Lib Dems Make Yet More Gains

9.27.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 8th May 2008

Liberal Democrats are celebrating yet more electoral success at the local government elections held in England and Wales.

Analysis of the results by the BBC put their national share of the vote ahead of Labour. The Lib Dems now have almost as many elected councillors as Labour and run almost as many councils. On May 1st, they gained control of Sheffield, St Albans and Burnley, as well as holding onto their strongholds in Liverpool and Newcastle.

In London - where the Lib Dem vote was squeezed - Croydon and Sutton voted Liberal Democrat in record numbers and their share of the vote in held up well and was amongst the best in the whole of London. In the mayoral election, Brian Paddick's share of the vote in Croydon and Sutton was also amongst the highest in London.

Local candidate for the GLA (Greater London Authority) and Sutton councillor, Abigail Lock, recorded the highest ever number of votes of any Lib Dem candidate for the GLA in Croydon and Sutton, gaining over 32,000 votes. Simon Hargrave, Chair of the Croydon Liberal Democrats said: "This was a good set of results locally in a difficult election and Abigail was a terrific candidate. Across the country, the results were very encouraging and set us up to make gains at the next general election." For the Labour party, the results seem to put the party on course for their worst general election result in over a quarter of century. "The Liberal Democrats are now in a position to take overtake the Labour party - as shown by these local election results," added Simon.

Related Link:

Local election results in detail.