An incredible breakthrough for Conservatives in the North

Click here to see our map showing the impact of Conservative wins in the North

Click here to see our map of the 89 councils in England where Labour have no councillors

The 2007 local government elections have seen the Conservatives make an incredible breakthrough in the North. We now control 20 councils in the North, and more councils in the North than Labour.

We have now made net gains of over 130 seats in the North. If people were to have voted in Bury and Bolton in a General Election as they did yesterday, we would have won the three Parliamentary seats needed to win a General Election (Bolton NE, Bury N and Bolton W - Ruth Kelly's seat). We'd also have won Barrow - John Hutton, the Pension Secretary's seat. Not only this, but we would have taken seats way beyond our expectations, such as Sunderland Central and Wallasey, as well as Birmingham Selly Oak, Blackpool South and Birmingham Northfield.

Councils we've gained:

• East Riding of Yorkshire for the first time ever, making 18 gains and taking the Lib Dem and Labour leaders' seats.
• South Ribble for the first time since 1995, gaining 24 seats.
• Chester for the first time since 1986, gaining 7 seats.
• Blackpool, gaining 13 seats – 12 from Labour, 1 from the Lib Dems. We last controlled Blackpool in 1987.

Across the North, we have also made gains in 33 other councils: Allerdale, Alnwick, Barrow-in-Furness, Blackburn with Darwen, Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Castle Morpeth, Chester-le-Street, Chorley, Copeland, Crewe and Nantwich, Darlington, Eden, Ellesmere Port and Neston, Fylde, Hambleton, Lancaster, Macclesfield, Oldham, Pendle, Preston, Rotherham, Richmondshire, Salford, Stockton on Tees, Sunderland, Teesdale, Vale Royal, West Lancashire, Wigan, Wyre and York.

• Nationally, we are predicted to gain over 40 per cent of the vote.
• We have now gained over 800 seats and now control 23 more councils.
• We control 205 councils in England overall– more than three times Labour (46) and the Libs Dems (27) combined.
• Labour have been wiped off the map – in 80 councils (and rising) they have no councillors at all.
• The Lib Dems are heading for their worst loss of councillors for a decade.

Responding to news that the Conservatives have now gained over 800 seats, giving us the largest number of councillors since 1978, Francis Maude, Conservative Chairman said:

"Now that most of the results are in, it's clear that we've made a massive breakthrough. We now control over 200 councils across England – three times as many councils as Labour and the Lib Dems combined. What's more, we've made a great breakthrough in the North of England with more councils than Labour in the North West and Yorkshire.

"We're now the only party that represents the whole of England. This is a great base on which we can build victory at the next election, taking our message of change, hope and optimism to more communities across the country."

Rt Hon Francis Maude MP

04/05/2007