English Council elections - Liberal Democrats beat Labour by 300 Councillors

3.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 8th May 2007

The Liberal Democrats won 300 more council seats than Labour in Thursday's local government elections in England. With one council (Breckland) still to finish counting 2,167 Liberal Democrats councillors have been elected compared to 1,867 Labour councillors. The party gained control of 6 councils: Eastbourne and Hinckley & Bosworth (Leics) - both from the Conservatives - plus Rochdale, Kingston-upon-Hull, Northampton and Caradon (Cornwall), and held another 17.

In key Westminster seats, the Liberal Democrats performed well, topping the poll in potential target constituencies such as Liverpool Wavertree and Warrington South, as well as Lib Dem-held marginals like Westmorland & Lonsdale and Manchester Withington. The BBC's estimated share of the vote for the Liberal Democrats is 26%, 1% below last year's record figure (although 1% above the alternative 'Rallings and Thrasher' calculation for last year).

Sir Ming Campbell said "Nationally the Liberal Democrats have won a higher vote share than in the last General Election and the latest poll ratings. We have taken seats from Labour and Conservatives in their heartlands. Labour has been wiped out in the South and the Conservatives have failed to make any inroads into the Northern cities. These results show that three-party politics is a permanent feature of the British political landscape."