Sarah Jenkins
BBC News

Alec Campbell, the Conservative leader at St Albans District Council, has said he is "disappointed" with the result which led to him losing his seat.

Mr Campbell said the result was "far worse" than he thought it would be.

"We [St Albans] were a pretty strong remain area and the opposition capitalised on that," he said.

"There has been a lot of dissatisfaction among Conservative voters over the Withdrawal Agreement or Brexit in general and we are having to live with it.

"The results show overall there has been a twitch from Conservative towards Liberal Democrats.

"We have to accept mistakes have been made and we are not where we want to be."

Ben Schofield
Political Reporter, BBC Look East

With more councils being declared, two trends are emerging: the Conservatives taking a hit and the Liberal Democrats gaining ground.

In Welwyn Hatfield the Conservatives are now two short of a majority, having previously controlled the council by a whisker. The Lib Dems saw their seat tally here increase from eight to 12.

The Tories kept firm hold of East Hertfordshire Council, albeit with a reduced majority. The Lib Dems here have seen their ranks swell from just one councillor to six.

Little changed in Labour-held Stevenage and Luton.

The Green Party have two new seats in East Hertfordshire,

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

St Albans Liberal Democrat Chris White said it "remains to be seen" who will have control in the new council which has moved from Conservative to No Overall Control. The Lib Dems now have 25 councillors to the Tories 23, who also lost their leader.

"No doubt there will be discussions among the parties as to who will be leader of the council, I don't know how those discussions will go," he said.

"We could be talking coalition, we could be talking going it alone but whatever happens there's going to be some significant change in St Albans."

He said a "combination of things" had led to the party' success in the city including the "Brexit backlash", the "strength of our Parliamentary candidate" Daisy Cooper, and "a very simple clear manifesto about improving the environment, improving community facilities, and generally tidying the council up" which "clearly resonates with the voters".

Liberal Democrats have been celebrating in St Albans after gaining eight seats.

Image source, Sandy Walkington

Sandy Walkington (second right) is pictured with Stephen Barrett who won Verulam from the Conservatives and Mandy McNeil and Emma Matanle who won the two seats being contested in Sopwell, gaining from Labour.

The Lib Dems gained five other seats across St Albans and held all the ones they were defending.

Mr Walkington said it "looks like other results across England have been equally sensational".

The Conservatives have held Dacorum despite losing 15 seats.

The Lib Dems have picked up 16 seats and an independent has gained one, while Labour lost two seats.

The council is now made up of 31 Conservative councillors, 19 Lib Dems and an independent. Labour lost the only two councillors it had.

Andy Holmes
BBC Three Counties Radio political reporter

We're not even halfway there with the results yet, but 3 May is not a great day to be waking up as a Conservative in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

Although they've held on to Broxbourne, Hertsmere, Dacorum and East Herts councils, they've lost overall control of both Welwyn Hatfield and St Albans, where Tory Leader Alec Campbell has lost his seat.

The Lib Dems have been the biggest benefactors from all of this, gaining more than 20 seats, while Labour have held Luton and Stevenage.

Friday's counts include all of Central Beds, Bedford's Mayoral election and a third of Milton Keynes Council, where the Tories are defending 12 seats.

And that means the day could yet get worse for the Conservatives.

The Tories have held Dacorum Borough Council.

Find your result and follow the others as they come in using our interactive map.

The Conservatives have held Hertsmere Borough Council, having won 28 of the 39 seats so far but counting has been postponed until later today for a recount in one ward to take place.

The Conservatives retained control at East Hertfordshire District Council, despite losing five seats.

The Lib Dems gained five seats and Labour and the Greens both gained two seats each. Four previous independent councillors did not stand for re-election.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council has moved to No Overall Control as the Conservatives lost power.

The Tories lost two seats to the Lib Dems, who also took two seats from Labour.

The Conservatives have retained control at East Hertfordshire District Council despite losing five seats.

The Conservatives have lost power in Welwyn Hatfield as the council goes to No Overall Control.

Labour have held on to control of Luton but lost three seats to the Lib Dems, who also took a seat from the Conservatives.

Image source, Luton Borough Council

The breakdown of the council is now: Labour 32, Lib Dems 12 and Conservatives four.

The overall turnout was 29.37% and the number of votes cast was 42,904.

Returning officer Laura Church said: "This has been another successful day for democracy in Luton."

Labour retain control of Luton.

The Conservatives have held control of Hertsmere Borough Council

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

The Conservatives have lost power in St Albans after losing six seats to the Lib Dems, one to Labour and one to an independent.

Council leader Alec Campbell was among the Tories who lost their seats.

The Lib Dems also took one seat from Labour and one vacant seat in Sopwell ward.

Overall turnout was 39.9%.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

As expected, Labour has retained control in Stevenage where a third of the seats were up for election.

Of the 13 seats, Labour won nine, gaining two from the Conservatives but losing one to the Lib Dems, giving them 27 seats in total - a gain of one.

The Conservatives won the other two of the four seats they were defending, giving them seven seats on the council.

The Lib Dems also won two seats, giving them a total of five.

In St Albans, the Tories have lost power as the council goes to No Overall Control.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

Earlier we told you that the Liberal Democrats had gained four seats from the Conservatives in St Albans.

Council leader Alec Campbell was among the Tories to lose their seats. He lost St Peters ward to Will Tucker.

Mr Tucker got 1,365 votes to Mr Campbell's 505. The turnout for the ward was 41%.