RAY Mallon was this morning celebrating winning a second term as the Mayor of Middlesbrough.

Mr Mallon gained 58.5 per cent of the vote for a comfortable victory and pledged to build on his first time as the directly-elected mayor, with particular emphasis on his youth agenda.

Middlesbrough Council was retained by Labour, as was Tony Blair's local council in Sedgefield.

Derwentside and Easington were also held by Labour on a night which was disappointing for Labour - but not as disastrous as had been widely predicted.

Counting the votes in other council areas will take place during today.

As of 3.30am, Labour had lost 129 councillors across the country, the Liberal Democrats had lost 39, while the Cameron factor had helped the Tories gain an additional 196 seats.

There was worse still for Labour, with about a third of councils declared, they had lost overall control of six councils, including Oldham and Plymouth.

In comparison, the Tories had won control of an additional nine.

Despite losing out, Labour was not doing as badly had predicted.

The British National Party had gained just one seat nationally - and none in the North-East as yet.

This came despite the fact that the BNP targeted the Prime Minister's home turf, Sedgefield. Although none the BNP candidates in the Sedgefield borough won, they did notch up almost 3,000 votes.

In this region, Sunderland City Council was one of the first councils to return its count. One third of its seats were up for election. Overall control was held by Labour, as it has been since 1973.

Easington District Council was the second count in the region to be concluded. The result - that Labour held control of the council - was never under dispute as of the 51 seats, 25 were filled by Labour candidates without the need for a ballot.

Of those that were contested, 25 Labour councillors were elected as well as two Liberal Democrats and one independent councillor.

In Sedgefield, former Sedgefield Borough Council leader, Brian Stephens (Lab), who lost his seat in the last election, was returned, having secured a seat in the Thickley ward.

Coun Stephens' gain came at the expense of Independent councillor, John Smith, who polled 285 votes to the former's 446.

David Hancock (Ind) was also returned to his seat having secured 464 votes.

Among the casualties were deputy leader Kester Noble and deputy mayor Brian Hall, who would have become mayor of Sedgefield next year.

In Tudhoe, Agnes Armstrong (Lab) and Barbara Graham (Lab) were both returned, while in Byerley Gareth Howe (Lib) and Garry Huntington (Lib) were both returned, polling 383 and 596 votes respectively.

The count for the ward of Shafto St Mary, on both Sedgefield Borough Council and Great Aycliffe Town Council, was subject to four recounts, and then eventually just before 3am counting was suspended - to be resumed at 10am today.

It is understood that just a few votes separates current borough council leader Bob Flemming (Lab) and independent candidate Brian Haigh.

In Middlesbrough, deputy council leader Bob Brady (Lab) was an early casualty, gaining just 280 votes. Fellow Labour candidate Dennis Burns also lost. Two independent candidates were elected instead to represent the Beckfield ward. They are Peter Cox and Brian Hubbard.

In Derwentside, Labour retained overall control of the council with a majority of three.

Thursday's polls will see more than 10,500 councillors elected across the country.

Seats were up for grabs on 312 councils and there are three mayoral elections, including in Middlesbrough, where Robocop Ray Mallon looks likely to be re-elected with a large majority.

In the early hours of this morning, although Mr Mallon had not been declared the winner, it was clear that he was the favourite.

Nationally half the counts have been delayed until Friday and in this region just four took place last night - Middlesbrough, Easington, Derwentside and, crucially Prime Minister Tony Blair's backyard, Sedgefield.

This story will be updated.