
Theresa May has led the Conservative Party to a humiliating 1,300-seat loss in local elections - its worst performance in a quarter of a century - after furious voters punished her and the party for its Brexit failures at the ballot box.

The party's drubbing meant it has surpassed its worst case predictions to put in its worst performance since John Major led it to a loss of more than 2,000 seats when faced by Tony Blair's Labour in 1994.

Votes took place in 248 English councils and 11 Northern Ireland authorities amid a backdrop of Brexit anger. The Tories held on to 93 councils, while Labour now have control of 60; the Lib Dems have 18, and the number of councils with no overall control or other parties in charge rose to 77 - an increase of 43.

The Conservative Party now hold 3,559 seats - a loss of 1,335 - followed by Labour on 2,020, and the Liberal Democrats won an additional 704 seats, giving them 1,351.

Ukip were left with just 31 seats - a loss of 145. The number of independent Councillors and those belonging to other parties increased by 862.

Returning officers reported that at least 39,000 ballot papers were spoiled. Angry voters had scrawled messages on them about Brexit in protest at the parliamentary shambles.

After addressing Tories in Wales this morning Mrs May went to Scotland to speak at the Scottish Conservative conference in Aberdeen

The results left the two-party system at breaking point. John Curtice, a politics professor at Strathclyde University, said the verdict on the Brexit chaos amounted to ‘a plague on both your houses’

Theresa May with a nine-year-old supporter during a speech to local party members at the Humber Royal Hotel in Grimsby, following the elections

Mrs May avoided what Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt called a 'slap in the face' from voters for both the Tories and Labour by visiting Wales and Scotland, where no elections were taking place.

As Tory losses rose above 1,000, Theresa May claimed she had been expecting a 'difficult election' and admitted Brexit was 'an added dimension' to that result.

The Labour Party also lost ground, with voters instead turning to smaller parties and independents in Thursday's polls.

'There was a simple message from yesterday's elections to both us and the Labour Party: just get on and deliver Brexit,' Mrs May said.

'This is a difficult time for our party and these election results are a symptom of that,' Mrs May told the Welsh Conservative Conference, having faced down a heckler calling for her to quit.

The results raise the pressure on the Prime Minister and Jeremy Corbyn to strike a deal and avoid having to hold European Parliament elections on May 23, where they face a powerful threat from Nigel Farage's Brexit Party - which did not compete in Thursday's vote.

Mr Corbyn, whose party performed even worse than in the 2015 election defeat, admitted: ‘It means there is a huge impetus on every MP – they have all got that message, whether they are Leave or Remain – that an arrangement has to be made, a deal has to be done. Parliament has to resolve this issue.’

A senior Government source added: ‘Hopefully these results will sharpen minds on Labour’s side and persuade them that we have just got to get this bloody thing done.’

The heckler was led away before Mrs May began speaking at the event in Llangollen, north Wales

The results left the two-party system at breaking point. John Curtice, a politics professor at Strathclyde University, said the verdict on the Brexit chaos amounted to ‘a plague on both your houses’.

Sir John added: ‘Even without the challenge of the Brexit Party or Change UK, the electoral hold of the Conservative and Labour parties on the electorate is looking now as weak as it has done at any point in post-war British politics.’

With the Tories and Labour both fearing even worse results when Mr Farage’s party enters the fray at the European Parliament elections on May 23:

Home Secretary Sajid Javid suggested Mrs May had lost the trust of the voters;

The PM was heckled at the Conservatives’ Welsh conference, with a former councillor shouting ‘Why don’t you resign?’;

Eurosceptic MPs warned of a ‘tsunami’ of protest at the European elections;

A BBC projection suggested yesterday’s results would translate into another hung parliament;

Labour was plunged into a fresh civil war over the party’s Brexit policy after losing seats in Leave-supporting areas;

Blackadder star Sir Tony Robinson announced he was quitting the Labour Party after 45 years because of Mr Corbyn’s leadership;

The Liberal Democrats were on course to gain 700 seats, the Greens 200 and independents more than 650;

Ukip were routed, with the anti-EU party losing more than 80 per cent of seats following a series of racism rows.

Downing Street last night said cross-party talks with Labour would resume next week in the hope of striking a Brexit deal that might get through Parliament. But sources cautioned that the two sides remain ‘some distance apart’ on the critical issue of whether to remain in a customs union after Brexit.

