PEOPLE power punished the British National Party last night as North-East voters turned out in their thousands to stop far-right extremists gaining a foothold in the region.

Although the BNP significantly increased its share of the vote in Sunderland and Gateshead, its candidates elsewhere in the region were well beaten.

Instead, it was the independents night as candidates not affiliated to any particular party triumphed across the region.

Analysts said the results reflect voters' disenchantment with the main political parties.

In a night of high drama across the North-East, Sedgefield council leader Brian Stephens was ousted, and the Liberal Democrats ended Labour's 20-year stranglehold on power in Durham City.

David Walsh, the respected Labour leader of Redcar and Cleveland, lost his seat as his party lost overall control of the council.

Nationally, by 1.30am, the Tories had gained control of 14 councils and had won 191 seats. Labour had lost control of 16 councils and lost 341 seats. The Liberal Democrats had gained two councils.

In its Lancashire hotspot, the BNP won 12 council seats - a gain of ten - and became the second largest group on Burnley council.

In the North-East, observers said the BNP had been stopped by a higher-than-usual turnout.

In Sunderland, the party increased its share of the vote from two per cent in the 2001 General Election to 13.75 per cent this time around.

Chris Mullin, Sunderland South MP, said: "No one can afford to be complacent about the BNP vote, but they have not done as well as I feared they may do.

"I am delighted the people of Sunderland have decided they don't want to be represented by racists."

Despite his party's failure to actually win a North-East seat Kevin Scott, BNP regional organiser, said: "I think it is safe to say that the BNP has rejuvenated local democracy in the North-East and smashed the Tory party in parts of Tyneside and Wearside."

Mr Scott warned: "We are positioning ourselves as the main opposition party."

In the two seats the BNP contested in Wear Valley, the party polled less than 3.5 per cent of the vote.

People in Henknowle gave the party a resounding thumbs down. Lee Thornton, the BNP's candidate, polled just 67 votes.

It was the same story in Woodhouse Close, Bishop Auckland - a seat the BNP had hoped to do well in - where only 107 people cast their vote for the far-right compared to 862 for the leading Labour candidate.

Freezing council tax helped Labour keep control of the Wear Valley district even though they lost five of their 30 seats. Liberal Democrats made gains in Cockton Hill, Henknowle and Dene Valley where they took the seats of the council's vice chair Margaret Ingledew.

Liberal Democrat leader Chris Foote Wood said the result was 'very satisfactory'.

He said: "We had hoped to get more people in but this shows that there is a very substantial opposition to Labour."

Elsewhere, there was a shock in Tony Blair's Sedgefield Constituency where long-time council leader Mr Stephens was ousted.

The Labour stalwart, who had confided to close colleagues before the count that he feared the worst, lost out to an independent candidate. BNP candidates polled 7.1 and 3.1 per cent of the vote in each of the Sedgefield seats they contested.

Labour saw its majority on the council cut from 35 to 20 after losing seats in all parts of the borough.

Independents wiped them out in Shildon and gained a seat in Newton Aycliffe. The Liberal Democrats made gains in Spennymoor and there was even a victory for the Conservatives in Sedgefield Village.

Mr Stephens, 62, council leader since 1986, put a brave face on his defeat. He said: "I want to take this opportunity to congratulate all the successful candidates and wish Sedgefield Borough Council every success for the future."

In Darlington there was a 51.5 per cent turnout with Labour maintaining its overall control but the Conservatives gained the one additional seat created by the re-drawing of electoral boundaries. In the seven seats the BNP contested, its candidates received an average of 3.9 per cent.

There was virtually no change to the make-up of Teesdale District Council. Only three of the district's 19 wards were contested this year and all saw stalwarts of the council re-elected.

In Durham City, the Liberal Democrats, who were the only party to field candidates in all 50 seats, took overall control in Labour's heartland.

And in Stockton the newly formed Thornaby Independents Association took four seats off Labour.

In Middlesbrough Labour lost three seats, including one to Independent Joan McTigue who stood on the single issue of the amount of expenses claimed by her Labour opponent.

The night had started badly for the Tories. Crispin Blunt, a trade and industry front bench spokesman, resigned and called on the party to oust Ian Duncan Smith as leader.