Warwickshire elections 2017: Conservatives take control

Warwickshire Conservative councillors celebrate taking overall control

The Conservatives have gained overall control of Warwickshire County Council after winning 36 of the 57 seats.

Labour group leader June Tandy was one of the high-profile casualties after losing her Attleborough seat to the Tories.

The authority previously had 62 councillors, but now has five fewer following a boundary review.

Council leader Izzi Seccombe, who held her seat in Stour & the Vale with 1,862 votes, said the result was "brilliant".

Election 2017: Full results from across England

"We've won really well in the north - this is straight Conservatives against Labour - we've seen Labour lose some really strategic seats and we've gained a lot," she added.

In 2013, the Conservatives had 26 seats, Labour had 22, the Lib Dems had nine, the Greens had two and there were three independents.

The Conservatives now hold 36 seats, Labour have 10, the Lib Dems seven and the Greens two, while Stratford First and Whitnash Residents Association each have one.

Analysis: Kathryn Stanczyszyn, BBC political reporter

The Conservatives of Warwickshire came to their overnight counts feeling confident - and that gut instinct proved correct.

Celebrating what she called a "sea of blue" across the county, leader Izzi Seccombe said the result was even better than she'd dared hope for - and put it down to hard work in areas of the north of the county that had been previously difficult to break.

But it's not just these extra victories that now give the Tories such a large majority on this county council - Labour saw its number more than halved.

The question now is whether the traditional Warwickshire battleground constituencies will see a similar bloodbath on 8 June.

Phil Johnson, chairman of the Labour group on the council, who lost his seat, said people have told him that Jeremy Corbyn's style "has been putting them off voting Labour".

Mr Johnson, who is also standing as Labour's candidate in Nuneaton at the 8 June general election, said national issues "swamped" the party's local campaign, adding: "I think while Jeremy Corbyn's policies are popular and can be quite well received by the public, his leadership style isn't."