Former Tory MP Nick Boles said a compromise was now the only way to leave the EU.

Ukip loses in five seats after lurch to far-Right Ukip suffered a near-total collapse amid fears it has become a toxic brand under Gerard Batten. The party lost four out of five of its councillors as it failed to capitalise on Leave voters’ anger against Theresa May for delaying Brexit. It went into the elections with 138 councillors – and ended up with just 30. Ukip has been harmed by the defection of Nigel Farage to form the Brexit Party, and by its lurch to the far-Right under new leader Mr Batten. Mr Farage said he had put too much emphasis on anti-Islam policies and criticised its association with far-Right activist Tommy Robinson. Yesterday a Ukip candidate in the European elections was criticised after releasing a video suggesting he might rape Labour MP Jess Phillips. Carl Benjamin, who had previously come under fire for tweeting he ‘wouldn’t even rape’ the Birmingham Yardley MP, posted a video online on April 26 suggesting that ‘with enough pressure I might cave’. Mr Batten has defended Mr Benjamin’s initial tweet as ‘satire’. Advertisement

He added: ‘Conservative MPs will be toast if they do not deliver Brexit soon.

‘But I and a majority of MPs will never allow the UK to leave the EU without a deal. So Conservative MPs who want to survive the next election need to vote for a compromise deal with Labour.’

Eurosceptic MPs opposed to a deal with Labour stepped up calls for Mrs May to resign.

Former Cabinet minister Priti Patel said voters saw Mrs May as ‘part of the problem’.

She added: ‘I just don’t think we can continue like this. We need change, we need a change of leadership. Perhaps the time has now come for that.’

Mrs May later said her government and Labour were locked in 'constructive talks'.

But even travelling to the only nations in Britain not going to the polls could not prevent her from being confronted by outraged party politicians and activists.

Speaking to BBC news, pollster John Curtice calculated that both the Conservatives and Labour would each get only 28 percent of the total vote if the results were replicated nationwide - and said the days of two-party domination 'may be over'.

As the scale of the catastrophic humiliation became clear late this morning, the Prime Minister was heckled by a furious former councillor who demanded to her face that she resign.

Stuart Davies, 71, berated the Prime Minister at the Welsh Conservative conference before she admitted that the results from local elections in England had been 'very difficult' for a party which pledged to deliver Brexit on March 29 and failed.

Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said voters 'no longer have confidence in the Conservatives, but they are also refusing to reward Labour while the party prevaricates on the big issue of the day.'

The Conservatives had already been braced for a tough night amid frustration at the Prime Minister's failure to take Britain out of the EU on March 29 as planned.

But in a clear message to politicians to get their act together over Brexit the party had lost more than 400 seats before even half of councils had declared results today.

A loss of 600 was previously considered by insiders a 'good night'.

Philip Hammond's mother-in-law Gillian Brown was once of those who were ejected from power. The leader of Arun Council in Sussex was beaten by an independent.

Mr Davies leapt up as Mrs May came forward, asking her: 'Why don't you resign ... we don't want you.'

Mr Davies leapt up as she came forward to address the Welsh Conservative conference in Llangollen, asking her: 'Why don't you resign ... we don't want you.'

It prompted a small group of delegates to clap and chant 'out' at him as he was escorted out the hall in front of 200 people at Llangollen Pavillion.

'I am furious at what she has done to our party', says May heckler, 71 The heckler who confronted Theresa May blasted her handling of Brexit and said he did not want to listen to any more 'rubbish'. Former Tory councillor Stuart Davies was escorted out of Llangollen Pavilion after calling for the Prime Minister's resignation, moments after she took to the stage. Speaking outside the venue, Mr Davies, a former mayor of Llangollen who describes himself as a life-long Conservative, said he doubted whether the Tories would be stupid enough to try to eject him from the party. The 71-year-old told the Press Association: 'I am furious at what she has done to our party. To put it bluntly, she is telling lies - 'We will be out by March the 29th'. 'If she's given a choice, she always picks the wrong choice, and that's what she's done all the way through. 'She doesn't listen to people. I knew this was my opportunity to get my views across and I think I share the views of a lot of people who are party members. I did what I did because I know it was the right thing to do.' The former engineer and press officer added: 'I shouted out 'Prime Minister, why don't you resign?'. Her reaction? it was like looking at a rabbit caught in the headlights. 'I am glad I did it.' Addressing Mrs May's well-received response to his heckling - saying good afternoon in Welsh - Mr Davies said: 'By the way, if she speaks Welsh, I'm a frog.' Advertisement

The Prime Minister then drew laughter and applause from a majority of the hall as she told the conference: 'I have to say my experience of North Wales is that everybody I meet here is friendly.'

