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It lost 674 council seats and control of all 16 local authorities it was defending but wrested the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoralty from Labour.

In the East of England, the Conservatives also lost control of Hertfordshire County Council and the unitary Buckinghamshire Council, but they did win the mayoral contest in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, which was won by Labour last time round.

On Friday, following this week's election results - which saw the party lose 674 seats nationally - she visited Peterborough to congratulate Paul Bristow, the newly elected Mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

They seized Shropshire from the Tories and gained control of Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire after both previously had no party in overall control.

It captured the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough mayoralty from Labour - a silver lining for the party in an otherwise dismal set of results.