Voters in England and Wales have given the Labour Party what its own deputy leader, John Prescott, described as a ‘kicking’.
The party has suffered one of its worst local election results in living memory.
With almost all the results in, Labour has lost 461 seats and control of eight councils. The Conservatives gained 259 seats.
The Labour Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone has been re-elected for another four year term, but the Labour party lost control of a number of other major cities, including some of its former strongholds.
Mr Prescott has blamed anger over the Iraq war for the loss of nearly 300 council seats in the Local Elections.
The party has been beaten into third place behind the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats.
Dutch release preliminary results
In a separate development, the Dutch government has released preliminary results from its European Elections, which were held yesterday.
The move is in defiance of a European Commission order which blocks publication until after all other EU member states have finished voting.
The Dutch government, which now faces possible legal action, said it released the results in the interest of greater transparency.
