Council Gains Offer Tories a Silver Lining

The last local elections in 1993 came in the middle of the Conservatives' last term, when Tories in some areas were performing even worse than they did in this week's general election. As a result, they've now made some advances.

Four years ago they were reduced to control of just one county - Buckinghamshire - in parts of England that were seen as their traditional heartlands. Now, they control West Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Lincolnshire, Wokingham, Hampshire and Bedfordshire from no overall control.

Bucking the national trend, they won Bracknell from Labour. But most of the advance was at the expense of Liberal Democrats, who'd polled particularly strongly in 1993.

Labour took the lead at Cumbria and Cheshire but missed control of Warwickshire by one seat. Labour also held onto Reading, Blackpool, Durham, Kingston-upon-Hull and Northumberland, and won new councils at Wrekin, Thurrock, Plymouth, Warrington and Nottinghamshire. The Liberal Democrats won Torbay, but lost Wiltshire, Cornwall and East Sussex.

Authorities up for election comprised 34 top-tier county councils, including a revived Worcestershire; 19 new all-purpose authorities; existing unitary authorities, Bristol and Hull; and Malvern Hills district, which has a boundary change. Creation of unitary authorities has removed larger towns - with core Labour support - from some parent counties.

The new unitary councils are at Blackburn, Blackpool, Bracknell Forest, Halton, Herefordshire, Medway Towns, Newbury, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Reading, Slough, Southend, Thurrock, Torbay, Windsor and Maidenhead, Warrington, Wokingham and the Wrekin.

There is still no overall control in Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, and Medway Towns.