LONDON - Ukip has delivered the first tremors of the political earthquake promised by Nigel Farage as the party weakened Labour's grip in its northern heartlands and caused the Conservatives to lose control of at least eight flagship councils.
Labour pulled off coups by winning David Cameron's favourite London council, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Cambridge, as well as looking set to take Merton and possibly Croydon. But outside the capital, it struggled to make expected gains in key targets such as Swindon and Portsmouth, while losing Thurrock to no overall control because of a surge in Ukip votes.
Farage also ate into Conservative strongholds, causing the party to lose control of eight councils, including Maidstone, Southend-on-Sea, Castle Point, Basildon and Brentwood - the constituency of local government secretary Eric Pickles.
By 6am on Friday, with 100 of the 172 councils up for election in England and northern Ireland still to declare, the Tories had lost 93 seats, Labour gained 74, the Lib Dems lost 72, Ukip gained 84, the Greens gained one and other parties were up seven.
The results of the European parliament elections, which also took place on Thursday, will be announced on Sunday.
The biggest collapse in the share of the vote appears to be for the Liberal Democrats, which lost Portsmouth council.
Ukip did not appear to have broken through in London, where it was polling in single digits, but the party experienced a huge surge to more than a third of the vote across some wards in Essex and big cities such as Sunderland, Birmingham and Hull, where it previously had little or no presence. In Rotherham, Ukip is the official opposition after winning 10 seats and ousting several prominent Labour councillors including the deputy leader of the council.
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Ukip is not racist and there is a "legitimate debate" to have about levels of immigration in Britain, a Cabinet minister has said.
Ahead of European election results due to show that Ukip has beaten the Tories for the first time in a national election, Chris Grayling said that "there is not racism in this country".
The Conservatives are also braced for setbacks in English local council elections, with results due throughout Friday.
Ukip wrested a number of councils from Tory hands into no overall control, including battlegrounds such as Peterborough and Basildon.
The Justice Secretary's conciliatory tone reflects the Conservatives party's desire not to offend large numbers of Conservative voters who are turning to Ukip.
They contrasted with comments with comments by his fellow Conservative cabinet ministers who in the run up to the election warned that Ukip is attracting racist candidates.
Asked if Ukip is racist, Mr Grayling said: "Our job is not to throw mud in all directions. I think it's important we don't conflate a legitimate argument about levels of immigration with a discussion about race.
"We are a multi-cultural society. There is a genuine and legitimate and important debate to have. From our point of view it is important to pursue low levels of immigration.
"I don't believe fundamentally that this is a racist country and that there is racism in this country."
Labour took a similar approach amid growing concerns the Ukip is encroaching on its heartlands.
Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary, said: "They are guilty of inflammatory, ugly language but I have met lots of people on the doorstep who will be voting Ukip who are not racist."
However, there is growing concern that Labour is failing to take a more robust approach against Ukip, alongside growing doubts about Ed Miliband's leadership.
One leading Labour figure said Mr Miliband "looks weird, sounds weird, is weird'".
Labour sources had indicated that the party might win 200 seats on a good night, but senior MP Emily Thornberry said she expected the figure to be "around 150".
A YouGov poll put Ukip on 27 per cent, one point ahead of Labour, leaving the Conservatives with just 22 per cent of the vote - the first time they would have failed to top a European election since 1994.
Mr Farage has suggested that there will be a "political earthquake" if his party wins.
Voters across Britain will elect 73 MEPs, while in England there are 4,216 seats on 161 councils which are up for grabs.
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