Local elections 2023: 'People are very unhappy with the government'

A council leader said his party lost overall control of the authority in the local elections because voters were so unhappy with the national government.

The Conservatives dropped from 38 councillors to 20 on Central Bedfordshire Council, while independents took 27 seats, the Liberal Democrats 10, Labour five and the Greens one.

Sir Richard Wenham, its Tory leader, said: "Clearly it's very disappointing for us and unfortunately it follows the national trend.

"On the doorstep people were very unhappy with the national government and that's been shown at the ballot box, and we've lost some very good and hard-working candidates."