She then addressed the election result, saying 'the picture is clear'.

'This is a difficult time for our party and these election results are a symptom of that,' she said.

'We have the privilege of governing our country at a momentous time and we have a responsibility of delivering something truly historic.

'What is momentous and historic is seldom simple and straightforward.

'But I think there was a simple message from yesterday's elections to both us and the Labour Party - just get on and deliver Brexit.'

Brexit-backing Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin said: 'If the Conservative Party doesn't mend its ways pretty quickly, the Conservative Party is going to be toast.

'It is quite obvious that the Conservative Party has got to deliver Brexit - and a Brexit that really is Brexit.'

But Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, speaking on a visit to Kenya, backed the PM to continue.

Asked if Theresa May was still the right person to lead the Conservative Party going forward, Mr Hunt said: 'The arithmetic of Parliament - a hung parliament - remains the same and I think what people want us to do is not be debating who is going to be leading political parties but actually getting on with delivering Brexit.'

Pressed on whether Mrs May is the right leader for now, he said: 'She is for now and I hope that she's successful in delivering Brexit and I will certainly support her in doing so.'

There was little to cheer for Labour in yesterday's vote either, with the party - totally divided over whether to support a second referendum.

Disgraced MP vows to clear her name Shamed former MP Fiona Onasanya has insisted she will clear her name only days after becoming the first parliamentarian in British history to be stripped of their seat by voters. The 35-year-old confirmed that she will not stand in the by-election that was triggered when voters in her Peterborough constituency signed a recall petition. In a message online, she said: ‘To those who sent racially abusive, threatening, bullying, derogatory and vulgar remarks... I will clear my name.’ Onasanya was jailed in January for lying to police about a driving offence. There were 19,261 signatures to remove her from the seat, even though only 6,967 were needed. Advertisement

The hit for Jeremy Corbyn's party came at a point in the electoral cycle when they could expect to be making significant gains at the expense of the Government.

Labour and the Conservatives suffered the biggest losses in their heartlands of the North and South East as their traditional voters abandoned the two main parties.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry MP told Channel 4 News: 'Listening to people in the local elections I think it's right that people are fed up, and they want us to get on with it, and they want the issue of Brexit to be resolved.'

She continued that some Labour voters may have voted Lib Dem or Green because they feel the answer is to remain, and some have moved to Ukip because they think Britain should leave with no deal.

Polling expert Sir John Curtice declared voters had declared 'a plague on both your houses' - a sentiment echoed by Change UK MP Anna Soubry, formerly a Tory.

Some voters spoilt their ballot papers, writing 'Brexit means Brexit' and 'Get May Out'. Elections were held for 8,245 seats on 248 local authorities across England and Northern Ireland - but not in London, Scotland or Wales.

Speaking in Manchester after Labour took control of Trafford Council, Mr Corbyn said the results had been 'interesting, to put it mildly'.

He said: 'The issues that dominated this election were to some extent Brexit rather than local issues which is what local elections are all about.'

‹ Slide me › Before and after: These UK maps show which parties held the areas before votes were cast today (left) and another displaying the results following the votes (right). It demonstrates how the Conservatives have lost a huge amount of control today

Praying for good results? Jeremy Corbyn celebrated Labour taking Trafford Council in Manchester with party activists at the Waterside Arts Centre this morning

The Conservatives lost Peterborough, where the local election count is pictured last night

The Liberal Democrats celebrate winning control of Bath and North East Somerset Council from the Conservatives today

Ballot counting gets underway at the Hull City Council election count at the Guildhall last night

Some voters spoilt their ballot papers, writing 'Brexit means Brexit' and 'Get May Out'

Others tried to vote for the Brexit Party's Nigel Farage even though he wasn't on the papers

Losing more than 800 seats means this represents the Tories' worst performance since 1995 when, under John Major's leadership, the party lost 2,000 seats to a resurgent Labour Party led by Tony Blair.

