St Albans City & District Council

Alec Campbell, the Conservative leader at St Albans District Council, has said he is "disappointed" with the result which led to him losing his seat.

Mr Campbell said the result was "far worse" than he thought it would be.

"We [St Albans] were a pretty strong remain area and the opposition capitalised on that," he said.

"There has been a lot of dissatisfaction among Conservative voters over the Withdrawal Agreement or Brexit in general and we are having to live with it.

"The results show overall there has been a twitch from Conservative towards Liberal Democrats.

"We have to accept mistakes have been made and we are not where we want to be."

BBC

St Albans Liberal Democrat Chris White said it "remains to be seen" who will have control in the new council which has moved from Conservative to No Overall Control. The Lib Dems now have 25 councillors to the Tories 23, who also lost their leader.

BBC

"No doubt there will be discussions among the parties as to who will be leader of the council, I don't know how those discussions will go," he said.

"We could be talking coalition, we could be talking going it alone but whatever happens there's going to be some significant change in St Albans."

He said a "combination of things" had led to the party' success in the city including the "Brexit backlash", the "strength of our Parliamentary candidate" Daisy Cooper, and "a very simple clear manifesto about improving the environment, improving community facilities, and generally tidying the council up" which "clearly resonates with the voters".

Liberal Democrats have been celebrating in St Albans after gaining eight seats.

Sandy Walkington

Sandy Walkington (second right) is pictured with Stephen Barrett who won Verulam from the Conservatives and Mandy McNeil and Emma Matanle who won the two seats being contested in Sopwell, gaining from Labour.

The Lib Dems gained five other seats across St Albans and held all the ones they were defending.

Mr Walkington said it "looks like other results across England have been equally sensational".

We're not even halfway there with the results yet, but 3 May is not a great day to be waking up as a Conservative in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

Although they've held on to Broxbourne, Hertsmere, Dacorum and East Herts councils, they've lost overall control of both Welwyn Hatfield and St Albans, where Tory Leader Alec Campbell has lost his seat.

The Lib Dems have been the biggest benefactors from all of this, gaining more than 20 seats, while Labour have held Luton and Stevenage.

Friday's counts include all of Central Beds, Bedford's Mayoral election and a third of Milton Keynes Council, where the Tories are defending 12 seats.

And that means the day could yet get worse for the Conservatives.

The Conservatives have lost power in St Albans after losing six seats to the Lib Dems, one to Labour and one to an independent.

Council leader Alec Campbell was among the Tories who lost their seats.

The Lib Dems also took one seat from Labour and one vacant seat in Sopwell ward.

Overall turnout was 39.9%.

In St Albans, the Tories have lost power as the council goes to No Overall Control.

Earlier we told you that the Liberal Democrats had gained four seats from the Conservatives in St Albans.

Council leader Alec Campbell was among the Tories to lose their seats. He lost St Peters ward to Will Tucker.

Mr Tucker got 1,365 votes to Mr Campbell's 505. The turnout for the ward was 41%.

Votes are still being counted in Tory-controlled St Albans where a third of the councillors are up for election.

So far the Liberal Democrats have gained four seats from the Conservatives in Marshalswick South, Park Street, St Peters and Batchwood wards.

The Conservatives have a majority of 12 on the council and are defending 15 seats.