closely matches results in general elections.

Sky News election expert Michael Thrasher said that the result in Southampton was important as it was a clear vote against Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who had run the council in a coalition.

The party also did well in Birmingham, as even though it failed to take overall control, it took six seats from Labour to strengthen its position as the city's largest party.

The Tories missed one of its targets by failing to gain overall control of Worcester.

However, Conservative Party chairwoman Caroline Spelman told Sky News: "The point is that Conservatives are winning all across Britain."

Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears said that national trends could not be extrapolated with any confidence from local results.

But she told Sky News: "What we hear tonight we will, of course, take extremely seriously."

If the figures were to be reflected in a general election, the Tories would win a Commons majority of more than 150.

Not all councils will be tallying their results during the night, while the result of the London Mayoral election will also not be revealed until during the day on Friday.

Keep up with all the results from across England and Wales with Sky News' interactive guide.

It will update throughout the night and all day tomorrow as the voters' verdicts are delivered.

You can watch coverage and analysis from Sky's political editor Adam Boulton and a team of commentators throughout the night LIVE on Sky News.

Watch it online too - we are streaming it live HERE.

And don't forget to keep an eye on what Adam and the political team are thinking, on the Boulton & Co. blog.

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