The Conservatives lost Peterborough, Basildon, Southend, Worcester, St Albans, Welwyn Hatfield, Folkestone and Hythe, Broxtowe, Tendring and Tandridge to no overall control while Winchester, Chelmsford, Bath and North East Somerset, Somerset Wesand Taunton, Vale of White Horse, Cotswold and Hinckley and Bosworth fell to the Liberal Democrats, with North Kesteven going to independents.

However the party held on in the bellwether council of Swindon, seen as a possible Labour gain, and took Walsall and North East Lincolnshire from no overall control.

Election results delayed due to spoilt ballots Election results were delayed in parts of England after so many people had deliberately spoilt their ballot papers. Some voters scribbled 'Brexit means Brexit', 'Get May out' or 'traitors' - and refused to mark crosses against any candidates' names. One of the spoilt local election ballot papers Each of the spoilt papers had to be adjudicated, delaying the result in some areas – such as Ipswich, Suffolk. One official in the hall said 'We thought there would be quite a few spoilt papers, but nothing on the level we have seen - it took everyone by surprise. There seems to be a lot of anger and frustration out there.' The result itself did not raise many eyebrows - Labour increased their majority by three and retained its grip on Ipswich Borough Council. Spoiling a ballot paper is not illegal, although there are restrictions on photographing in polling stations. Advertisement

Broxbourne in Hertfordshire was one of the first results declared, which came back as a Tory hold, as was Havant in Hampshire, and Castle Point, Brentwood, Rochford and Epping Forest in Essex.

The Tories lost control of Basildon and Tandridge councils in Essex and Surrey respectively to no overall control after other parties won seven of the 14 seats up, with some wards still to declare.

In Chelmsford local MP Vicky Ford became upset during an interview after a bad night for the Tories in which they lost control of the council, losing a 45-seat majority.

Speaking to the BBC she said: 'I think it is really disappointing when you look at some of the individuals who have lost their seats tonight.

'People who have worked their socks off for Chelmsford.

'Some of those councillors who have really worked so hard and helped to make Chelmsford so fantastic.

'They have lost their seats as a result of what is happening nationally reflecting back in people not wanting to turn out and vote locally.'

The party retained control of Swindon in Wiltshire after winning 10 of the 19 seats up for election, with several seats still to declare.

Labour meanwhile lost control in Bolsover, Hartlepool and Wirral and the mayoralty in Middlesbrough, where its vote was down 11 per cent as independent Andy Preston was elected, although it did gain Trafford from no overall control.

Labour suffered a number of early losses in north-east England, losing four council seats in Hartlepool, five seats in South Tyneside and nine seats in Sunderland.

But it held Newcastle-upon-Tyne, along with Wigan, Exeter, Liverpool, Oldham, St Helens, Halton in Cheshire, Chorley in Lancashire, Lincoln, Coventry, Salford, Barnsley, Sunderland, Harlow in Essex, Wolverhampton and South Tyneside.

Even where the party held on in its traditional stronghold of Sunderland, which voted heavily for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, it still lost 10 council seats.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he has been following the local election results from Nairobi, Kenya.

He tweeted: 'Following local election results from Nairobi, which look at this stage like a slap in the face for both the main parties.

'My heart goes out to conservative councillors who have lost their seats. A few positive results too and big shock to see Labour lose Wirral and Hartlepool'.

Change UK MP Anna Soubry, formerly a Conservative, said the local election results tell the two main parties 'a plague on both your houses'.

She tweeted: 'Strikes me that on the basis of the results in so far - the message to both main parties is ''plague on both your houses.'' People are voting for change and change is indeed coming.'

Labour lost Wiral and Hartlepool - which is a unitary authority - to no overall control despite holding it since 2010.

As part of the Lib Dem surge, the party took control of Cotswold and Winchester councils from the Conservatives.

And leading Brexiteer MP Jacob Rees-Mogg now has a Liberal Democrat councillor representing him in Somerset.

It is the first time since 2003 that Labour held a majority of seats on Trafford council, and the first time since 2011 that the Liberal Democrats have a majority in Winchester.

Former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron tweeted: 'Congratulations to all those Lib Dems who picked a ward...and won it!'

MP Ed Davey said his party was having an 'awesome night' thanks to voters rejecting Labour and the Conservatives, citing hard work rather than Brexit issues for their success.

