VOTERS in North Ayrshire delivered a body blow to Labour by denying it overall control of a council it held for more than 10 years.

The party lost nine seats in the election, slashing its total to just 12 - four short of the 16 needed to give it a clear majority.

The big winner was the SNP, which won five extra seats, more than doubling its total to eight.

Independents also increased their number of seats from two to five, while the LibDems, who previously had no seats at all in North Ayrshire, won two.

With a total of 30 seats up for grabs in eight wards covering Irvine, Kilwinning, Saltcoats and Ardrossan and West Kilbride, no party managed to secure an overall majority.

In the 2003 council elections Labour all but obliterated the opposition parties - gaining 21 seats and a strong majority.

Yesterday's result leaves the future of the council uncertain, at a crucial time in North Ayrshire's development. Over the past two decades towns such as Ardrossan and Saltcoats have fallen into decay, and ambitious long-term plans to regenerate them are not yet finalised.

Labour may try to go it alone in a minority administration - but this could leave it struggling to get support for policies.

It could also join with one or more of the smaller parties to form a coalition.

NO OVERALL CONTROL STATE OF THE PARIES: Labour 12, SNP 8, Independent 5, Conservative 3, Liberal Democrat 2 Irvine West: Matt Brown (SNP), Ian Clarkson (Lab), David O'Neill (Lab), Pat McPhee (Con) Irvine East: Joan Sturgeon (SNP), Tom Barr (Lab), John Moffat (Lab), Ruby Kirkwood (Lib Dem) Kilwinning: Andrew Chamberlain (Lib Dem), John Ferguson (SNP), Margaret McDougall (Lab), Ryan Oldfather (Lab) Saltcoats & Stevenston: Alan Munro (Lab), David Munn (Lab), William Gibson (SNP), Ronnie McNicol (Ind) Ardrossan & Arran: John Hunter (Ind), Margie Currie (Ind), Peter McNamara (Lab), Tony Gurnie (SNP) Dalry & West Kilbride: Elizabeth McLardy (Ind), John Reid (Lab), Robert Barr (Con) Kilbirnie & Beith: Craig Taylor (SNP), Jean Highgate (Inde), John Bell (Lab) North Coast & Cumbraes: Alan Hill (SNP), Alex Gallagher (Lab), Bobby Rae (SNP), Elizabethe Marshall (Con)

EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE:

DOZENS of council candidates faced a tense wait for hours after the East Dunbartonshire election count turned into a shambles.

Counting for the East Dunbartonshire Council votes had been due to start at 10am yesterday.

But the count did not get under-way until noon following the suspension of the Strathkelvin and Bearsden Holyrood seat the night before amid technical problems.

The first council result was not declared until 3.15pm and the rest were announced seat-by-seat over the course of a long nail-biting afternoon.

The delays meant dozens of council candidates were left waiting for hours as count staff verified results meticulously to avoid any further chaos.

When the last set of results did come through it was the Lib Dems who had led the previous administration who suffered the biggest defeat.

One view is that voters were punishing them over their controversial scrapping of weekly refuse collections.

The Lib Dems lost overall control over the authority, returning just three councillors while the SNP won a sensational eight seats, Labour took six and the Tories five.

A jubilant SNP will now enter into talks with the other parties at the weekend including the two Independent councillors.

Ousted LibDem councillor John Morrison, who had served constituents for 12 years, said: "I don't think we can attribute our defeat to the refuse collection policy. It's more to do with the fact that the SNP is flying high nationally.

"We lost out largely because of the squeeze between Labour and the SNP."

One LibDem who did get back in was Eric Gotts, one of three councillors elected to serve the new Milngavie ward.

Asked who would run the new council he said: "The Liberal Democrats are ruling nothing out at this stage. There will be a lot of talk over the next few days.

"Whatever happens we will all try to work together for the benefit of the people of East Dunbartonshire."

NO OVERALL CONTROL STATE OF THE PARTIES: SNP 8, Lib Dems 3, Labour 6, Tories 5

INVERCLYDE

ELECTION officials were still hand-counting ballot papers for Inverclyde Council last night - more than 20 hours after the polls closed.

The council was held by Labour for many years before the LibDems snatched power four years ago.

Its wards are in a notorious unemployment blackspot once known for its shipbuilding industries and the area has seen a huge decline in population.

However, hi-tech employers such as IBM have seen new industries emerging which have changed the demographic of the area, which includes Port Glasgow, Greenock, Gourock, Inverkip and Kilmacolm.

In June 2005, the council, led by Alan Blair, received damning criticism from the local government watchdog.

The Accounts Commission described Inverclyde as "one of the most dysfunctional councils" it had seen, citing a breakdown in relations between staff and councillors and poor services for its 84,000 citizens.