LIBERAL Democrats stayed firmly in control of Eastleigh council last night, cruising past the winning post to remain the biggest party with three results yet to be declared.

The Romsey parliamentary by-election - which involved three Eastleigh wards - meant that counts for the Chandler's Ford, Hiltingbury East and Hiltingbury West borough seats were not due to take place until later today.

But the triumphant Lib Dems did not need to rely on those results to know that they were back in the seat of power.

State of the parties before the election for 15 seats was: Lib Dems 29 seats; Labour eight; Conservatives seven.

And the golden tidal wave passed the magical 23 seats they needed to keep hold of their town hall power base, holding on to six seats, gaining one and losing two.

However, it was also a good night for the Tories who held on to Hamble with an increased majority, took Botley and Hedge End St John's from the ruling party and came within a whisker of snatching Bursledon and Eastleigh West.

If the Conservatives hold on to their two Hiltingbury seats today they will take over from Labour as the second biggest party on the council.

It was a bad night for the Labour group who saw sitting Bursledon candidate Diane Andrewes ousted. They held two seats, but failed to add to their tally.

UK Independence Party candidates had a dismal night, scoring just 118 votes in two wards while a solitary Green Party candidate recorded 66 votes.

In an effort to encourage a bigger turnout, Eastleigh took part in a pilot scheme to give postal votes on request - apart from electors in wards covered by the parliamentary by-election. The council received 3,265 applications and just over 2,600 voted by post.

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