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain today: 'They are fantastic results, the Liberal Democrats are back in business. I think the British people have been crying out for an alternative.

'We saw Conservative Remainers switching to the Lib Dems, Labour voters disappointed backing the Lib Dems, we've seen switches on the back of Brexit.'

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran claimed these are the best local election results for the party since 2003.

'Lib Dems are back in business!': Jubilant party claims victory as they take 700 council seats The Liberal Democrats claim they are 'back in business' after taking hundreds of council seats from Labour and the Tories. The party's support had crashed in the wake of Nick Clegg's disastrous decision to go into coalition with David Cameron in 2010, and they currently have just 11 MPs. The Lib Dems have won 704 council seats and taken control of 18 councils. The party cashed in on the main two parties' failure to deliver Brexit as voters turned to them as one of few alternatives. Experts say their message that they want to stop Brexit meant they picked up support from remain voters. MP and former minister Sir Ed Davey said the results were 'equivalent to our best strides forward ever in our history'. 'We are clearly back in the game,' he said. 'People have been frustrated with the appalling Tory Government, who have let them down not just on Brexit but with cuts to police and schools, and a split opposition with such poor leadership.' Advertisement

She tweeted: 'To put the national results in context, these are the best Lib Dems local election results since 2003 - right in the aftermath of the Iraq war.'

Change UK MP Chuka Umunna, former member of the Labour Party, said the local election results illustrate that 'politics is broken in Britain'.

He tweeted: 'These local election results illustrate that people believe, as we do, that politics is broken in Britain and the two main parties are responsible, which is why our MPs left them - those parties can't be the solution because they are part of the problem.'

The Conservatives gained control of Walsall for the first time since 2011, and control of North East Lincolnshire for the first time ever.

Brexit minister James Cleverly said it would be a 'tough night' for the Tories, who are expected to lose hundreds of seats.

Amid voter anger at the continuing wrangling over Brexit, Mr Cleverly suggested he would be relieved if the losses could be held to 500 council seats.

Mr Cleverly said he feared Brexit would dominate many voters considerations when he the told BBC News the Tories could lose as many as 1,000 seats: 'Nine years into government you would expect us to be losing lots and lots of seats.

'It would be unrealistic for me to pretend after nine years in government and Brexit as a backdrop that this is going to be anything other than a really, really tough night for us.

'If it was 500 [seats lost], rather than 1,000, I would be happy with that.'

Conservative MP for Reigate Crispin Blunt said that the party needed to replace Theresa May as leader.

Mr Blunt told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I was publicly one of those who thought she should go in December. There is no reason for me to change that judgment.

'She now formally has the leadership without a challenge under our rules until December, but plainly we are going to need a new leader at some point to get a clear strategy to get Brexit over the line.'

Mr Blunt warned of a split in the Tories if Mrs May took the 'Ramsay MacDonald option' of forging a Brexit deal with Labour, saying: 'She would find there were very few Conservatives behind her if she were to do that deal.'

A deal with Jeremy Corbyn's party would leave Mrs May in a similar position to MacDonald, who became 'the most reviled Labour leader in their history and was left with very few Labour colleagues supporting him' after he went into coalition with the Conservatives in the 1930s, said Mr Blunt.

John McDonnell said the party had got the message from voters.

The shadow chancellor said: 'We'll see what final results of local elections look like by end of day as they are pretty mixed geographically up to now but so far message from local elections - ''Brexit - sort it''. Message received.'

A voter leaves a poling station with her dogs after voting in Broadstairs, Kent, on the day of the election

The PM and her husband Philip talk to locals as they arrive to vote in Sonning on May 2

More than 8,000 seats were being contested, mostly in Shire counties like North Yorkshire, where the village hall in Shelton, near York, is being used as a polling station

Some voters in Skelton used the election as a way to get some exercise for their dogs

