Turnout in the local elections was better than feared although the evening delivered much good or bad news for the three main parties.

In mixed results both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives made modest gains at Labour's expense but no major breakthroughs were made by the opposition.

In Burnley the BNP won three seats but failed to take hold elsewhere in the country.

Hartlepool caused the biggest upset when the town voted-in the football mascot H'Angus the Monkey as mayor.