Government 'harmed Plymouth Conservatives'

The outgoing leader of Plymouth City Council, Conservative Vivien Pengelly, has said the coalition government and the national Tory party "harmed Plymouth Conservatives" in the local elections.

Labour now has 31 seats to the Conservatives' 26 on the 57-seat unitary authority.

Ms Pengelly said several national incidents - including the so-called patsy tax, the 50p tax rate and Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt's handling of News Corp's proposed takeover of broadcaster BSkyB - had resulted in protest votes across the city.