Tories suffer set-back in Onasanya city ahead of by-election with Brexit Party waiting to pounce Tories efforts to gain the Westminster seat of disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya have taken a major blow after the party lost control of the local council. The Conservatives have lost Peterborough City Council to no overall control after three years in charge of the consistently marginal authority. A by-election will be held in the Cambridgeshire city in June after Onasanya, 35, became the first sitting MP to be booted from the Commons by a recall petition of voters. The Tories were hoping to take the marginal Commons seat, which it lost by just 607 votes in 2017. But the local election result raises serious questions about whether they can retake it, with Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, planning to stand against them to take the votes of furious Brexiteers. Peterborough voted 60-40 in favour of Leave in the 2016 referendum. The Tories now hold 28 of 60 seats on the council after the party lost three seats to Labour and one each to the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats, but also gained one seat from Labour. Ukip lost the only seat it held on the council to the Lib Dems. Ms Onasanya, who was elected as a Labour MP in 2017, served 28 days in prison for lying about a speeding offence and was unseated from the Commons by her constituents. Advertisement

The senior Tory Brexiteer MP Sir Bernard Jenkin said voters overwhelmingly believed that she had 'lost the plot' and that the time had come for a change of leader.

'She still has a degree of personal sympathy but I think people think it is time for a change. They can see that she has lost the plot. They can see she is not in control of events,' he told the BBC.

'Certainly among Conservative activists and council candidates there is an almost universal feeling that it is time for her to move on.'

Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner suggested they would be satisfied if they could take back the 200 seats they lost the last time these seats were fought in 2015.

'These elections will be a test of the Conservative Party far more than a test of the Labour Party or any of the other parties,' he told the BBC.

'I would like us to come back to where we should have been the last time round.'

In contrast, the Liberal Democrats, who lost heavily in 2015, were buoyant, with deputy leader Jo Swinson predicting three-figure gains.

Tory party chairman Brandon Lewis told Sky News: 'I have said for a while these are going to be tough elections for us.

'The reality is we were fighting these elections from a real high water mark for us off the back of the 2015 general election.

'People are frustrated with where they see parliamentarians are.

'And the fact that we have found this impasse in parliament.

'It's a stark reminder to everybody in the House of Commons that we need to get past that impasse, deliver on what people voted for, and focus on that as parliamentarians as well.'

Elections took place in 248 English councils - including at this polling station in Loftus, North Yorkshire

All sorts of buildings are pressed into action as polling stations, including this church in Redcar, North Yorkshire

'Stand in the middle of the road and you get run over in both directions': Furious Labour politicians attack Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn came under fire from both leave and remain supporters in his own party today as Labour lost scores of council seats. The party failed to gain votes from leavers, due to its perceived blocking of Brexit, or from remainers, due to its reluctance to back a second referendum. By 10am this morning, Labour had lost three councils and nearly 80 seats nationwide. MP for Redcar Anna Turley tweeted: 'Stand in the middle of the road and you get run over in both directions.' After Labour lost ten seats in Sunderland council, the local leader said voters there were unhappy at the idea the party could back a second EU vote. Greame Miller, leader of Sunderland council, said: 'We lost 10 seats and my view of is very, very simple: Sunderland voted as a city to leave in June 2016. 'Having had a Labour message across the city from members of Parliament saying that we need to be having a People's Vote, a second referendum, people in Sunderland have said 'we're just not accepting that from the Labour party'. 'I have lost 10 councillors tonight because of that Brexit situation where the Brexit message has stepped into and over local politics and that's the outcome.' Labour has lost overall control in party stronghold Bolsover, Derbyshire for the first time. The traditional Labour heartland constituency voted 70% to leave in the EU referendum. Advertisement

'Out and about across the country, the mood has been positive. If we can get into the triple figures of gains that would be a really, really good night,' she said.

'That would be part of that Lib Dem fightback that is happening.'

Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC the Conservatives 'are being punished' for not delivering Brexit.

Both Labour and the Tories have their eyes on gaining a majority in Dudley, Trafford and Walsall, which remained Conservative.

The Tories were hoping to gain control in Thurrock but lost the ward to independents.

Votes were also cast for six mayors, two of which were won by independents and all 11 councils in Northern Ireland.

Change UK MP Mike Gapes, formerly of Labour, said early local election results suggested 'big moves away' from Jeremy Corbyn's party and the Conservatives.

He tweeted: 'Early results of local elections indicate big moves away from both Conservatives and Corbyn Labour.

'Another indication that Corbyn Labour is unable to capitalise on the incompetent dysfunctional Conservative Government.'

In local elections in 2018 there was a turnout of just 36 per cent, but in 2015, when polls coincided with a general election, turnout reached around 64 per cent.

