In the elections that took place just in England and not the whole of the UK , Labour have been battered.
The Tories gain 249 seats in the English elections, while Labour lose 251. The Lib Dems gain 18.
Overall, Labour only finished THIRD - the main parties' share of the vote were projected at: Conservatives 40 per cent, Lib Dems 27 per cent, Labour 26 per cent.
The Far Right British National Party (BNP) also gained seats - 13 of them, and the England First Party gained seats in some towns.
If this was a UK General Election instead of English Local Elections, the Tories would have won.
23 million people across England (around half of the entire UK electorate) were eligible to vote (about 80% of the people of Britain live in England and the other 20% live in Scotland, Wales and NI). The 40% turnout was higher than expected, and was probably due to the hot, sunny weather.
Blair reshuffles Cabinet after drubbing in local elections
By Philippe Naughton and agencies
The new Conservative councillors in one of the big Tory gains of the night in London, Hammersmith and Fulham (Gill Allen/The Times)
Party: councils; change; seat change
Con: 63; +8; +249
Lab: 23; -15; -251
LD: 12; +1; +18
BNP: 0; 13; +13
Tony Blair began reshuffling his Cabinet today to put his Government back on course after Labour received a drubbing from the voters in local council elections.
The main victim of the reshuffle was expected to be John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister who has been embroiled in a public adultery scandal. Mr Prescott was widely expected to retain his title and his seat at the Cabinet table, but lose control of his department.
In Labour’s worst day at the polling booths since Mr Blair came to power, the party lost more than 250 councillors across England as well as control of 16 town halls.
The Conservatives won roughly the same number of council seats - their best showing since 1992 - while the Liberal Democrats picked up just 18 councillors. The main parties' share of the vote were projected at: Conservatives 40 per cent, Lib Dems 27 per cent, Labour 26 per cent.
It was a good night for the British National Party, which saw 13 councillors elected - although 11 of them in Barking, East London, where Margaret Hodge, the local Labour MP, has been accused of talking up the party's chances.
David Cameron said the vote had produced "very strong results" for the Tories in their first big test since he became leader. "We hit that all-important 40 per cent share of the vote," he said.
But Mr Cameron conceded that the Tories, who fared much better in London and the South than further North, still had a lot of work to do. "I’m not claiming that this means it’s going to be easy from here on. Of course it isn’t. We’ve got a lot of hard work to do, not least in places like Manchester and Newcastle," he told GMTV.
Labour's most damaging defeats came in London, where the party lost control of ten town halls including Camden, Merton, Lewisham and Croydon. The Conservatives gained control of Ealing, Bexley and Hammersmith and Fulham and for the first time since 1978 now control more London boroughs than does Labour.
Outside the capital, Labour's losses included Derby, Stoke-on-Trent, Warrington and Crawley. Conservative success in London and the shires was not repeated in metropolitan areas of the North, with Mr Cameron failing in his effort to establish a toehold in places such as Manchester and Newcastle and coming fourth to the Greens in Liverpool.
The disastrous results for Labour led to calls from backbenchers for Mr Blair to set out a timetable to hand over the premiership to his presumed successor, Gordon Brown, the Chancellor.
Frank Dobson, the former Health Secretary, said that the reshuffle would amount to no more than "rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic" and insisted the party needed "new management".
A close ally of the Chancellor, former minister Nick Brown, suggested Mr Blair may not be the man to stop Labour's woes. "We can’t drift on," he told the BBC. "It’s pretty clear what’s gone wrong and we need to address it."
The Times suggested today that Mr Prescott would publicly take the brunt of the blame for the electoral debacle. It said that Mr Prescott has been close to resigning several times since the disclosure of his affair with Tracey Temple, his assistant diary secretary, and has told friends that he knows he has damaged his party.
The Prime Minister has so far sought to portray Mr Prescott’s affair with a civil servant as "a private matter".
Mr Prescott was one of the first ministers to arrive in Downing Street this morning. He was whisked to the door in a silver car and entered without commenting to waiting reporters.
