Labour'S seemingly unshakeable majority in Southampton has been swept away as, last night, Tories and Liberal Democrats fought back to seize seats across the city.

Some 13 years of Labour rule vanished in a night as five seats fell - three to the Tories, who provided the youngest councillor for the council in 22-year-old Stephen Day - and two to the Liberal Democrats.

The city now faces either a coalition or a minority administration. Current leader June Bridle revealed she would be talking to both the Lib Dem leader Adrian Vinson and Tory leader David Abraham.

She would not admit she was disappointed. "These things happen. Obviously people will now have to sit down and talk seriously about the future."

She held onto her seat in Sholing - but only by 59 votes. Three independent candidates in Bargate helped split the vote allowing deputy leader John Arnold back in, though with the lowest turnout in the city at just 17.2 per cent. Across the city it was 25 per cent.

Long-term Labour councillor and former leader Richard Bates lost out, after doing a deal to flee his Coxford seat to what was seen as the safer Shirley. There, the Tories returned to seize a seat they held in the 80s. And colleague Parvin Damani lost in inner city St Lukes, which is rapidly becoming Tory territory after Conor Burns seized a seat in the ward last year, capitalising on discontent over the stadium relocation.

Both opposition leaders said they were "delighted" by the results. The Tories also gained Harefield - where Labour threw away their own popular local candidate, Alan Lloyd - and Shirley following the retirement of Labour's former mayor Dorian Attwood, who left declaring he had no confidence in his own party..

Tory leader David Abraham has to wait until this morning to find out if he has held onto his own Bassett seat, which fell under the Romsey constituency. But he said: "The people of Southampton have said quite clearly they want a change."

The Lib Dems won Coxford, thrashing Labour's candidate by 762 votes, and also took the Labour-stronghold Woolston, with a 33 vote majority. Leader Adrian Vinson vowed: "We must now put the city's future ahead of party political interest".

The make up of Southampton city council is now Labour 22; Liberal Democrats 16 and Conservative 6, with Bassett still to declare this morning.

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