Local elections 2023: Conservatives lose control of Central Beds

The Conservatives have lost overall control of Central Bedfordshire Council in the local elections.

Independents took 27 seats, the Conservatives 20, the Liberal Democrats 10, Labour five and the Greens one.

Elsewhere in the county, Labour retained control of Luton Borough Council winning 30 out of 48 seats.

The council saw the Liberal Democrats take 15 seats and the Conservatives three.

• Conservatives lose overall control of Central Bedfordshire
• Labour retain Luton
• A recount is taking place in the council and mayoral votes in Bedford

In Central Bedfordshire no group has overall control of the council, with the Conservatives going from 38 councillors to 20.

Sir Richard Wenham, its Conservative leader, who won in the Clifton, Henlow and Langford ward, said: "Clearly it's very disappointing for us and unfortunately it follows the national trend.

"We have to respect the will of the voters and we will look now to work constructively for the benefit of all the residents in Central Bedfordshire.

"On the doorstep people were very unhappy with the national government and that's been shown at the ballot box, and we've lost some very good and hard-working candidates."

Before the count at Luton, Labour had 28 councillors, the Liberal Democrats 17, the Conservatives two and one independent. This year there were boundary changes in the town.

Twenty of the 48 new councillors did not serve in the previous term, the council said.

The leader of Luton Borough Council, Hazel Simmons, who was reselected for Lewsey ward, said: "We've got more women [councillors] than men, we're very pleased with the results.

"This has been a good win for us, it was a hard fought battle for us and Lib Dems.

"It's not been an easy four years for us."

Robin Porter, Luton's returning officer, said: "There has been significant change in personnel now elected to serve as councillors and I anticipate all will assume their roles with great vigour and energy.

"With a change in the ward boundaries and perhaps, above all else, the introduction of photo ID, these were elections unlike no other.

"It felt very much as if both election staff and voters were entering new territory."

Meanwhile, a recount of the Bedford mayor votes has been announced - with counting yet to start for Bedford Borough Council.

Liberal Democrat Dave Hodgson has held the post of mayor since 2009.

The turnout for the mayoral elections was 35%, the borough said.

Amy Holmes, BBC 3CR political reporter

In the Bedford mayoral election there are five candidates waiting to find out the results, including the current mayor, Liberal Democrat, Dave Hodgson.

I'm told there have been quite a few delays - they're currently having to recount a few of the batches as it's closer than expected, so we don't have any timescale.

Because of that they haven't started counting in the Bedford Borough, where a full council election is taking place. No party has had overall control.

Elsewhere in the county, the Conservatives have had a horrible 24 hours.

They've lost Central Beds, where the independents are now the largest party.

They did pretty well in 2019 and before the election, all the parties, apart from the Conservatives, were telling me they had a chance here.

They have come close to having full control of the council, so they'll now have the opportunity to talk to the other parties, so we will have to watch that space very carefully to see what deal could be done.

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