Also thought to be vulnerable in the shake-up of the Government’s frontbench team is Charles Clarke, despite Mr Blair’s repeated insistence that the Home Secretary should be allowed to stay on to sort out problems with the deportation of foreign prisoners.
Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, and Tessa Jowell, Culture Secretary, who have both found themselves the subject of negative headlines in recent weeks, may be spared the axe. Mr Blair’s strong public expressions of support for them give them hope that they will keep their seats at the Cabinet table.
Ms Jowell said that "noise" from national controversies had drowned out strong campaigns on the ground, and suggested that local activists felt "let down" by Labour’s MPs at Westminster.
With some 23 million people - half the UK electorate - entitled to go to the polls in 176 local authorities in England, yesterday’s ballot was the largest electoral test ahead of the general election expected in 2009 or 2010.
Conservative success in London and the shires was not repeated in the large cities of the north, with Mr Cameron failing in his effort to establish a toehold in places such as Manchester and Newcastle and coming fourth to the Greens in Liverpool.
Senior Labour aides suggested the results showed a "north-south divide" in the political landscape of England, with the Tories failing to break out of their traditional heartlands.
But Mr Cameron rejected this charge, claiming: "The Conservative Party has broadened its appeal under my leadership and we’re making gains right across the country."
Francis Maude, the Tory chairman, said the party’s gains were "at the top end" of what had been expected.
George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor who is Mr Cameron's closest political ally, said that Mr Blair’s reshuffle was "an attempt to cover up very bad losses for Tony Blair and Labour in the local elections and very good results for David Cameron and the Conservative Party.
"We have had a fantastic night, gained councils we have never controlled before and a reshuffle is not going to hide the bad news for Tony Blair," he said.
Labour’s losses were more than double the level of 100 which the party had indicated it could live with in a mid-term poll. A Sky News projection suggested that the Conservatives would have a 10-seat majority in the House of Commons if last night’s figures were repeated in a general election - even though it is notoriously difficult to read across from local to national elections.
thetimesonline.co.uk
The Tories gain 249 seats in the English elections, while Labour lose 251. The Lib Dems gain 18.
Overall, Labour only finished THIRD - the main parties' share of the vote were projected at: Conservatives 40 per cent, Lib Dems 27 per cent, Labour 26 per cent.
The Far Right British National Party (BNP) also gained seats - 13 of them, and the England First Party gained seats in some towns.
If this was a UK General Election instead of English Local Elections, the Tories would have won.
23 million people across England (around half of the entire UK electorate) were eligible to vote (about 80% of the people of Britain live in England and the other 20% live in Scotland, Wales and NI). The 40% turnout was higher than expected, and was probably due to the hot, sunny weather.
Blair reshuffles Cabinet after drubbing in local elections
By Philippe Naughton and agencies
The new Conservative councillors in one of the big Tory gains of the night in London, Hammersmith and Fulham (Gill Allen/The Times)
Party: councils; change; seat change
Con: 63; +8; +249
Lab: 23; -15; -251
LD: 12; +1; +18
BNP: 0; 13; +13
Tony Blair began reshuffling his Cabinet today to put his Government back on course after Labour received a drubbing from the voters in local council elections.
The main victim of the reshuffle was expected to be John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister who has been embroiled in a public adultery scandal. Mr Prescott was widely expected to retain his title and his seat at the Cabinet table, but lose control of his department.
In Labour’s worst day at the polling booths since Mr Blair came to power, the party lost more than 250 councillors across England as well as control of 16 town halls.
The Conservatives won roughly the same number of council seats - their best showing since 1992 - while the Liberal Democrats picked up just 18 councillors. The main parties' share of the vote were projected at: Conservatives 40 per cent, Lib Dems 27 per cent, Labour 26 per cent.
It was a good night for the British National Party, which saw 13 councillors elected - although 11 of them in Barking, East London, where Margaret Hodge, the local Labour MP, has been accused of talking up the party's chances.
