Leader Nick Clegg hails strong set of election results for Liberal Democrats

6.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 2nd May 2008

"This is a very strong performance and a great tribute to the hard work of our councillors up and down the country"

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has praised the party's strong performance in the local elections. Gordon Brown said it had been a "bad and disappointing" election for Labour, as the party suffered its worst council results in at least 40 years. BBC research suggests Labour won a national equivalent vote share of 24% of votes cast in England and Wales, behind the Tories on 44% and Lib Dems on 25%.

Labour has lost a staggering 400 plus councillors and nine councils, including Reading and Wolverhampton. The Lib Dems gained more than 30 councillors on top of an already impressive 2004 performance, and have taken four new councils - Sheffield, Hull, St Albans and Burnley.

"These are a very strong set of results for the party. Against the predictions of most pundits, we have successfully defended the record number of council seats that we won in 2004 - the best ever year for Liberal Democrats - and for only the second time in our history, we have outpolled Labour. This is a very strong performance and a great tribute to the hard work of our councillors up and down the country. It has been a very good night for us." (Clegg)