LOCAL COUNCIL RESULTS   Councillors Councils Party +/- Total +/- Total After 312 of 312 councils. CON 911 5315 39 165 LAB -505 1877 -8 34 LD -246 2171 -4 23 OTH -162 1112 0 5 NOC - - -27 85 FIND YOUR RESULTS Enter a full postcode: Results in more detail

The Tories gained five seats from Labour, which had a majority of one going into the election.

New council leader Vivien Pengelly said she was delighted with the result, and that Labour and the Lib Dems had not put their policies across.

Former council leader Tudor Evans said he was disappointed but was determined to try to get Labour back into a position to help Plymouth again.

Labour MP Linda Gilroy said she was bitter at Tony Blair's indecision over when to step down and believed that had cost Labour votes in the city.

'Labour incompetence'

The Tories and Labour have battled for leadership of the council since 1945.

Labour had regenerated parts of the city with projects such as Drake Circus and Milbay.

However, Ms Pengelly said the "incompetence of Labour including rubbish collection is one of the things that turned voters off Labour in Plymouth".

She said: "The problems with Labour and Liberal Democrats is that they didn't get their policies across this time.

"They were so concerned with attacking me and my team that they forgot the electorate wanted to hear policies."

One third of the council was elected. The Conservatives now have 31 seats and Labour has 26.

The Liberal Democrats lost both their seats with leader Karen Gillard losing by 15 votes.