As I write 179 Councils have declared out of 230, and the news is good! We have increased the number of councillors by 255 and the Conservatives have lost 741 to a mixture of Labour, Lib Dems and Greens. We have gained control of seven councils – Stratford on Avon, Chichester, Windsor & Maidenhead, Dacoram, Mid Devon, Teignbridge and South Hams, and increased our councillors in many others.

A lovely orange banana is appearing down in Devon. At the top geographically is North Devon, where just one gain pushed us to over 50% of the seats. Next is Mid Devon, where we gained an astonishing 21 more councillors, giving us 33 out of 42. Below them lies Teignbridge where we now hold 26 out of 47 seats. And finally we meet the sea again in South Hams where we gained a stonking 9 councillors from the Tories, taking us into control with a clear majority.

Further north in Tewkesbury the Conservatives have lost control and we are now the largest party on the Council – negotiations will follow.

It’s a similar picture in Elmbridge where we are now the largest party, although in this case the Conservatives still lie in third place behind the Residents Associations.

WE DID IT! ⁦
We are now the largest party on Elmbridge Council (Dominic Raab’s constituency). ⁦
Tories are reduced to 11 Councillors of 48.
⁦@LibDems⁩ #LocalElections2023 #EsherandWalton pic.twitter.com/9nJdDEFlkN

— Monica Harding (@monicabeharding) May 5, 2023

Monica Harding is the PPC for Esher & Walton (Dominic Raab’s seat) which covers most of Elmbridge District. We also took a County Council seat from the Tories in a by-election in Walton.

Elsewhere we have held onto control in Bath & NE Somerset, Winchester, Eastbourne, Mole Valley, Woking, Three Rivers, Hinckley & Bosworth, Oadby & Wigston, Chelmsford, St Albans and Watford. In most cases we increased the number of Lib Dem councillors.

Great results – congratulations all round!

* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.