Paul Johnston

We had no elections in Greater London. The next lot for us are next year when the Mayor and the GLA come up for election. However the Conservatives did very well by gaining 875 seats and 38 new Councils in England. The Lib Dems ended up with a net loss on the night of around 250 councillors and are definitely and in every way the fourth party in Wales - and also in the Scottish Parliament! Labour is now suffering as we suffered 10 to 13 years ago and has ceased to exist as a political force in much of England.

I had the great satisfaction of seeing all my friends in other areas either hold their seats or achieve substantial swings to gain them from the Lib Dems. This applies in Bath & NE Somerset, Tewkesbury, Ashford and Mole Valley. Former Berrylands councillor Leslie Dale gained a seat from the Lib Dems in South Norfolk with a 9.5% swing. Congratulations too to my Liberal Democrat friend Alan Lawrance on being returned in South Gloucestershire - unfortunately he still has 23 colleagues and the Conservatives just failed to get an overall majority on the Council there.