POLITICIANS across Suffolk are today steeling themselves for a day of drama as the votes in yesterday's local elections start to be counted.All the councils in the county are counting votes during the day - unlike in previous years there were no late-night dramas.

POLITICIANS across Suffolk were today steeling themselves for a day of drama as the votes in yesterday's local elections started to be counted.

All the councils in the county were counting votes during the day - unlike in previous years there were no late-night dramas.

All the parties were heading to the counts with reasons to be cheerful ­- and cautious - after mixed results across the country.

Labour had a difficult night in elections from Cornwall to the north of Scotland - but the party did not suffer the meltdown some commentators had predicted.

In English councils which counted overnight, the party saw its share of the vote increase slightly in comparison with last year's elections.

Liberal Democrats had a mixed night - losing seats and councils to the Tories in the south of England but picking them up in the north where the Conservatives had difficulty in making an impression in the large urban centres.

Although no Suffolk councils counted overnight, there were results from Essex, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire.

In Colchester there was little change at the borough - only one seat changed hands which Labour won from an independent.

Labour also gained one seat at Great Yarmouth, and the Greens had a good night in Norwich although they failed to pip the Liberal Democrats to second place on the city council by one vote.

That was all that stood between the two parties in the Thorpe Hamlet ward.

And the Liberal Democrats maintained their stranglehold on Cambridge City Council.

See later editions of The Evening Star for election results in Suffolk - and return to our website at www.eveningstar.co.uk for full election results from Suffolk