British Labour Party suffers losses in local elections

The ruling British Labour Party of Prime Minister Tony Blair suffered significant losses in local council elections in England, results showed early Friday.

Blair, whose government has been battered by a series of scandals over the past week, was expected to reshuffle his cabinet as a result.

In the elections Thursday, Labour lost more than 200 seats on town and city councils, chiefly in London.

The Conservatives, under new leader David Cameron, made big gains. According to a BBC analysis, the party registered its best election performance since losing power in 1997.

With nearly all votes counted, Labour garnered a 26 percent share of the vote, the Conservatives gained 40 percent and the Liberals took 27 percent. The anti-immigration British National Party made gains in the east London district of Barking and Dagenham and in regions in northern and central England.

More than 23 million people in England, more than half the total electorate in Britain, were eligible to vote.