There were screams of joy as Labour took majority control of Medway Council for the first time early this morning.

Votes counted overnight saw power at local authority change hands, with some big names losing their seats.

It was history in the making as Labour and the Co-operative Group gained 33 seats, compared to the Conservatives 22 and four for the Independents.

Rochester West and Borstal councillor Stuart Tranter left the count before it was declared he had lost his seat as Labour completed a clean sweep of the ward.

Elsewhere, Josie Iles, Chris Buckwell and Rupert Turpin were beaten.

Labour leader Vince Maple said: “We’ve had an amazing campaign here with support from our regional and national party. We’ve had support from our front bench including Keir Starmer coming down twice and knocking on doors.

“We’ve had a team of brilliant candidates, the majority of which have been elected.

“People have asked for change and we will deliver that. We will work with the community.

“People feel frustrated in the community having the council doing stuff to them and that’s going to change. We’ll have a different approach to our community.”

He said when canvassing people were concerned about the cost-of-living crisis, getting GP appointments and the development of town centres.

Elsewhere, outgoing Medway Council boss Alan Jarrett said the Tories were affected by the boundary changes – which introduced four new seats – which “didn’t favour them” and an unpopular national government.

“Almost all of those boundary changes led to wards Labour won,” he said.

He said the government’s popularity played into the results “quite a lot”, adding: “When we were canvassing it was the first thing people mentioned on the door step, as well as access to GPs, housing targets and the cost-of-living.”

When asked if he felt the council had paid the price for the government's own shortcomings, particularly over housing, he said: “To some extent yes, there was a swing to Labour even in the wards that we won, of some note.”

On the issue of the Tory party leader and calls for Boris Johnson to be brought back into government, he said: “What we have got to remember is that despite all of his shortcomings and the fact he was the architect of his own downfall, he delivered a famous election victory and Brexit and 64% of people in Medway voted for Brexit, so don’t be surprised when things change, people get fed up about it.”

On his own forthcoming retirement, he said: “It was not a great note to go out on” after eight years as leader but he was “big enough to get on with it.”

On what the government should do in the wake of the results, he said: “It really has got to get its act together and come up with coherent policies to deal with some of the pressing issues and to have the guts to deliver them and see them through.”

He also said the outcome is “bound to have a negative impact” on any general election in the future.

Cllr Paterson (Lab) said two decades of decline and "low horizons" at the council lead people in the Towns to vote Labour in.

He added: "It's an immense sense of gratitude to the people of Medway and pride in the team effort we've had.

"Each of us has played a role in each other's victory, we've all played a part and all remember canvassing for each other in the hail, rain and snow and all of those hours of hard work have paid off and we've been rewarded with the opportunity to serve, which is all we ask.

"As our leader Vince Maple has said, we won't let the people of Medway down - we're so proud and so grateful."

Away from the two biggest parties, the Independents secured four seats on the council, including a dominant clean sweep of Hoo St Werburgh and High Halstow where George Crozer, Michael Pearce and Ron Sands were elected again.

One surprise for some was Chris Spalding being elected as an Independent councillor for the new All Saints ward.

He picked up 295 votes and beat fellow Independent and rival Julie Wallace by 43 votes.

Speaking after the result he dedicated his win to former Hoo councillor Mike Pendergast who died in 2022.

Cllr Chris Spalding (Ind) said: "He was one of the most upstanding people I could have had the pleasure to know.

“This result came after a lot of hard work, knocking on doors and a lot of leather. It's a bit sublime.

"A lot of people have told me the main parties haven't been realistic. I'm very grateful residents put their faith in me."

As the night went on, Labour hopefuls could be seen looking more and more confident while Conservative candidates, as well as visiting MPs Rehman Chishti and Kelly Tollhurst looked nervous.

There were some low voter turnouts in certain wards, with newly-elected Luton councillor Joanne Howcroft-Scott saying: “Life long Tory voters aren’t voting - they’re not impressed with showing ID.

"They feel let down by the Tories who have let Medway turn into a cesspit.

"And people are forgetting to vote or don't have the time.

"When we were campaigning voters told us the Tories had let them down."