LABOUR last night slumped to its worst election results in years, heaping pressure on Gordon Brown from his own MPs for a radical change in direction.

A BBC projection based on the votes in councils in England and Wales put Labour's national vote share at just 24 per cent, 20 points behind David Cameron's Conservatives on 44 per cent and beaten into third place by the Liberal Democrats on 25 per cent.

The margin was similar to the drubbing received by John Major in council elections in 1995, two years before he was ejected from Downing Street by Tony Blair.

The Tories would enjoy a landslide Commons majority of between 138 and 164 seats if the results were repeated in a general election.

And there looked set to be further bad news for the Prime Minister, with Boris Johnson expected to beat Ken Livingstone in the London Mayoral contest.

One prominent Labour backbencher warned the Prime Minister that without radical change he would see his Government slipping away Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman admitted the results were very disappointing.

Watching events unfold at Tory HQ, David Cameron said the results were going very well for the party.

Conservative local government spokesman Eric Pickles said Tory successes meant Mr Brown would not risk calling a general election until the last possible date in 2010.

"The ship of state is heading towards the rocks," he said.

Labour MPs pointed the finger of blame for the bloodbath at the state of the economy and Mr Brown's decision to scrap the 10p rate of income tax, which hit millions of workers pay packets in the weeks before the elections.

Ed Miliband, one of Mr Brown's key lieutenants, admitted the 10p issue had made the campaign difficult and the chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Tony Lloyd, said it had hurt Labour on the doorstep.

Mr Lloyd said the electorate had sent a very clear signal to Labour in a referendum on where the Government stands.