After a hard fought and exciting election camapign, the residents of Newcastle-under-Lyme delivered their verdict on the Conservative-led Borough Council in the ballot boxes on Thursday 1st May.

As the polls closed at 10pm, the ballot boxes were locked away before the count the following morning. Arriving at the count, candidates and party activists reflected the the mood in the Nation as news filtered in from across the UK. The Conservatives had stormed to victory winning councils in the North of England as well as taking seats in Labour heartlands in Wales, and the last bastions of New Labour's 1997 victory - removing Labour from their last power hold of Reading in the South of England. (more?)