Alan Connett, who retained his seat in Kenton with Starcross for the Lib Dems, said: 'In 20 years in local government, I have never taken any election for granted.'

He said the electorate had rewarded him for the hard work that had been done in the local community.

He said after the count: 'We will carry on being an effective opposition. Where we've worked hard, we've done well.

'We went into this election with 10 seats and we've come out with 11.

'We've lost in some places but not by much.

'Given the national backdrop, the party locally has performed quite well.'

Of the general election result, he said: 'It's been an awful night for the party nationally.

'I think we have suffered for doing the right thing for the country.'

He suspected that David Cameron now had made himself a 'hostage' to backbenchers which had not been the case for the last five years because of the Liberal Democrats in the coalition.

'We have to go back to do what we did very well and that's campaigning in the community.

'We've got to get back onto the streets and knocking on doors again.'