Cabinet big guns suffer setbacks on home turf

Labour relief at its buoyant performance in the elections was tempered by embarrassing setbacks on the home turf of two of its biggest guns, John Prescott and Charles Clarke.

The Liberal Democrats capitalised on the unpopularity of the city council to seize conrol of Norwich, which had been Labour-run for nearly 80 years. Mr Clarke, the Labour chairman, is MP for Norwich South.

Labour also lost power in Hull, the home town of Mr Prescott, ending the night down from 44 to 24 councillors, with the Liberal Democrats the biggest single party with 29 councillors.

But across the country, the Labour vote was holding up strongly in most areas. In Sheffield Labour gained seven seats to become the largest single party and deprive the Liberal Democrats of power.

The Liberal Democrats were also removed from running Oldham Council by a series of Labour victories. Charles Kennedy's party will be disappointed to have lost control of two councils in the industrial north.

The Conservatives had hoped that voter discontent about crime and poor public services would translate into a strong revival. But they failed to capture a key target in Wolverhampton council, ending the night down one council. There was little sign, either, that their much-predicted breakthrough in Birmingham had materialised.

They failed to win the suburban North-west council of Trafford, a former Tory strong-hold, from Labour, gaining just one extra councillor.

Although they became the largest single party in Bradford, with 37 councillors, one ahead of Labour, they failed to grab an authority regarded as a jewel in the Tory local government crown just over ten years ago.

Further south there were more encouraging signs for the Tories in Essex and east London, where they performed relatively strongly in last year's general election.

They gained control of Rochford, Essex, and removed Labour from power in Harlow, became the biggest party in Basildon and picked up an extra 14 seats in Havering.

They also won Havant in Hampshire, Adur in Sussex, Shrewsbury and Atcham. The Conservatives lost three seats in the south-coast town of Worthing to the Liberal Democrats, also surrending control of the council.

The Liberal Democrats gained Cheltenham from the Conservatives, gaining ten extra councillors.

Labour held on to Slough at the expense of their Mayor and Deputy Mayor, who were both lost their seats.

The Mayor, Joan Jones, and Deputy Mayor,John Dawson, lost to Independent candidates.

A Labour spokesman said: "We are surprised and pleased. There is no sign of a Tory breakthrough. They are doing less well under Iain Duncan Smith than they did under William Hague in May 2000."

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said: "This has all the makings of another good night for the Liberal Democrats.

"We are continuing to make advances against both Labour and the Conservatives in many areas. We have had very good results in Norwich, Islington, Hull, Eastbourne, and Cheltenham."