Election results: Tories lose three Sussex councils
The Conservatives have lost control of Arun council, with their leader unseated by an independent candidate.
The Liberal Democrats gained 17 seats to become the largest party, but the authority is now in no overall control. It was similar in Rother, where Conservatives lost command of a council that has been blue for 20 years. The Tories also lost control of Chichester council, with the Lib Dems picking up nine seats and Labour and the Greens each gaining two. The Conservatives remain the largest party, but lost the majority. In Arun, leader Gillian Brown, the mother-in-law of Chancellor Philip Hammond, and colleague Trevor Bence lost out to independents Hugh Coster and Anthony Dixon. The Lib Dems took 22 seats, while the Tories have 21. Six independents gained seats, taking the total number on the council to eight, while the Greens gained two seats. In Rother, where the Conservatives won 32 of 38 seats in 2015, no party managed to secure a majority. The Tories won 14 seats, with independents taking 13, Lib Dems seven, Labour three and Greens one. The Greens ran Labour close in Brighton and Hove, winning eight new seats, but failed to regain control of the council it ran until 2015. Labour took 20 seats and the Greens 19, while the Tories were down six to 14. In Mid Sussex, the Conservatives previously held all 54 seats but lost 20 of those this time around. The Lib Dems picked up 13, while four went to Independents and three to the Greens. Lewes council remains without a majority party. The Conservatives continue to be the largest party, with 20 seats, but no overall control. The Greens gained six wards to take second place with nine seats, while the Lib Dems dropped to third, with seven. There was little change at Crawley Borough Council - Labour lost a seat and now have 19 seats, while the Conservatives remain on 17 seats. In Horsham, the Tories maintained control, but lost 13 seats, with the Lib Dems picking up 10, the Greens two and independents one. Either search using your postcode or council name or click around the map to show local results.