100 seats

* Labour Mayor knocked out in Rotherham

* One vote short of third gain in Amber Valley

* Huge swing in Halifax

* Seven second places in Barnsley

* 31 % in Daventry

* Tories, Plaid Cymru and Lib Dems trounced in Swansea

* Labour heartland of Jarrow gets BNP heart attack

The British National Party has shown solid steady growth in all areas of the country in the regions where local elections have been held, taking seats from mainly traditional Labour areas, as that party’s vote collapses everywhere.

Before today, the BNP held 84 council seats at all levels. With almost all results in, this figure has now reached 100, and could still exceed that number.

In Rotherham, the BNP took two seats, including that of the Labour Party mayor. In Amber Valley, the BNP took two seats, and was an astonishing one vote off taking a further seat on that council.

In Thurrock, the BNP had a runaway victory by taking 40 percent of the vote, beating all the other parties hands down.

Two new BNP councillors grace Nuneaton - a running start for that area from zero, and a number of good places there bode well for the future.

In Pendle, Marsden ward, the BNP also beat all oncomers, polling double the Labour candidate and beating the Lib Dems into a humiliating fourth place.

In Three Rivers DC Ashridge ward, near Watford, the BNP gained a seat, which in Daventry’s Drayton Ward, the BNP polled 31% of the vote, coming a close second to the Tories and leaving Labour in third place.

In Halifax, the BNP took a seat with a whopping 300 majority, while in Stoke, another three seats fell to the BNP, pushing the party’s representation on that town council up to nine in all.

In Loughton, the BNP held one seat but lost two to a ferocious onslaught, a loss which was however ameliorated by the election of no less than 5 BNP representatives to the Loughton town council.

BNP national treasurer John Walker pulled off a surprise victory by being elected to the Mancot ward of Hawarden community council. This brings the total number of councillors for the BNP up to 100 countrywide.

There were also a large number of excellent second places countrywide. In Barnsely, no less than seven BNP candidates came a close second. In Swansea, the BNP trounced the Tories, Plaid Cymru and the Lib Dems, and in the spiritual Labour heartland of Jarrow, South Tyneside, a place where the Labour Party promised “there would never even be a BNP candidate”, the BNP polled 33% of the vote, beating the Tories into third place.