Ex-Tories winning seats in Biggin Hill was not enough to stop a big Conservative majority in Bromley’s local election.

Independent councillors Julian Wybergh Benington and Melanie May Stevens won two seats in Biggin Hill following a fallout from the Conservatives earlier this year.

Elsewhere Labour won eight seats, but the Conservatives were voted in with 50 per cent of the vote, equating to 50 seats.

Colin Smith, leader of the last Council, was grateful the public had voted blue again.

He said:  “Their amazing support is something that my colleagues and I never have, nor ever will take for granted, and we will work tirelessly to ensure that loyalty is never disappointed.

“Politically, we are obviously delighted to have achieved such an outstanding result and to end the election with more Councillors than we began it, despite massive resources being deployed in our more marginal Wards by opposition activists, was a superb bonus very few people could foresee or were predicting.”

Labour won seats in Crystal Palace, Penge and Cator and Clock House in the east of the borough.

Bromley, the largest London borough, is one of just seven Conservative London councils.

It has been reported nationally, council funding have been slashed by 50 per cent since 2010, and Cllr Smith said focus must now be on tough decisions.

Cllr Smith added: “With all the excitement of election day and the celebrations which followed now behind us, it is now time to refocus on the job in hand.

“We face another four years of very difficult central Government funding reductions to navigate and tough decisions to make around our critical public services and that work starts now. We will not let Bromley residents down.”

Bromley took part in a voting ID scheme during this election, and turnout was 40 per cent – higher than nearby Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Leader of Labour, Cllr Angela Wilkins, said: ""I am extremely pleased that Cllr Josh King secured our third seat in Clock House and delighted to note that support for Labour increased substantially across the whole Borough. It was, of course, very disappointing to have come so close to securing Labour councillors for areas such as Mottingham and Cray Valley.

"We now have a larger and very capable Labour Group, and intend to increase the scrutiny and transparency of decisions made in the Council. We will also be focusing on improving services such as street cleaning and bin collections and on the provision of other high quality services, particularly care services and environmental issues."