SENIOR Tories expressed dismay and astonishment last night after their main political rivals tightened their 20- year grip on power.

Darlington remained a Labour-controlled council, with the party taking four seats from the Conservatives, increasing their total from 29 to 34 and their majority to 15.

The borough also gained a new leader for the first time in two decades, with Bill Dixon taking the reins from John Williams, who is stepping down.

Although the Lib Dem share of the vote was down in some wards, they lost only one seat, with voters seeming to punish the Conservatives rather than the Lib Dems in a curious reversal of the national trend.

But across the rest of the North-East, crushing Lib Dem defeats coupled with a convincing rejection of AV show voters are punishing Nick Clegg for coilition policies.

Mr Clegg admitted losses in the north – including Newcastle City Council, where Labour took ten seats from the Lib Dems, regaining control – along with the rejection of political reform, showed voters were unhappy with his cosy relationship with Prime Minister David Cameron.

Labour also held on to Sunderland, Gateshead, South Tyneside, and won most of the seats up for grabs in North Tyneside, as the region resoundingly rejected the Alternative Vote system, with the total “no” vote standing at 71.7 per cent.

On Teesside, Ray Mallon was elected mayor for the third time, maintaining embarrassing secretly-taped conversations had not hampered his campaign.

The independent mayor, dubbed “Robocop” for his zero-tolerance stance on crime, was returned by Middlesbrough voters with 50.4 per cent of the vote.

At Richmondshire District Council the reigning Conservative Party lost its marginal majority to independent councillors.

The council, one of the safest Conservative seats in Britain, could now have an independent leader after the Conservatives lost two seats, leaving it with 14, while the number of independent councillors climbed from 14 to 16.