Tories battered – Labour win Dudley

The coalition endured a battering as Labour racked up hundreds of new councillors in local elections.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg were dealt a stinging rebuke by voters as Labour claimed it was "exceeding expectations" by seizing control of key councils like Birmingham.

There were major Conservative losses as the party lost its grip on power in many councils across the West Midlands. Labour won a majority in Cannock Chase having been a minority administration for the past year.

The biggest shock was in Dudley, which was won by Labour as 13 Tories lost their seats.

The Conservatives lost 11 councillors in Birmingham, six in Sandwell, four in Wyre Forest, three in Walsall and one in Cannock Chase.

David Cameron was also embarrassed by losses in the backyard of his Commons constituency – with Labour taking seats in Witney and Chipping Norton.

In a further blow, Nottingham ignored pleas from the Prime Minister and rejected proposals for an elected mayor. It voted against by 57.5 per cent to 42.5 per cent, with Birmingham expected to follow suit when counting starts later today.

The Liberal Democrats were not spared pain, losing nine councillors in Birmingham, four in Cannock Chase and one in Sandwell as voters seemingly punished the Government for austerity measures.

And there was some disappointment for Labour, with George Galloway's Respect Party following up its shock by-election victory by winning five seats on Bradford Council, including that of the Labour leader Ian Greenwood.

The Labour Party was today predicted to end up securing up to 700 extra seats.

A projection of the national vote share gave Labour 39 per cent of the vote, up three points on elections a year ago. The Tories were down four on 31 per cent and the Lib Dems trod water on 16 per cent.

Transferred to a General Election poll, that would give Labour a comfortable Commons majority.

Conservative Local Government Secretary and former Tory chairman Eric Pickles said the results were to be expected.

He said: "When a party is rock bottom there's only one way to go.

"But I'm not seeking to rain on Labour's parade."

Tories also pointed out that most voters simply did not bother to vote yesterday, with turn-out only around 30 per cent.

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

Most were last up for grabs in 2008, when the Conservatives made significant gains and Labour and the Lib Dems were hit hard.

Conservative Transport Secretary Justine Greening claimed the election was "always going to be a difficult one" for her party - and was unsurprised by Labour's success.

"Realistically there was only one way they could go and that was up," she said.

"We've had a tough couple of months and we were expecting this to be a difficult evening."

However Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson was confident of bucking the trend and securing re-election.

An eve-of-poll survey suggested that Mr Johnson was set for victory over Labour's Ken Livingstone, by a margin of 53 per cent to 47 per cent.