Vote 2011: Conservatives and Liberal Democrats reaction
The year after a general election a newly-elected government normally gets a kicking at the polls, but Thursday's polls saw Conservatives make gains in the local elections, while their junior partners appeared to take all the pain.
Max Cotton reports on how the members of the coalition parties see the way forward - as he spoke to Lib Dem councillors in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Lord Oakeshott and Tory MP Nadine Dorries.