London, June 05, SPA --Britain's governing Labour Partysuffered a heavy setback in local council elections today,giving up seats to the opposition Conservatives and losingcontrol of regions once considered strongholds, according to Reuters. The results, in line with expectations given populardiscontent with the 12-year-old government and following aparliamentary expenses scandal, suggest Labour will do poorlywhen parliamentary elections are held in the next year. The local elections were held on Thursday together withelections for the European Parliament. Results of the Europeanelections will be released on Sunday and were also expected toshow Labour's popularity has suffered with voters. In the local elections, Labour suffered a huge defeat inStaffordshire, a region that had been under its control since1981, losing 29 seats as the Conservatives romped home. Localcouncillor Derek Davis described it as a "complete wipe-out". "I've been a member of the Labour party since 1963 and I'venever known it as bad as this," said Davis. "This is the lowestebb I have ever known." Based on provisional results, the BBC calculated Labour'sprojected share of the national vote had fallen to 23 percent,behind the Conservatives on 38 percent and the Liberal Democratson 28 percent. If early results were repeated at a general election theConservatives would win with a double digit seat majority in the646-seat parliament, Sky News said. "These are very bad results," Olympics Minister Tessa Jowelltold BBC television. The results came on the same day Prime Minister Gordon Brownreshuffled his cabinet in an effort to shore up his authority,silence critics calling for him to go, and stave off the worstcrisis of his two-year leadership. Six senior ministers have quit Brown's cabinet in the pastfour days, putting the prime minister under intense pressure. However, Brown looks likely to ride out the storm, at leastfor the time being. He does not have to call parliamentary elections until nextJune and, given the ructions in his government and the latestdrubbing in the polls, he is not expected to go to the pollsmuch sooner.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/671585