DISASTROUS turn-out figures in England's local elections and London's referendum for an elected mayor prompted political leaders from all sides to promise urgent measures to rejuvenate local government yesterday.

Evidence of widespread voter apathy overshadowed mixed results which gave each party something to cheer about, and encouraged William Hague to proclaim the beginning of a recovery for the Tories.

Fewer than a third of the 20 million people eligible to vote in 166 council elections and the London referendum bothered to take part in the elections, producing one of the lowest recorded polls in local elections.

Local Government Minister Hilary Armstrong said: ''I hate the low turn-out. It's a great disappointment but that vindicates the determination of the Government to modernise local government and make sure people are more connected to their local council and therefore local government will matter to them.''

With the final results recorded yesterday afternoon, there was little sign of discontent with the Government. For their part the Tories won back more than 250 seats after their poor showing in 1994, but remain far off any kind of political recovery.

Analysts last night stressed that the results, combined with low turn-out, gave little indication of the mood of the voters.

Instead they expressed fears for Labour's constitutional reform package for London. With barely one in 10 Londoners bothering to record their vote in favour of a directly elected mayor and a new city-wide assembly, the legislation will be open to challenge.

In yesterday's final results, ''New Labour'' clinched the leafy North London suburb of Harrow but lost ''Old Labour'' Islington, where the Prime Minister and his family lived until a year ago.

Labour was jubilant at seeing off Tory challenges in councils it believes the Conservatives must win back if they are to become a force again such as Trafford, Enfield and Croydon.

There was excitement too at the stunning performance in Harrow where Labour took control, gaining 16 seats at the Liberal Democrats' expense, and in Lambeth - once a source of shame to Labour - where the party gained 19 seats and won back power.

Bolstered by Labour's loss of Liverpool to the Lib Dems on the back of a run of sleaze scandals, Mr Blair made clear modernisation was prerequisite for success with the voters.

Tory joy at clocking up gains in flagship authorities Westminster and Wandsworth was undercut by their loss of Bromley in Kent.

It was the first time since the authority had been anything other than Tory since its inception in the early 1960s.

The striking results for the Liberal Democrats came in clinching control of Liverpool - the party's first ever metropolitan city council - and in moving to within striking distance of control of Sheffield with a string of gains.

The share of the vote across the 166 English councils where elections took place yesterday gave Labour 38%, the Tories 32% and the Liberal Democrats 25%.

That compared with Labour's 43.5% in England at the General Election, the Tories' 33.7% and the Liberal Democrats' 18% - though Paddy Ashdown's party clocked up closer to 25% in local polls a year ago.

The final tally of results showed Labour making a net gain of two councils but losing 90 seats compared with its performance four years ago.

The Tories made one net gain in terms of council control. They made 259 gains in seats but the figure compared with a record low performance four years ago.

The Liberal Democrats made a net loss of seven local authorities and lost a net 110 seats - from a strong base four years ago.

Even Londoners were unenthused by the extra carrot of a vote in a referendum on an assembly for the capital to be led by a figurehead mayor.

Turnout only just beat the one-in-three mark at 34%, though 72% of those who did bother to vote backed a new London regime. On average, less than 30% turned out in council elections across the rest of England.

Mr Blair hailed the results as ''very good'' for a sitting Government. ''In areas where you have got good, dynamic New Labour councils delivering decent services, people are voting for it and giving us an even bigger vote than we had a few years ago,'' he said.

Tory leader William Hague claimed the results showed his party had started winning again. ''We've had our best election results of any kind for six years and I feel it shows we have started on our recovery but we've got a long way to go,'' he said.

Lib Dems won the glittering prize of Liverpool but lost control of seven councils ranging from Craven in North Yorkshire to the Isle of Wight in the south.

Nevertheless, party leader Paddy Ashdown told a news conference he had set three targets for the elections: to consolidate his party's ''extraordinary'' gain of 400 seats four years ago when the seats fought last night were last up for election; to make progress in areas with virtually no Liberal Democrat representation; and to break through in badly governed traditional Labour areas. ''We have achieved all three,'' he said.

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