The Labor Party regained control of the Southampton City Council after a year in power.
The incredibly tense race led to a loss of control of the government just 12 months after gaining a majority.
This comes after several polls pointed to a Labor victory in the city before the census even began.
At the beginning of the evening, the council consisted of 18 Conservatives and 13 Labor, with a total of 17 elected seats.
There are now 26 Labor councilors, 21 Conservatives and one Liberal Democrat.
Read more: Southampton City Council Elections – How the Night Turned
Cllr Daniel Fitzhenry, who was the leader of the council before tonight, said the party had done “everything we could at the local level”.
But the council’s new leader, Labor Satvir Kaur, told Echo that the Conservative administration was “just as out of touch as the Conservative government”.
Cllr Kaur added: “It’s so humiliating that Southampton have regained Labor’s confidence in running our city.
“We had an amazing night and we have some amazing local candidates who have now been elected councilors.
“In Southampton, Labor had a really strong campaign, we had a new vision for Southampton and I am so pleased that the people of Southampton felt as if they could support us and we hope to succeed for the people of Southampton.
“But I also think that this election was really clearly connected to the national picture, and we talked to so many people on their doorstep who said they were so eager to send a message to this conservative government, and hopefully that’s so. ”
The result shows that the Conservative Party lost a total of four seats and Labor won four, while the Liberal Democrats won their first seat on the city council in almost ten years.
As a result, former cabinet member Stephen Galton lost his seat on the Millbrook council.
Cllr Fitzhenry added: “[It’s] disappointing that we are not running the council after what I think was a great year for a Conservative-led council.
“Obviously we had a few results that were quite difficult, which we did not expect, but in fact in three wards in the western part of the city, we lost one very closely, and two we looked again and fell behind very little, less than 100. So from this perspective, if this is our low score, then in the end we are still in good shape. ”
Read more: Complete list of results for Southampton City Council
Asked about the reason for the result tonight, Cllr Fitzhenry said: “Obviously different people have a view of the Prime Minister, some like him a lot, others don’t, and maybe that’s reflected, I don’t really know. But there is a cost-of-living challenge that is happening right now.
“We have emerged from a pandemic and there are a number of difficult issues that the country has to deal with, and of course people are experiencing some level of insecurity and uncertainty. But as a conservative governing group, I believe we did the best job we could to give people, keep costs low, and hope to be back in a year to get back to work. ”
Labor won seats in Bitterne Park, Millbrook, Peartree and Shirley.
Meanwhile, Lib Dems won their place in Basset Hound.
Cllr Kaur continued: “Now I have an amazing, bigger team and we have no chance to go. Many thanks to everyone who trusted Labor.
“We strive to provide for you, to build the pride of the community, to make our city safer, greener and more accessible to all. Southampton has always been one of those places that revolves around roundabouts.
“There are projects we have done with the conservatives. I started with the City of Culture and I am so pleased that the Conservatives have continued this and will continue to have projects in which we will work in partnership for the best of the city.
“I think they need to think about it and learn some serious lessons both locally and nationally.
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