Thursday's elections saw modest gains for the Conservatives.

On a night when the party was looking for signs of revival under the post-general election leadership of Iain Duncan Smith, results indicate the party has gained a net 234 new councillors.

The Conservatives had seen a net gain of nine new councils, including Peterborough and Stroud (both from no overall control) and Welwyn Hatfield (from Labour).

There were also gains for the party in London, where it gained Barnet and Redbridge from no overall control and Enfield, which it took from Labour.

But the party also lost one of only two metropolitan councils it held, as Calderdale in West Yorkshire went no overall control. They also lost control in Cheltenham, Worthing and Eastbourne.

The Conservatives were also slightly ahead of Labour in terms of share of the vote, taking 34 per cent to Labour's 33 per cent. The Liberal Democrats gained a 27 per cent share.

At a time when polls have indicated public disillusionment with Labour's delivery on improvements to public services, the Conservative vote was up just one per cent on what they received during last June's landslide election defeat.

The swing falls well short of what the Conservatives would require to oust Tony Blair from Downing Street in a general election.

The party said that in a "tough" round of local elections it had "made progress".

Conservative deputy leader Michael Ancram told the BBC that the party was "making steady progress in the seats we need to win back."

"Eleven months after an election, we wouldn't expect to see an enormous yearning for change," he said.

Ancram added that Budget tax rises to boost NHS funding had failed to benefit Labour.

"What is interesting is that it is two weeks after a Budget which we were told was going to substantially benefit Labour's position. It hasn't," he said.

"We are at a very early stage in building our policies and developing the way we are going forward, I think we can be satisfied that we are making the progress we wanted to make."