AS predicted, it was a tough night for Labour across the country and Wearside was no different.

Not only did Labour fail to hang on to seats in St Chad's, Washington South and Washington East – where the writing was pretty much on the wall – but also faced defeat in the formerly staunch Labour Ryhope.

The party also lost out in Copt Hill and Houghton, where independent candidates from the pressure group Residents Against Toxic Site (Rats) knocked-out sitting Labour councillors after campaigning against the Biffa landfill site.

In Doxford, where the party was hoping to retake a seat after Labour defector George Blyth stood down, they looked on as the Tories snatched if from under their noses.

A little comfort did come when Labour retook Hendon, where former council leader Bryn Sidaway quit the party to sit as an independent in 2006.

Labour will have just 48 councillors in its ranks at the next full council meeting, compared with its 53-strength group before election night.

But Sunderland City Council leader Bob Symonds was keen to point out that holding 48 seats out of 75 is not to be sniffed at, and was probably modest when he said Labour still had a "reasonable opportunity" of driving its five-year plan for the city forward.

He said: "We lost some very, very good ward councillors and some good colleagues, but at the end of the day that's part of the progress that's been made in the city.

"We've seen new development right across the city and this is what it's all about."

Coun Symonds is also confident that the party will be back on form by the time the next council election comes round in 2010, and puts the disappointing results down to bad press nationally and protest voters that he thinks will come back into the fold in two-years time.

Conservatives believe a date with the hangman now awaits Labour 'monkey'
THE saying goes that a monkey with a red rosette could win in some wards in the city.

But after last night, can the Tories hang that Labour monkey?

Their leader, Coun Lee Martin, prictured right, thinks so and believes they have already started to build the gallows.

Before the last election in 2007, Labour held all three seats in all five wards in Washington and the Tories had never had a look-in.

But last year they took two at election night and one at a by-election, and built on that success on Thursday by taking two more in the new town.

Washington East is now completely blue, with all three seats occupied by the Tories; the same is the case in St Chad's.

And Ryhope, where the Tories were once lucky to get 300 votes, also fell to the Conservatives – perhaps the biggest surprise on Thursday, despite Coun Martin's confidence beforehand.

Doxford also went Tory instead of Labour where both parties were hoping to pick up the seat after independent George Blyth stepped down.

Coun Martin says his party has "driven a coach and horses" through Labour's majority and pointed out that Labour had taken just 13 of the 25 seats up for grabs on Thursday, with 12 going to the opposition groups.

"Hardly the Labour stronghold people thought it might have been," he said.

He now thinks a "domino effect" will follow as people in Sunderland realise the impossible is possible – the Tories can win.

As well as the Conservative's gains, it also polled well in unusual areas for the party, such as Southwick, where it got 702 votes to Labour's 1,151; and in Pallion where it got 645 votes to Labour's 1,055.

Still a way to go, but Coun Martin says it shows his group's support is building
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He said: "The big thing that's key is people believing we can win – and I don't believe there's anyone in Sunderland now that doesn't believe the Conservatives can win.

"It's only 10 years ago we were down to four seats in Sunderland. We've got 22 now."

But what does a higher number of Conservative councillors – 22 – actually mean for the party and the way it goes about its business.

The Tories say the council should now increase the number of seats it holds on scrutiny committees from three to four, and this will better enable them to hold the ruling Labour group and council officials to account.

Coun Martin said it would also put pressure on the council to give the Tory party seats on external bodies such as the Empire Theatre Trust.

What now for Labour leader?
QUESTION mark once again hangs over the future of Sunderland City Council leader Bob Symonds.

The Sunderland Labour party holds it's annual meeting today and a leadership challenge is once again expected from Deputy Council leader Paul Watson.

Last year, Coun Symonds hung on after beating off his rival by just six votes.


BNP fails to get foothold
DESPITE fielding a candidate in 24 of Wearside's 25 wards, the BNP once again failed to get a foothold in Sunderland.

Its highest number of votes came in Southwick, where the party's Sunderland organiser Alan Brettwood polled 530, coming in third behind Labour and the Conservatives.

The party did, however, come second in Redhill where John Martin got 517 votes, but was still almost 800 votes behind Labour.

The BNP's failure to win a seat came after Sunderland AFC backed a campaign to urge people not too vote for the far-right party.

And the Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, also voiced his concerns at the BNP making political in-roads in the North East in the run up to the election.

Rats on the council
THE many neighbours of the Biffa landfill site in Houghton that want to see it shut down now have three representatives fighting their corner on the city council.

Last year saw Residents Against Toxic Site (Rats) chairman Colin Wakefield defeat Labour in the Copt Hill ward on the issue of the dump.

And this year stalwarts Sheila Ellis and Derrick Smith knocked out Labour in Houghton and Copt Hill – with Coun Ellis defeating former Labour big-wig Joe Lawson, who was responsible for transport and regeneration in the city until last month.

"I think it's a victory of common sense for the people of the Houghton ward who are sick and tired of being taken for granted for too long," said Coun Ellis.