Prime Minister Tony Blair's ruling Labor Party was dealt a great blow in England's local elections as overall results showed on Friday that Labor lost 251 councilors.

As ballot papers are still being counted in certain areas, Labor has so far lost overall control of 16 councils, which is said to be one of the worst on record for the party in a local election but the party denied it as a "meltdown" as some had predicted.

The opposition Conservative Party, however, turned out to be a major winner, enjoying their best results since 1992.

The Conservative gained 250 councilors and took control of several councils in London and the southeast, despite its failure in northern cities such as Manchester.

The results were deemed by Tory leader David Cameron as "very pleasing" and "far beyond what we expected."

The Liberal Democratic Party, the country's second largest opposition, failed to make much headway, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The British National Party, which advocates for a white Britain and against foreign immigrants, doubled its number of councilors, while the Greens gained 17 seats.

About 23 million people were eligible to vote for 4,360 seats in 176 councils including all 32 in London.

The local election campaign was held against the backdrop of a series of Labor scandals, which included the fiasco over foreign prisoner releases and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's extramarital affair with his diary secretary.

As local media reported early on Friday morning, Blair seems to have brought forward his cabinet reshuffle in an attempt to regain his government's initiative.

Source: Xinhua