Results to smile about?

Labour lost overall control of the West Midlands city for the first time since 1983 in what will be seen as a big blow for the party.

The party lost eight seats to the Liberal Democrats and three to the Tories in a result that may in part indicate anger among some Muslim voters over Tony Blair's stance on war with Iraq.

Labour also lost Coventry after 25 years of controlling the city but they took Sheffield back from the Liberal Democrats.

The Tories gained 565 council seats across England and Scotland, compared with Labour losing 839 seats and the Lib Dems gaining more than 200.

Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said: "This is a spectacular victory for the tens of thousands of local Conservatives who have campaigned tirelessly on local issues across the country.

"The Labour Party have had their worst result since the winter of discontent in 1979."

Conservative local government spokesman Eric Pickles said: "We now are the largest party in England as far as local government is concerned, we are probably going to take 20 councils tonight.

"We have done spectacularly well."

Labour losses Redcar and Cleveland Hyndburn Birmingham Chesterfield Coventry Rochdale Erewash Trafford Rossendale Bristol East Staffordshire Bolton Castle Point North East Lincolnshire Mansfield Broxtowe Durham City Cannock Chase High Peak Thanet Kettering Vale Royal Forest of Dean High Peak North Warwickshire Allerdale Ashfield Brighton and Hove Dartford Derby Dudley Exeter Luton Northampton Wellingborough

Charles Kennedy's Liberal Democrats took heart after gaining control of 11 councils and making in-roads in some traditional Labour areas.

They also seemed to be matching Labour with a 30% share of the vote, but lost control of seven councils.

The Tories had a projected 35% share of the vote.

The Green Party gained 16 seats but have lost four.

The far-right British National Party managed to establish itself as the second biggest party in Burnley although it failed to win any seats in Sunderland where it ran 25 candidates.

They also gained two seats in Sandwell, one in Stoke-on-Trent and one in Broxbourne, but party leader Nick Griffin failed to win a seat in Oldham.

Mid-term test?

Labour also lost control of Bristol, Rochdale, Trafford, Rossendale, Exeter, Rossendale, Broxtowe and Bolton.

They lost East Staffordshire to the Tories who also won through in Congleton, Worcester, Basildon, Stratford-upon-Avon and Taunton Deane.

Tory gains Tynedale Aylesbury Vale Dacorum Fylde Guildford East Staffordshire Congleton Worcester Stratford-upon-Avon Basildon Taunton Deane Castle Point Mendip South Kesteven St Edmundsbury Mid Suffolk Salisbury South Oxfordshire Poole Ribble Valley Stafford Thanet Ashford Medway Kettering South Holland Hinckley & Bosworth Erewash Chelmsford Cotswold King's Lynn & West Norfolk Melton Mid Suffolk Selby Scarborough Tonbridge & Malling West Dorset Hyndburn Wellingborough Rutland

Up for grabs were more than 10,000 seats on 340 councils - the largest test of public opinion between the last and next general election.

Polling has also been held to the Scottish Parliament and local authorities and the Welsh Assembly.

Taken together, the contests are the nearest thing to a "mid-term" election in the British political system.

Labour Party chairman Ian McCartney tried to play down Labour's poor showing.

"There's not a government in history that has not had a bad mid-term, even as good a government as this one," he said.

"The question was could the Conservatives in mid-term under Iain Duncan Smith do as well as William Hague and the answer to that is they failed dismally," he told the BBC Radio 4 programme.

But Tory chairman Theresa May told the same programme: "We have got well over 500 extra councillors, we look as though we are on course for over 600 extra councillors.

Lib Dem gains Torbay Watford Chesterfield Durham City North Norfolk Windsor and Maidenhead Royal York Waverley Shepway Bournemouth Uttlesford

"This is a very good result for us. What we now see up and down the country is Conservatives in a better position than they were yesterday We have made excellent gains."

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Matthew Taylor told the programme: "The truth is the Conservative Party has been flatlining. The only reason they have made gains is that Labour are down.

"Of course they benefit from that in some areas, but the vote has actually gone not to the Conservatives but to the Liberal Democrats.

"It is our best ever result in local council elections. We have never had 30% before, equal with the Labour Party."