This year's local elections are about choosing representatives to run almost 150 councils in England. They are the last chance for voters to register their views on the parties at Westminster before the next General Election. In 1995 the Conservatives lost more than 2,000 council seats and with them control of 62 councils. This year they have a tough job on their hands defending seats won only weeks after their 1992 General Election victory.

David Dimbleby and Peter Snow bring you the results as they come in and provide analysis of what they mean at local and national level.