JEREMY Corbyn was today putting a brave face on the local election results – the first major electoral test since the 2017 General Election - which saw Labour fail to make the breakthrough he and his colleagues had hoped for.

In a night of mixed fortunes for the two major parties, Labour took Plymouth from the Conservatives but was unable to seize the Tory "crown jewel" authorities in London, where it had hoped to make big gains.

Far from seizing control of the key target borough of Barnet, Labour saw it fall into the hands of the Tories amid signs Mr Corbyn's party had been hit by allegations of anti-Semitism in an area with a large Jewish population.

Theresa May’s party held on to Hillingdon in west London and her Labour opponents fell well short of the upsets some had predicted in the Conservative strongholds of Wandsworth, Westminster and Kensington.

Perhaps most significantly, Labour lost Nuneaton and Bedworth - an area that often indicates the colour of the government at general elections - as well as Derby and fell short of gaining control in areas like Swindon, Dudley and Walsall, where they had hoped to establish middle England strongholds.

The Conservatives gained control of councils in Peterborough, Southend and Basildon, and saw a small swing in their favour outside the capital. But they lost Trafford in Greater Manchester, their flagship council in the North West, to no overall control.

The almost total collapse in the Ukip vote, which saw the Eurosceptic party shed councillors across England, appears to have mostly benefited the Tories.

The Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, were celebrating victory in the south-west London borough of Richmond, one of a number of Remain-backing areas, which saw an upsurge in votes for Sir Vince Cable's party.

On an early morning visit to Plymouth to congratulate activists, the Leader of the Opposition denied that his party had passed the moment of "peak Corbyn".

"No, no, there is much more to come and it's going to get even better," declared Mr Corbyn.

"We were defending seats that were last won in 2014, which was a particularly good year for Labour in local government.”

He went on: "Obviously, I am disappointed at any places where we lost a bit of ground but if you look at the overall picture Labour gained a lot of seats across the whole country; we gained a lot of votes in places we never had those votes before."

Later in a statement, the Labour leader said: "In a sign of how worried they are about Labour's advance, the Tories talked up our chances to unrealistic levels, especially in London. The results show they're right to be worried; we came within a whisker of winning Wandsworth for the first time in over 40 years.”

He added: "The Labour Party is now well placed to fight and win the next General Election and form a government that will work for the many, not the few."

In Barnet, Adam Langleben, a former Labour councillor, voiced his anger at the impact which the row over anti-Semitism had had on his party's fortunes.

After losing his own seat in West Hendon, Mr Langleben tweeted: "We must NEVER have another election like this. No community group should have their vote dictated by their safety. That should shame us."

And he won support from Labour MP and Corbyn critic Wes Streeting, who told him: "I am so, so sorry. This defeat wasn't yours."

His Labour colleague and fellow backbencher John Mann, who has been an outspoken critic of Mr  Corbyn, tweeted: "Those who called anti-Semitism a smear cost Labour badly last night. A Jewish member for more than 60 years told me on the doorstep he couldn't vote Labour in Barnet yesterday."

Brandon Lewis, the Tory Chairman, claimed voters were being turned off by "hard abuse from some of the hard Left; that anti-Semitism problem, that Labour clearly have got and are just not dealing with".

He insisted it had been a “good night" for the Tories with Labour not gaining a single council in London.

"Eight years into a government, Labour was losing 4,000 councillors, whereas we at the moment are holding councils and in some areas making positive inroads," he explained.

His Tory colleague Claire Perry, the Energy Minister, said her party, which was defending some 1,350 seats, had been preparing to "batten down the hatches" after being in power since 2010 yet were not "taking the hit" they might have feared while Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, said the results were at the "higher end" of expectations.

Later this morning, Theresa May turned up in Wandsworth in south London to congratulate local Conservatives on seeing off a challenge from Labour to hold on to control despite losing six seats.

"Labour thought they could take control, this was one of their top targets and they threw everything at it, but they failed,” declared the Prime Minister.

"The people of Wandsworth re-elected a Conservative council, and that's for a simple reason. You charge the second lowest council tax in the country, you provide excellent local services like the weekly bin collection.

"That's the message of these elections across the country: that Conservative councils deliver great local services at lower taxes."

To cheers from activists waving Conservative banners, their party leader added: "We've seen other success in London. We've held Hillingdon, Barnet, Westminster. And outside of London, we've made progress in places like Dudley and Walsall. We've taken control in Basildon and Peterborough. And that's all the result of the really hard work of our councillors, our activists, our supporters and our revitalised campaign machine.

"But we won't take anything for granted. We will continue to work hard for local people and we will build on this success for the future."

At Labour HQ, sources described their results as "solid", saying the party had consolidated advances made at last year's General Election.

Labour’s Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, tweeted: "With many results still to come, it looks like Labour has made even more progress across London and are heading for our best result in the capital since 1971.”

He said the party had gained dozens of councillors in every corner of the UK capital and added: "This is another key stepping stone for London Labour in the continual progress we've been making since 2014 in local, Mayoral and general elections and paves the way for more progress in the future.”

However, the impact of its underwhelming performance was amplified by a failure to damp down expectations ahead of a set of elections where a massive ground campaign by activists and members of the Corbyn-backing Momentum organisation appears to have been unpersuasive for many voters.

Sir Edward Davey for the Liberal Democrats described his party's advances in areas like Richmond as "a sign of things to come".

“People are desperate for a voice that isn't a right-wing Brexit Tory voice or a left-wing Corbynista voice. Under Vince Cable, Liberal Democrats can become that and last night's results show we are becoming that,” he declared.

Elsewhere, Paul Oakley, Ukip's General Secretary, raised eyebrows when he compared his party to "the Black Death" as he struggled to find positives in a night of virtual wipeout.

"It's not all over at all," he insisted. "Think of the Black Death in the Middle Ages. It comes along and it causes disruption and then it goes dormant, and that's exactly what we are going to do. Our time isn't finished because Brexit is being betrayed," he added.

Mr Oakley later tweeted a picture of his raised thumb next to a screen showing that the phrase "Black Death" was trending on Twitter in an apparent sign that the surprising comment had been an attempt to gain publicity for Ukip.

The one point of light for Ukip was Derby, where the party held one seat and picked up another, unseating Labour's leader in the city. Former deputy chairwoman Suzanne Evans openly discussed the prospect of the party "crumbling".

Across England, more than 4,000 seats were contested in around 150 councils, including all 32 London boroughs, as well as every ward in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.

Mayoral elections were held in Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Watford and the Sheffield City region.

Voters in some areas piloting controversial ID trials were reportedly unable to cast their ballot.