Election night live blog

00:32 Conservatives have taken five seats from Labour in Sunderland - yes you read that right, five seats! If only they could get properly organised in South Tyneside.

In Sunderland they stood under the name “Local Conservatives”, biggest surprise is taking two wards in Washington, higher turnout in Conservative seats than Labour seats.

00:47 Guido has a live chat it’s err “interesting”

00:51 Conservative Home’s live blog reports that one of the Conservative gains in Sunderland moved the candidate from third to first place in the ward.

00:56 High turnout (44.6%) in Horsley Hill, where Arthur Meeks is defending for Labour in South Tyneside.

00:58 Labour lose Horsley Hill in South Tyneside to Independent Gordon Finch (former Progressive) 141 majority for Finch, unexpected result?

01:09 Tories now quarter of the way towards gaining 200 seats nationally.

01:16 44.6% turnout in Horsley Hill, if this is replicated in Beacon and Bents it will not bode well for defending Labour councillor John Wood.

01:17 Recount in Harton ward of South Tyneside, Jimmy Capstick(Progressive) in a spot of bother, Neil Maxwell (Labour) hoping to make a political comeback for Labour

01:22 41.5% turnout in Fellgate and Hedworth (South Tyneside) where Labour’s Leader Paul Waggott is defending

01:23 Five South Tyneside wards report turnouts of over 40%, Labour ought to be cautious, traditionally these numbers do not favour good results for them.

01:28 Huge 48% turnout in Cleadon Village and East Boldon (South Tyneside) expect a strong result for Conservative Jeff Milburn.

01:29 Capstick (Progressive) holds Harton ward (South Tyneside) by only three votes, Tory beaten into fourth place by BNP

01:29 Ahmed Khan takes Beacon and Bents (South Tyneside) for Independents by more than 400 votes from sitting Labour councillor, and former Mayor, John Wood. Conservative again beaten by BNP.

01:43 Independents gain another seat from Labour in South Tyneside, John Hodgson (a former Labour councillor) wins in Monkton ward defeating Labour’s Terry Fairley by 109.

01:46 Independent Allen Branley holds Westoe ward (South Tyneside) by huge margin over Fay Cunningham for Labour. (1259 majority)

01:52 Conservative have now nett gains of over 100 seats nationally.

01:55 Harton result has been removed from council website, is there another recount?

01:58 How much money has Ahmed Khan spent? I did warn he was determined to win!

02:00 South Tyneside’s Labour Leader has lost his seat in Fellgate and Hedworth to former Labour councillor Geraldine White (122 majority for the Independent.) It was predicted.

02:01 Cllr. Iain Malcolm to take over as Labour Group Leader on South Tyneside Council?

02:03 Joanne Bell holds Boldon Colliery (South Tyneside for Labour.

02:04 Joe Abbott (Lib-Dem) holds Hebburn North in South Tyneside.

02:06 John McCabe (Labour) holds Hebburn South in South Tyneside

02:09 Comfortable hold for Labour’s Ed Malcolm in Simonside and Rekendyke, South Tyneside

02:10 Labour Mayor Tracey Dixon holds Whitburn and Marsden, Fiona Milburn turns in a creditable performance for the Conservatives (if only Harry had stood again.)

02:11 Terry Haram holds Whiteleas for the Real Independents against a very strong challenge from Labour’s Doreen Purvis, (majority is down to only 70 votes.)

02:17 Veteran Labour councillor Tom Hanson beats off challenge from South Tyneside Independents in Bede ward

02:19 Jim Perry (Labour) wins from BNP in Primrose ward, another poor result for the Conservatives in South Tyneside

02:25 Jeff Milburn (Conservative) holds Cleadon Village and East Boldon with almost 38% of the vote.

02:26 Still waiting to see if Progressives have held West Park

02:29 Heart attack time for Labour in Biddick Hall and All Saints! Anne Walsh holds the seat for Labour with only ten votes to spare from Independent Steve Pattison!

02:30 Alex Donaldson holds Cleadon Park, South Tyneside for Labour, majority reduced to 113 over Independent.

02:33 Enid Hetherington holds West Park, South Tyneside for the Progressives.

02:35 Make up of South Tyneside Council is now: Labour 31 seats, Independent Alliance 12 seats, Progressives 5 seats, Conservatives 3 seats, Lib-Dems 3 seats. Labour has had a bad night losing four seats to the “hard left” Independents (Horsley Hill, Beacon and Bents, Fellgate and Hedworth, and Monkton.) The Conservatives have had a lacklustre performance here too, apart from Cleadon Village and East Boldon, and Whitburn and Marsden. Their neighbours elsewhere in the north-east have fared better. The Independents have done really well on the back of strong negative campaigning which in some wards was reduced down to the personal levels. Electoral turnout was highest in those wards which swung against Labour in seats which they held last year. Only John McCabe bucked that trend.

02:51 It is now 22 years since Labour did not have a majority in South Tyneside

02:56 Still waiting for results from North Tyneside where the Conservatives need only three gains to take control.

03:04 Conservatives have won control in Bury, one of their target councils. Labour’s share of the vote nationally looks like it has fallen to 25%, Conservatives projected at 44%, Sky News projects a Conservative majority of over 160 seats if a general election had been held yesterday. Looks like Boris will kick Ken Livingstone out of the Mayor’s office in London too. Ed Miliband says results so far for Labour are “disappointing”.

03:20 BBC are reporting the worst Labour results for 40 years, are they sure they want to hang on to Gordon Brown?

I’m off to bed now, the Lib-Dems aren’t dong too well either, Calamity Clegg’s leadership has not improved their results at all, they’ve even lost control of Liverpool.

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