BRITAIN: Millions of people in Britain went to the polls yesterday in the biggest test of political opinion since the 2001 general election.
Elections took place both for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly and for nearly 12,000 seats on around 340 councils in England and Scotland.
But in the final hours before the close of polls, it was unclear which parties had gained from the day's voting.
Labour was expected to suffer considerable losses, but it was thought the blow might be softened by the so-called "Baghdad bounce" provided by victory in the Iraq war.
Tory leader Mr Iain Duncan Smith has set a deliberately modest target of 30 overall gains in council seats, though many observers believe he will be vulnerable to a leadership challenge if the party fails to secure at least 200 more.
The Scottish Parliament's proportional representation system makes it unlikely the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition will be ousted, while Labour has an outside chance of taking an overall majority in the Welsh Assembly.
The one result which appeared certain was that turnout would be low, with expectations of 30 per cent participation in council polls and around 50 per cent in the devolved assemblies.
Heavy rain showers across the whole country, and particularly in Scotland, were thought likely to have deterred some voters from going out to cast their ballots.
But councils experimenting with all-postal voting bucked the trend of falling turnouts. At Guildford Borough Council, turnout was well over 50 per cent, compared to 37 per cent in the last equivalent election in 1999. - (PA)