By BBC Radio Kent political reporter Caroline Williams
From the start there was nervousness at Gravesham. The last time these seats were contested, the Conservatives took the majority, but splits in the party and bad feeling had conspired to cost them their power base.
Going into the election, Labour was the largest party but there was no overall control. Three seats were all that Labour needed, but judging by their faces in the morning, it wasn’t at all clear that those would go their way.
Up until almost the very end, candidates would only whisper their hope, their belief, that this was to be their day.
Once they got to 21 seats there was no hiding their delight. It was clear Labour was taking Gravesham.
The council flip-flops between Conservatives and Labour and has done for many years.
But on this occasion, leader of the Labour group, John Burden, while praising his own team’s hard work, said Labour owed a debt of thanks to Theresa May.
From the leader of the Conservatives there was bitter disappointment and a sense that the local party had been let down by the Conservatives nationally.
While Brexit was never far away, in truth, in Gravesham it did feel as if local issues and local difficulties had played at least as big a part.
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