THE Conservatives increased their majority in the council chamber in the local elections but have warned of tough times ahead.

In what was a good night for the Tories, they managed to increase their majority to seven, taking some big seats.

There were 19 seats up for election, with four changing hands.

The Conservatives now have 32 seats in the chamber, with Labour remaining on 23, while the Liberal Democrats were reduced to just two.

Lydiard and Freshbrook went from Labour to the Conservatives, while the winning party also took Wroughton and Wichelstowe from the Lib Dems.

Despite the positives, council leader David Renard, who won his Haydon Wick seat, said some tough decisions would need to be made over the next year in the face of heavy budget pressures.

He said: “It was a very good night. It was the night we hoped for and until the electorate speak you don’t know how it will go.

“I think what has surprised us is the size of the majorities we won the parliamentary and council seats by. We won the seats we thought we could win but by a much bigger majority.

“We are in stronger position to get things through but nevertheless I’ve got no doubt that whatever they may be they will be unpopular with some and we will handle them as best we can “But you can only spend the money you have in the pot. The hard work will start next week.

“We need to hit the ground running and analyse what difficult decisions need to be made.”

For Labour, it was mixed night as although they lost the West Swindon seat, they gained from the Liberal Democrats in West Swindon.

However, Cllr Jim Grant, the Labour leader who also won his seat, conceded the party had a lot of work to do if they wanted to win the support of residents.

“I am quite pleased with have managed to hold onto our 23 seats,” he said. “Admittedly we have lost a good councillor in Lydiard and Freshbrook but we have gained a good one in Eastcott.

“I hope from that position we can go forward in future years. Certainly in the parliamentary elections it has been nothing short of a disaster for Labour and there’s no two ways around that.

“Locally, we are in a position to start fighting back on the council but clearly we have a lot of work to do and that starts now.”

Like the country as a whole, it was a poor night for the Liberal Democrats who saw their councillors cut in half.

It was also a disappointing night for Ukip, which secured 22 per cent of the popular vote last year but were unable to capitalise this time around.

Local leader John Short said: “It’s a disappointing night. I thought we would have got one or two councillors in, although we have come third in both the parliamentary elections.

“But I truly believe we will live to fight another day.

“Ukip has now established itself as the third party in Swindon so we will go from strength to strength. We need to get local people onside, get the right policies and get the right programmes.”

For the Green Party, it was a strong night and the party is now looking build on the votes they received.

Rodbourne candidate, Rod Hebdon, said: “It’s actually been incredible. We’ve come from a position of having very few candidates and we’ve had a full slate.

“A lot of us are new and very inexperienced but actually we’ve really brought it to Swindon.

“We’ve increased our share of the vote pretty much across the board and actually, despite the numbers, a lot of people have been surprised by our campaign. Everywhere they were leafleting we were there.

“For us this is day one.”