Cameron's mob take a battering

In the backdrop of a double-dip recession, despite massive cuts to jobs and services, the mid-term local elections saw Conservatives dramatically lose 11 councils to Labour with the Liberal Democrats losing one.

Birmingham, Southampton, Plymouth, Reading, Norwich, Thurrock and Harlow were some of the key boroughs that fell to Labour, which party leader Ed Miliband said was a sign that "we are winning back people's trust."

Unions argued that massive local council spending and job cuts, due to the decimation of their budgets by coalition "austerity measures," played a part.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said that the coalition was "paying the price" for its policies, with 625 public-sector jobs lost every day since the general election in May 2010.

He said: "The voting results today show that the country has had enough of the coalition's austerity Britain and of no-hope, dead-end policies that have dragged the country back into recession.

"Voters have said a massive No to drastic cuts to vital council services such as libraries, leisure centres, day-care centres for the elderly, careers advice for our young people and the closing of Sure Start centres."Labour gained more than 600 seats as the Morning Star went to press, with the Tories having lost more than 300 and Lib Dems losing more than 150.

The party's deputy leader Harriet Harman said: "We are back in touch and we are making progress.

"These are undoubtedly encouraging results. We are not crowing about them but they are very encouraging."

Prime Minister David Cameron suffered the double embarrassment of losing seats in his own constituency as Labour snatched Witney Central, Witney East and Chipping North.

"I am determined that we will continue to play our role in rescuing, repairing and reforming the British economy," Mr Cameron stated.

About 5,000 seats were at stake today on 181 local councils across England, Scotland and Wales.

The results in Scotland, where 1,223 seats are up for grabs, continued to come through as the paper went to press.

Tory MP Gary Streeter blamed the poor performance on the party not being right-wing enough.

He said party supporters were "gagging" for some more traditional right-wing policies in areas such as law and order.

Foreign Secretary William Hague took the opportunity to blame Lib Dems.

He said: "Of course the Conservatives can't do everything that we would like to do in government because we are in coalition with the Liberal Democrats."

Hapless Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg described himself as "really sad."