David Cameron said the vote had produced "very strong results" for the Tories in their first big test since he became leader. "We hit that all-important 40 per cent share of the vote," he said.
But Mr Cameron conceded that the Tories, who fared much better in London and the South than further North, still had a lot of work to do. "I’m not claiming that this means it’s going to be easy from here on. Of course it isn’t. We’ve got a lot of hard work to do, not least in places like Manchester and Newcastle," he told GMTV.
Labour's most damaging defeats came in London, where the party lost control of ten town halls including Camden, Merton, Lewisham and Croydon. The Conservatives gained control of Ealing, Bexley and Hammersmith and Fulham and for the first time since 1978 now control more London boroughs than does Labour.
Outside the capital, Labour's losses included Derby, Stoke-on-Trent, Warrington and Crawley. Conservative success in London and the shires was not repeated in metropolitan areas of the North, with Mr Cameron failing in his effort to establish a toehold in places such as Manchester and Newcastle and coming fourth to the Greens in Liverpool.
The disastrous results for Labour led to calls from backbenchers for Mr Blair to set out a timetable to hand over the premiership to his presumed successor, Gordon Brown, the Chancellor.
Frank Dobson, the former Health Secretary, said that the reshuffle would amount to no more than "rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic" and insisted the party needed "new management".
A close ally of the Chancellor, former minister Nick Brown, suggested Mr Blair may not be the man to stop Labour's woes. "We can’t drift on," he told the BBC. "It’s pretty clear what’s gone wrong and we need to address it."
The Times suggested today that Mr Prescott would publicly take the brunt of the blame for the electoral debacle. It said that Mr Prescott has been close to resigning several times since the disclosure of his affair with Tracey Temple, his assistant diary secretary, and has told friends that he knows he has damaged his party.
The Prime Minister has so far sought to portray Mr Prescott’s affair with a civil servant as "a private matter".
Mr Prescott was one of the first ministers to arrive in Downing Street this morning. He was whisked to the door in a silver car and entered without commenting to waiting reporters.
Also thought to be vulnerable in the shake-up of the Government’s frontbench team is Charles Clarke, despite Mr Blair’s repeated insistence that the Home Secretary should be allowed to stay on to sort out problems with the deportation of foreign prisoners.
Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, and Tessa Jowell, Culture Secretary, who have both found themselves the subject of negative headlines in recent weeks, may be spared the axe. Mr Blair’s strong public expressions of support for them give them hope that they will keep their seats at the Cabinet table.
Ms Jowell said that "noise" from national controversies had drowned out strong campaigns on the ground, and suggested that local activists felt "let down" by Labour’s MPs at Westminster.
With some 23 million people - half the UK electorate - entitled to go to the polls in 176 local authorities in England, yesterday’s ballot was the largest electoral test ahead of the general election expected in 2009 or 2010.
Conservative success in London and the shires was not repeated in the large cities of the north, with Mr Cameron failing in his effort to establish a toehold in places such as Manchester and Newcastle and coming fourth to the Greens in Liverpool.
Senior Labour aides suggested the results showed a "north-south divide" in the political landscape of England, with the Tories failing to break out of their traditional heartlands.
But Mr Cameron rejected this charge, claiming: "The Conservative Party has broadened its appeal under my leadership and we’re making gains right across the country."
Francis Maude, the Tory chairman, said the party’s gains were "at the top end" of what had been expected.
George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor who is Mr Cameron's closest political ally, said that Mr Blair’s reshuffle was "an attempt to cover up very bad losses for Tony Blair and Labour in the local elections and very good results for David Cameron and the Conservative Party.
"We have had a fantastic night, gained councils we have never controlled before and a reshuffle is not going to hide the bad news for Tony Blair," he said.
Labour’s losses were more than double the level of 100 which the party had indicated it could live with in a mid-term poll. A Sky News projection suggested that the Conservatives would have a 10-seat majority in the House of Commons if last night’s figures were repeated in a general election - even though it is notoriously difficult to read across from local to national elections.
thetimesonline.co.uk
