Lib Dem deal salvages 'flagship'

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The party also reasserted its grip on former Labour stronghold Hull, which it first won last year only to see the city slip from its hands due to defections, and gained St Albans from no overall control.

Nick Clegg's party fell slightly short of its performance in 2004, when it was buoyed by opposition to the Iraq War.

But the Lib Dem leader insisted his party had done well in its first test with him at the helm, brushing aside claims that the results would be viewed as a disappointment.

He said that his party had broken the grip of Labour in the North and while making significant advances in the South.

"We have confounded the critics and the sceptics and gone forwards rather than backwards," he said.

"We've overtaken Labour. We have won seats and I was told we were going to lose them," he told the BBC.

"We're on the move again. We have confounded expectations and proved we are capable of winning seats from the Conservatives and Labour in their heartlands."

The Greens were celebrating in Norwich, where they leapfrogged Lib Dems to become the main opposition grouping on a council for the first time in their history - just two seats behind Labour.

And the far-right British National Party gained eight seats - two each in Rotherham, Nuneaton & Bedworth and Amber Valley and one in Pendle and Thurrock.