Lib Dem councillors outnumber Tories for first time since 1996

Sir Ed Davey celebrates after his party made gains on Thursday – Stefan Rousseau/PA

The Liberal Democrats have won more council seats than the Conservatives for the first time since 1996.

With 106 of 107 councils declared by Saturday night, the Lib Dems had 521 councillors in England – a gain of 104 – compared to 513 for the Tories, a loss of 473.

The Lib Dems winning more councillors than the Tories had only happened once before.

Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, hailed the news, saying: “Up and down the country, Conservative MPs will be looking over their shoulder, terrified of the Liberal Democrats who have won more seats than them in this election.

“This was the final test before the general election, and it’s clear Conservative MPs are on notice. We’ve moved forward in Blue Wall battlegrounds, and we’ve seen a real collapse in support for Rishi Sunak and his out-of-touch Government.

“The choice for millions of people at the general election is clear – they can get a fair deal with the Liberal Democrats or have four more years of Conservative chaos.”

Overhauling the Tories caps a successful set of local elections for the Lib Dems, in which the party picked up two councils.

They took control of Tunbridge Wells by gaining eight councillors. A former Tory heartland, the Kent council had been in “no overall control” since 2021.

The Lib Dems also won Dorset council by gaining 13 councillors, with the party saying the result showed they were “back in the West Country”.

Sir Ed’s party held 10 councils in Cheltenham, Eastleigh, Gosport, Hull, Mole Valley, St Albans, Three Rivers, Watford, Winchester and Woking.

Three Lib Dem councillors celebrate in Bridport as the Lib Dems won Dorset council – Finnbarr Webster/Getty

The party’s advance in affluent Blue Wall seats in the south of England will raise Tory fears of facing a pincer move from the Lib Dems and Labour at the general election.

In Cheltenham, the Tories lost all of their five seats. This result will be ominous for Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary and Cheltenham MP, who won a slender 981 majority over a Lib Dem challenger at the 2019 election.

However, it was not all good news for the Lib Dems. According to the BBC’s projected national share – based on detailed voting figures in more than 800 wards where there was an election on Thursday – if there had been local elections everywhere in which all the main parties contested every seat, the Lib Dems would have ended up with 17 per cent of the vote.

This is down three points on last year, when the party hit 20 per cent for the first time since entering into coalition with the Conservatives in 2010. However, it is broadly in line with its projected share since the EU referendum in 2016.

The Lib Dems will want to increase their 15 MPs at the general election. A YouGov MRP poll published last month predicted that Sir Ed’s party could win 49 seats at a general election based on current polling, close to their high water mark of 62 seats under Charles Kennedy in 2005.

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