COUNTING began in Watford, Three Rivers, Hertsmere and Dacorum this morning as Labour suffered devastating election losses across the country overnight.

With less than half of the votes counted across England, Wales and Scotland, it is already clear that Labour has suffered losses across all three polls.

Unlike most of the UK, counting only began at about 9am this morning for many south Hertfordshire local councils.

The results for Hertsmere are due by 10.30am and the other council results will be known sometime after midday.

Elsewhere in Hertfordshire, the Conservatives tightened their strangle-hold on Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council with a resounding victory and gained three seats in Haldens, Hatfield South and Howlands.

The Liberal Democrats lost control of St Albans District Council - an authority which the group only took charge of last year.

However, the Lib Dems remain the largest party even after losing two seats to the Conservatives last night.

St Albans District Council now has no party in overall control, with 29 Lib Dems, 19 Conservatives, eight Labour members and two others.

It means that the other parties can join forces when debating issues leaving the council 'hung'.

As of 3.30am, Labour had lost 129 councillors across the UK, the Liberal Democrats had lost 39, while the Cameron factor had helped the Tories gain an additional 196 seats.

There was worse still for Labour, with about a third of councils declared, they had lost overall control of six councils, including Oldham and Plymouth.

In comparison, the Tories had won control of an additional nine.

Despite losing out, Labour was not doing as badly as predicted.

The British National Party had gained just one seat nationally.

This came despite the fact that the BNP targeted the Prime Minister's home turf, Sedgefield. Although none the BNP candidates in the Sedgefield borough won, they did notch up almost 3,000 votes.