LABOUR was savaged by voters in England, Scotland and Wales, in the regional and council elections as the party paid the price for the Tory policies carried out by Blair and Brown for the last 10 years.
Labour chairman Hazel Blears admitted ‘it’s not been the best of nights’ adding ‘but it’s not half as bad as some of the pundits predicted.’
With results in from 291 of the 312 councils in England, the Tories had 837 more councillors and held 37 more councils to hold 155 councils, while Labour lost control of eight councils and lost 460 councillors.
As the party in the middle, the Liberal Democrats suffered a wipe-out, losing 247 seats and five councils.
The Scottish elections had an element of farce, which saw up to 150,000 spoilt voting papers as voters struggled to take part in the two elections, with their different voting procedures.
The electronic counting system also packed up in mid-election.
These disasters and a low turn out saw Labour struggling to see off the SNP challenge and to remain the biggest party.
Labour held 43 Holyrood seats losing 5, while the SNP gained 20 seats to reach 45 seats, with 122 of 129 seats declared.
The Liberals won 16 seats and the Conservatives 14.
In the Scottish council elections with 20 of 32 councils declared the SNP had 196 councillors, with Labour on 171, the Tories on 90 with the Liberal Democrats on 75.
In Wales, with 60 of the 60 seats declared, Labour had 26 seats, Plaid Cymru had 15, the Tories 12, the Liberal Democrats 6 with the Independent Labour candidate Trish Law retaining Blaenau Gwent.
Labour failed to attain the 31 seats needed for an overall majority in the Welsh Assembly.
Yesterday afternoon, a projected national share of the vote, saw the Tories on 41 per cent, one point up on 2006, Labour on 27 per cent, also one point up, and the Liberal Democrats on 26 per cent, down a point.
In England, the Tories gained control of Birmingham, Plymouth and Chester councils and for the first time made inroads in the north of England.
Although the Tories again failed to win any seats on Manchester City Council they gained seats in nearby Labour stronghold, Trafford and gained control in Chester and South Ribble.
The party also claimed ‘significant advances’ in other northern councils including Bury, Crewe and Nantwich, Preston and Sunderland.
There was a low turnout in Scotland.
Labour First Minister Jack McConnell held his seat with a reduced 6,000 majority.
He said the SNP’s predicted major gains may have been ‘a little bit presumptuous’ but admitted it had been the ‘toughest and most hotly contested election in Scottish history’.
The SNP took Dundee West, Central Fife, Stirling, Kilmarnock and Loudoun and Cunninghame North from Labour.
They also took Falkirk West, Western Isles and two extra places on each of the Glasgow and Central Scotland lists.
The SNP ousted Labour in the Western Isles, a key marginal that saw one of the hardest-fought campaigns of the election, and took four of the seven regional places in Glasgow.
In Airdrie and Shotts, the number of spoilt ballots was 1,536 – 90 higher than the majority of Labour’s Karen Whitefield.
There were 2,035 spoilt papers in Glasgow Shettleston, 1,850 in Glasgow Baillieston and 1,736 in the city’s Anniesland constituency.
SNP deputy Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘Clearly many people found it difficult to understand the way in which to fill in the ballot paper and it does raise questions about the wisdom of having two separate elections on the same day,’
The Electoral Commission yesterday said it had begun ‘with immediate effect’ an investigation into the Holyrood election voting chaos.
In Wales, Labour remained the largest party in the assembly but fell short of the 31 seats needed for an overall majority, with 26 seats.
First Minister Rhodri Morgan said: ‘I feel very upbeat about the situation of Welsh Labour and our relationship with the people.’
But with 13 seats, Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones insisted the electorate had ‘voted for change’.
Blair’s verdict on the electoral debacle for Labour was that it was an ‘excellent springboard’ for a Labour victory at the next general election.
* Yesterday afternoon SNP leader Alex Salmond demanded an independent Judicial inquiry into the breakdown of the Scottish election’s voting system.
