The Tories were braced for major losses as polls closed in local elections across the country.
Theresa May’s party was predicted to lose more than 800 council seats as some 248 English town halls went to the polls on Thursday amid the ongoing Brexit crisis.
With most electoral battles fought in Tory shires, the Conservatives could lose around a sixth of their seats, with the Lib Dems the most likely to benefit, Tory peer and polling expert Lord Hayward has said.
Hayward predicts that Lib Dems could gain 500 or more seats and Labour around 300. Any gains higher than this would be regarded as a big success for the two opposition parties, he said.
Vince Cable’s party was poised to be the success story of the night, with grassroots campaigners aiming to give the governing party a bloody nose in Bath, North East Somerset, Winchester and Wokingham.
While Labour will be aiming to wrest control of key battlegrounds in Trafford, Crawley and Walsall, large-scale gains for Jeremy Corbyn are unlikely given many elections take place in northern strongholds his party already controls.
Other areas hotly contested include Dudley and Derby, where Labour could gain overall control, while in Swindon, Great Yarmouth, Redditch and St Albans, control could slip out of Tory hands.
The Greens were also hopeful of taking a slew of seats from Labour in Brighton, where the party’s only MP, Caroline Lucas, has established a base.
Nearly 60% of the 8,425 seats up for grabs in England are currently Conservative, with a quarter held by Labour.
Polls have also been held for six elected mayors in Bedford, Copeland, Leicester, Mansfield, Middlesbrough and the new North of Tyne devolved regional authority.
A majority of seats involved were last contested in 2015, when former Prime Minister David Cameron was at the height of his popularity having just won an overall majority.
Then, Tories comfortably topped the poll, gaining 32 councils and 541 councillors as Labour and the Liberal Democrats both slumped.
The polls will be swiftly followed by elections to the European Parliament on May 23 - unless the Prime Minister is able to ratify her Brexit deal in time to halt them.
However, local results may not be a good guide to the Euro-elections, as neither Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party nor the Remain-backing Change UK are fielding candidates on May 2.
Polls suggest the European elections may be treated as a proxy second referendum by many voters, with Tories currently trailing in third place behind the Brexit Party and Labour.