The Liberal Democrats strengthened their grip on Vale of White Horse District Council, wiping out the Conservative challenge and increasing their overall majority.

The Libs Dems have 34 seats in the new council - up four - while the Tories fell back from 20 seats to 17.

The Tories have been consigned to another four years in the political wilderness - they have not been in power for 12 years since they lost to the Lib Dems in 1995.

Once again Labour failed to make any impact and also out of the running were Green Party candidates and the three UK Independence Party members.

Labour lost its last two candidates in the elections four years ago.

Tory casualties in Abingdon included Mike Badcock, who lost his seat in Ock Meadow to Samantha Bowring. Beth Fleming picked up the other seat for the Lib Dems, left vacant by Peter Green, the Lib Dem mayor.

Mr Badcock's wife Marilyn also failed to make a breakthrough.

Tory Peter Jones lost his seat in Dunmore to Lib Dem newcomer Timothy Smith, while in the Fitzharris ward Monica Lovatt bowed out after four years, falling victim to Jim Halliday who swopped wards from Abingdon Northcourt.

In Grove, the Lib Dems made inroads into two of three previously held Tory seats but a bright spot for the Blues was the election of James Mcgee, who at 20 is the youngest ever candidate to get elected to the Vale.

A Conservative gain was in one of the two Kennington seats where Gareth Jennings finished in second place behind the leader of the council Jerry Patterson. But overall the Tories were out for the count and face a major re-examination if they were to recover lost confidence.

Conservative election agent Matthew Barber, who retained his seat in Faringdon and the Coxwells, said: "We gained a seat at Kennington and took a seat in Hendreds but lost some other key seats in Abingdon. Our feeling is Abingdon has had a bad deal from the Lib Dems in the last 12 years.

"This is a set-back but we will be holding a post mortem to see where we went wrong and learn lessons."

The leader of the Lib Dems Jerry Patterson said: "It was a terrific result. My worst prediction was that we would get 24 seats and my most optimistic view was that we would take 34. My optimism was spot on. We have as many seats now as we did when we first came to power in 1995 after 20 years of Tory domination.

"The result shows that the people of the Vale have been satisfied with the way we have run the council."

Evan Harris, MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, congratulated the candidates on a "splendid" victory that would keep the Lib Dems at the helm for another four years.