The Conservatives are facing a tough fight in the local elections, the party chairman has admitted.Theresa May hit back at critics on Sunday saying that although the polls on May 1 would be a "difficult battleground'', the results would not be seen as a test of Iain Duncan Smith's leadership.

The party had "moved on", May told GMTV, and the party's standing on May 2 would be a staging post on the way to the general election.

"I think that what this is, the May election, it's a staging post, it's one part of the process as we move on to the next general election," she said.

"These elections are not going to be easy for us as a party because the last time most of these seats were up for election we made very significant gains - so for the first time for many years we're actually starting from a very high base when we look at these elections. They are going to be a difficult battleground for us, we'll fight them on the local issues."

May predicted that the Conservatives would capitalise on a confident performance by Duncan Smith during the Iraq crisis and the war had heightened disillusionment among Labour voters.

"I think the biggest impact that we have seen has come in relation to the Labour party and the way in which we've seen the Labour party struggling to find candidates and I suspect that we will see many Labour activists unwilling to campaign," May said.

"I think also the Labour Party has found it very difficult finding people willing to stand up and support the party's name because of the government's failure."

After a period of "a little turbulence" the party chairman claimed there was "a different mood amongst Tories at Westminster and in the party as a whole".