THE Tories may have suffered a mauling on the national stage but in Hampshire they managed once again to romp home ahead in the county council elections.

Despite the national party being left in disarray by yesterday's resignation of William Hague, the Conservatives saw their fortunes in the local contest soar.

Not only were they returned to power with 46 seats on the 74-seat local authority but they also saw their lead over the opposition parties stretch to a comfortable 18 seats.

The Liberal Democrats managed to pick up 19 seats while Labour had to settle for just nine.

Independent candidates and the United Kingdom Independence Party failed to make an impact on the polls.

Despite a fairly low turnout for the contest dubbed the forgotten election, leader of the county council Ken Thornber was cheered to have bucked the trend of the national election.

Cllr Thornber said: "I'm delighted that Hampshire's voters have given us a mandate to continue the work we have achieved over the last four years.

"We aim to give the people of Hampshire even better and more efficient services, through prudent use of our resources and astute forward planning."

The results of the elections came as no great surprise to pundits, failing to differ greatly from the figures of the last electoral turnout in 1997.

Then a hung Liberal Democrat and Labour administration switched to become a Conservative stronghold, resting on a 12-seat lead with 43 Tories, 21 Liberal Democrats, eight Labour and two others.

But this time around there were some political knockouts with the Tories making inroads into both the New Forest and Fareham areas.

Meanwhile, the Lib Dems grasped new power in Fair Oak and West End, Fawley, and at Hound.

In the latter Eastleigh ward, well-known local Tory and veteran borough councillor Bill Pepper lost out to the leader of Eastleigh Borough Council himself, Keith House.

Cllr House vowed he would work within the county authority to make sure the voices of thousands of residents in the county's southern parishes were heard.

He said: "I hope the Conservative county council will start to listen to the people of the Hamble peninsula rather than ignore them as they have done in the past."

Elsewhere in the county there was little shift in the balance of power, leaving Conservatives able to claim their previous record over the past four years had seen them through.

New Forest District Council leader Simon Hayes returned for his second term representing Lymington and Pennington.

He said: "I think that we have shown that we offer a good quality of service and we do so consistently.

"If you compare Hampshire's services with others, they are of a high standard and people recognise that Conservative councils do deliver good services," he added.

But with social services and house-building remaining high on the political agenda, they will have their work cut out in the next few years.

While Labour may have put on a disappointing performance locally, its landslide victory nationally will see the government hold an even stronger hand when dealing with local authorities.

And the nine Labour county councillors will still be sure to fight their corner wherever possible.

Among them Peter Luffman, who represents Eastleigh South, said: "I'm looking forward to the challenge.

"As a borough councillor in Eastleigh I have always been in the minority party but have managed to achieve quite a considerable amount at the end of the day.

"I shouldn't think that will alter when we have to take on the large administration that the Conservatives have."

SEE TODAY'S DAILY ECHO FOR FULL COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTION RESULTS