Local elections 2023: Is this the start of a new era in Norfolk politics?

In Great Yarmouth, the Conservatives lost a slender majority

It's hard to think of an occasion when there has been so much political change in Norfolk in one day.

A county which has always had a reputation for being reliably Conservative has seen three of its councils fall into no overall control.

In Broadland, the Tories lost 12 seats, including that of their leader.

In King's Lynn and West Norfolk, they lost seven, bringing 20 years of Conservative rule on the authority to an end.

'Send message to government'

In Great Yarmouth, the Tories lost control thanks to a majority of one vote in one of the seats.

All the parties agree that voters wanted to send a message to the government.

The Greens took two seats from Labour in Norwich

I am told that the cost of living and the NHS came up regularly on the doorstep.

And the fact that Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens and independents made gains suggest that voters chose whoever stood the best chance of toppling the local Conservative.

Will this anger be short-lived or is this the start of a new era in Norfolk politics?

• Conservatives lose councils and seats in Norfolk

The opposition parties are obviously pleased with their gains but there will be questions about why they didn't do better.

The Liberal Democrats lost five seats in their North Norfolk heartland - they had been expecting to make further gains (although the party is claiming that in the actual constituency, it won the popular vote).

While in its two traditional bases of support, Labour lost seats to the Greens on Norwich City Council and failed to take overall control of Great Yarmouth, despite a major push which included a visit from Sir Keir Starmer.

A party hoping to win the next general election might have been expected to perform better in these places.

And this is why the Tories will not be completely downbeat following these elections. They believe voter support for the other parties is quite flimsy and its traditional supporters will return. At least they hope they will.

But for now politics in Norfolk has just become a little bit more exciting.

• Who won in my area?