The red team continues to make progress

Party	Votes Cast	% Votes	Seats Won	Change
Labour	17714	35.69%	14	+5
Conservatives	14594	29.41%	10	-3
Liberal Democrats	10139	20.43%	6	-1
Independents	2181	4.39%	2	-1
Plaid Cymru	1297	2.61%	0	-1
Green Party	1139	2.30%	0	n/c
United Kingdom Independence Party	771	1.55%	0	n/c
Scottish National Party	571	1.15%	0	n/c
British National Party	183	0.37%	0	n/c
Other Parties	1037	2.09%	2	1

GAINS / LOSSES
Conservative GAINS: Newton (Swansea)
Labour GAINS: Tilgate (Crawley), Irwell (Rossendale), Treherbert (Rhondda,
Cynon, Taff), River (Medway), Barton and Sandhill (Oxford)
Liberal Democrat GAINS: Capel, Leigh and Newdigate (Mole Valley)
Other GAINS: St. Nicholas (Herefordshire)

Change on past local elections (overall)

	2007	2008	2009	2010	Average
Con	-7.00%		4.00%	-9.00%	-9.00%
Lab	n/c		2.00%	14.00%	+9
Lib Dems	-2.00%		-2.00%	-4.00%	-5.00%
Others	9.00%		-4.00%	-1.00%	5.00%

The trend of Labour recovering it’s past losses continued in October with Labour picking up wards from Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru and managing to poll over 2,000 more votes than the Conservatives recording a 3.5% swing in their favour compared with the 2007 local elections.

This continues to suggest that next year’s local elections will be a triumph for Labour in Conservative / Labour battleground councils and a disaster for the Liberal Democrats in the urban councils. One bright spot for the yellowsa is a 2.5% swing from Conservative to Liberal Democrat, suggesting that councils with little or no Labour representation (such as Solihull in the West Midlands, Poole in Dorset, Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire and Mole Valley in Sussex) could be Lib Dem beacons of triumph on an otherwise gloomy night.