Lib Dems Gain victories in Kingston-upon-Hull and Rochdale

9.03.03am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 4th May 2007

Overall Liberal Democrats lost 99 seats in local elections held on Thursday 3 May 2007. Here in Welwyn Hatfield we did not win any seats in addition to the three we currently hold. Ming Campbell said the party were not expecting to win the same number of seats that were won in 2003, just after the Iraq war. However, high profile victories include Kingston-upon-Hull and Rochdale.

A BBC projection of the national breakdown of votes shows the Conservatives on 41 %, Labour on 27 % and the Lib Dems on 26 %. Because there is no proportional representation system, the Liberal Democrats do not have the number of seats that they would overall if this were the case.

Simon Hughes, Lib Dem president said:

"I detect steady support. I detect that we'll go up in Scotland and Wales, I would hope that's the case in seats in both.

"I would hope that across England we gain, I mean we're more likely to gain in the north, where Labour have been strong, because Labour will lose, and to be honest the Tories are more likely, in a good year for them, to gain in the south."

Says Sarah Teather: "It is a tough set of elections for us."

She added, that the party was hopeful of making some gains.

"We are very hopeful of improving our share of the vote on the last General Election and possibly even pushing Labour into third place."