Tory councillor hails ‘incredible’ victory as party’s majority cut from nine to single seat

A Conservative councillor hailed what he said was an "incredible" victory as the party's Harlow Council majority was cut from nine to a single seat in Thursday’s (2 May) local elections.

Dan Swords said: "It's no secret the Conservative Party's in a difficult place at the moment, but here in Harlow we've bucked that trend."

The Tories retained control of Harlow Council by winning 17 seats to Labour's 16, with a turnout of just over 28 per cent.

It comes as Britain’s top polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice said the election “could be one of the worst, if not the worst, Conservative performances in local government elections of the last forty years."