04/05/2007

Election drubbing for Labour

Labour has experienced huge losses in England and Wales, and the SNP has made inroads in Scotland in Thursday's elections.

As counting continued on Friday, revealing a Labour slide, in spite of the losses Prime Minister Tony Blair was defiant that Labour had a "good springboard" for a General Election.

In Wales indications are that Labour may lose overall control of the Assembly falling short of the 30 seats required for a simple majority.

Conservatives were jubilant at the party's election performance in the local council elections. Conservatives have made substantial gains with around half of the seats returned. Tory candidates have picked up 770 seats with Labour down 418, Lib Dems down 229, as the main losers.

Conservative Party leader David Cameron described the results as "stunning."

However, the Scottish election has been overshadowed by problems with the voting system and over half the votes have yet to be returned. On Friday afternoon as counting progressed, the SNP had gained 17 seats in a favourable swing to the nationalist Scots party, though Labour had taken 36 of the seat to the SNPs 21 and the Lib Dems 10.

The complex voting systems for the elections have led to a huge number of spoilt ballot papers in Scotland where some 100,000 ballot papers were spolit.

The Electoral Commission said that it would be conducting a "full and independent review of the elections" of the elections in Scotland.

(SP/JM)

Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

02 May 2008
Thrashed Gordon!
Gordon Brown has described the emerging local elections results as "bad and disappointing" for Labour, as the party suffers its worst local election results in almost half a century. At early evening on Friday with 153 councils declared, Labour had lost a crippling 297 councillors as well as key councils such as Reading.
08 May 2015
Conservatives Secure Majority Vote
The Conservatives have gained the 326 seats needed to secure a majority in the Commons, having made gains in England and Wales. In total, the party secured 331 of 650 seats. Labour is the next largest party with 232 seats, then the SNP with 56. For the Liberal Democrats, they have lost 46 seats, to leave them with just eight Westminster seats.
06 May 2005
Conservatives now 'stronger opposition' claims Howard
Conservative leader Michael Howard has conceded defeat to Tony Blair and the Labour party in the General Election. Although announcing his intention to step down as Conservative party leader today, Mr Howard declared that the party was now a “stronger opposition” to Labour.
02 March 2011
Final Seats Awarded In Irish Election
The 11th hour recount in Galway West has concluded, drawing the Irish Republic's 2011 elections to an end. Éamon Ó Cuív of Fianna Fáil, Derek Nolan of Labour, Brian Walsh and Seán Kyne of Fine Gael and Independent Noel Grealish are now confirmed as representatives for Galway West.
04 May 2006
Voting under way in local elections
Voting is under way in the local council elections in England. In all 4,360 council seats are up for election in 176 out of the 386 councils, including all 32 London boroughs. Around a third of the seats are also up for election in 36 metropolitan authorities and 20 unitary authorities.