Local elections: Deadlock after voters fail to give Labour expected gains and hit Conservatives with key losses

Projected share of the vote puts both the Tories and Labour on 35 per cent – suggesting a nation still starkly divided

British politics remains deadlocked after Labour failed to make the gains it hoped for in the local elections, while the Conservatives suffered losses in anti-Brexit areas.

Jeremy Corbyn was forced to put a brave face on the results, thwarted in his attempts to snatch the Tory “crown jewel” authorities in London such as Wandsworth, Westminster and Kensington.

Labour’s antisemitism crisis appeared to wreck its plans to seize Barnet – an area with a large Jewish population – which fell back into the hands of the Conservatives.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats enjoyed a good night in Remain-backing Tory areas – winning control of South Cambridgeshire, plus Kingston and Richmond, in leader Sir Vince Cable’s London backyard.

Strikingly, a projected share of the national vote by the BBC, if all of Britain had gone to the polls, put both the Tories and Labour on 35 per cent – suggesting a nation still starkly divided.

Labour could claim it had made ground on last year’s general election, when the Tories were ahead on vote share – but nowhere near enough to be on course to win the next one.

Theresa May was greeted by cheering supporters in Wandsworth, where she said: “Labour thought they could take control, this was one of their top targets and they threw everything at it, but they failed.”

She laughed off a suggestion that she should call a snap general election – as she did after winning last year’s local elections, with disastrous results.

Mr Corbyn, meanwhile, was forced to deny his party has passed its “peak Corbyn” moment, after picking up more than 50 seats but gaining control of only two councils, Plymouth and Kirklees, in West Yorkshire.

“No, no, there is much more to come and it’s going to get even better,” Mr Corbyn said, after meeting activists in Plymouth.

“Obviously, I am disappointed at any places where we lost a bit of ground, but if you look at the overall picture, Labour gained a lot of seats across the whole country, we gained a lot of votes in places we never had those votes before.”

A delighted Sir Vince said: “It’s certainly the beginning of the comeback of the Lib Dems. Morale is now very high. We have demonstrated that we can win when we are focused and we can only build on that.”

John Curtice, the psephologist, warned the government that – after losses in big cities, but gains in towns – no less than 70 per cent of its vote had voted Leave, adding: “It has to deliver Brexit.”

The verdict was echoed by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the arch Brexiteer, who said the “view that the local election result means the government must deliver on Brexit is surely right”.

Boris Johnson went further, claiming that Ms May’s policy of leaving the EU customs union had delivered success, apparently putting pressure on her to hold firm.

“Jeremy Corbyn has been abandoned in many leave areas – his pledge to stay in the customs union means he is not trusted to deliver Brexit,” the foreign secretary tweeted.

“PM’s clear Mansion House vision for leaving the single market and customs union a key part of Tory electoral success.”

There was huge controversy in Pendle, in Lancashire, where the Conservatives gained control by one seat – but only by reinstating a councillor who told a racist joke.

Rosemary Carroll compared an Asian to a dog in a Facebook post last June, but rejoined the Tory group “as the votes were being counted” on Friday.

Paul White, the Conservative group leader, defended the move, saying: “The post was shared in error but Rosemary fully accepted the potential upset caused and sincerely apologised.

“Having served her suspension period, she rejoined the party and completed additional diversity training.”