Conservatives were concerned Leave-backing supporters would stay at home or switch to Ukip in anger at Mrs May's failure to deliver Brexit on time on March 29.

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson told Sky News: 'I think the message is pretty clear. It seems to be a plague on both your houses to the Conservatives and the Labour Party, who they see as a block on finding some sort of resolution to Brexit.

'So, we know that the talks are ongoing; hopefully, this will focus minds in the room and, hopefully, we can get past the impasse that we are in and move on to the next stage.'

Pubs were also being used as polling stations, including The Crown Inn in Birchington in Kent

Voters go to a polling station in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, on election day

Another polling station has been set up inside a pub - the White Horse Inn in Priors Dean, Hampshire

A ballot box being carried into a polling station in Saltburn By The Sea, North Yorkshire

Many youngsters are getting a taste of democracy yesterday as their parents take them to the polls. Pictured is a mother and her child in Guisborough, North Yorkshire

Theresa May cast her vote in local elections on Thursday as the Conservatives admitted that losing up to 600 seats would be a 'good night' for the party, which feared a massive Brexit backlash at the ballot box.

Accompanied by husband Philip she voted at a polling station in her Maidenhead constituency this afternoon with the Conservatives primed to take a hiding in votes taking place across the country.

Election guru Professor Sir John Curtice had claimed the absence of the Brexit Party from the ballots and the lack of UKIP candidates will be a silver lining for the Prime Minister and her party.

Millions went to the polls for local elections which saw the Conservative Party take a hammering across the country.

Elections took place in 248 English councils outside London, and 11 local authority areas in Northern Ireland.

There were also polls for six elected mayors in Bedford, Copeland, Leicester, Mansfield, Middlesbrough and the new North of Tyne devolved regional authority.

Close to 60 per cent of the 8,425 seats up for grabs in England were originally Conservative, with a quarter held by Labour before the night began.

Conservatives feared Leave-backing supporters will stay at home or switch to Ukip in anger at Mrs May's failure to deliver Brexit on time on March 29. Pictured is a polling station is Saltburn

Many experts feared the Tories could experience their worst local election demise since 1995 when the party lost 2,000 seats. A polling station is pictured in Redcar, North Yorkshire

Polling stations are dotted about the UK in a variety of different locations including schools, churches, community centres and caravans. Pictured is one in High Offley in Staffordshire

Activists were out campaigning, with some handing out leaflets, including one in east Belfast

Some believe the Brexit chaos will put off the electorate from even voting at all. Volunteers are pictured here manning the station at the White Horse Inn in Priors Dean, Hampshire

The last time a majority of the seats were fought over in 2015, the Tories were on an electoral high as they secured their first Commons majority since 1992 on the same day.

Most of the electoral battles are in the Tory shires or Labour strongholds in northern cities, limiting the prospects for large-scale gains by Jeremy Corbyn's party.

The results are unlikely to be a guide for European elections scheduled for later in the month, as neither Nigel Farage's Brexit Party nor the Remain-backing Change UK are fielding candidates.

However, Brexit was expected to have played a major role in the elections.

Conservatives feared Leave-backing supporters will stay at home or switch to Ukip in anger at Mrs May's failure to deliver Brexit on time on March 29.

In contrast Ukip, which has been hit by a slew of defections to the Brexit Party and controversy over its links with English Defence League co-founder Tommy Robinson, contested just 16 per cent of seats.

The heavy defeat could set off a fresh wave of demands for Mrs May to name a date for her departure.

Lord Hayward, a former Conservative MP, predicted that the Tories appeared to be on course for their worst drubbing since 1995 when Tony Blair crushed John Major's divided government and the party lost 2,000 seats.

He said: 'This was always going to be a difficult election because the seats the Conservatives are defending were won on a very good night for them in 2015.

'But the results are unquestionably going to be worse because of the current situation.

'People don't know who the leader of the Tory Party is going to be and there is anger amongst Tory Brexiteers that the party has not delivered.

'There was a noticeable dip when the Prime Minister agreed to delay Brexit. That has calmed down a bit because there has been less debate about Brexit in the last fortnight. But at best, the Tories are at the crest of a trough.'

It is the worst result for any governing party since 2003 when Labour leader Mr Blair lost more than 1,100 seats following a backlash over the Iraq War.