Livingstone provided rare Labour cheer

The results mean re-elected mayor Ken Livingstone may face a tougher battle this term to get measures through.

Mr Livingstone's vote in the mayoral contest was 11% higher than his party's tally in the assembly poll, reflecting his personal popularity with Londoners.

The Lib Dems won five assembly seats, UKIP picked up its first two seats and the Greens won two.

Despite picking up votes from Labour and coming third in two constituencies, the anti-war Respect coalition failed to gain enough top-up votes to win a seat on the assembly.

Earlier, in the biggest London Labour scalp of the night, Ken Livingstone ally Toby Harris, leader of the Labour group and chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, lost his constituency seat for Brent & Harrow.

LONDON ASSEMBLY Conservatives 9 Labour 7 (-2) Liberal Democrats 5 (+1) Greens 2 (-1) UKIP 2 (+2) Analysis: Livingstone's victory

Lord Harris was defending a slim 4,380 majority in Mr Livingstone's old stomping ground when he was an MP in North West London.

"It has been a tide against us electorally and obviously I am disappointed," Lord Harris said after being defeated by the Tory Robert Blackman.

But the biggest slump in Labour's vote was in the City and East, which has a high Muslim population.

Narrow margin

The party held on to the seat but its vote was down 16%. The poll saw a 7.7% swing from Labour to the Conservatives, with turnout up 5.2%.

The anti-Iraq war Respect coalition beat the Liberal Democrats into third place, with 15% of the poll.

The Tories held Bexley and Bromley, but the party's vote was down nearly 7%. UKIP claimed 16% of the vote, coming third by a narrow margin to the Lib Dems, with Labour in fourth place.

The Conservatives have held Barnet and Camden, with a 4.5% swing from Labour, Turnout was up 1.42% at 36.38%,

Labour has held Lambeth and Southwark, but its vote is down 5.88%. The area saw a 5.28% swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats.

On the second round of top-up votes, Labour won two seats, the Liberal Democrats five, the Greens two and UKIP two.