The Liberal Democrats have regained control of Kingston Council, taking a host of seats from the Conservatives.

They won 39 seats, to the Tories' nine.

Previously there were 24 Conservative, 16 Lib Dem, two Labour and two Kingston Independent Residents Group (KIRG) councillors.

Conservative leader and former leader of the council Kevin Davis retained his seat in Old Malden ward, joined by two other Conservatives.

He had represented the ward with two councillors from KIRG, Mary Clark and David Fraser, who both defected from the Tories since the last election.

It was a disappointing debut for KIRG, which failed to win a single seat and only returned 2 per cent of the vote.

The Lib Dems won the two seats Labour held in Norbiton, which contains the Cambridge Road Estate, leaving Labour with no seats.

They made gains in Tudor, Chessington North and Hook (both one); Berrylands and Norbiton (both two); and Beverley, Alexandra, Canbury and St James (three).