There were shouts of joy and scenes of celebration in the early hours of this morning as the Labour Party increased its majority on Waltham Forest Council.

The Tories lost two seats in Hale End & Highams Park as Cllrs Sheree Rackham and Paul Braham were removed by Labour candidates Rosalind Dore and Zia-Ur Rehman.

The borough’s only Independent seat held by Cllr Tim Bennet-Goodman in Higham Hill was won by Labour’s Hather Ali, strengthening the party’s grip to 46 seats.

Having hoped to gain back two seats they lost in 2014, the Tories have now been left with 14.

Sixty seats were contested in the election which saw 37.75 per cent of eligible voters in Waltham Forest take to the polls, down from 59.22 per cent four years ago.

Council leader Clare Coghill, who retained her seat in High Street, said: “I’m feeling very proud of our team who have worked so incredibly hard and I’m delighted we have increased our majority.

“From the data I saw throughout the day I had a feeling those would be the results. 

“The Conservatives have lost seats despite them saying they would gain seats.

“Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative MP for Chingford & Woodford Green) has a majority of just 3,000, one of the smallest in the country, and we are coming for the Tories.

“We have really put ourselves out there with the Borough of culture and people have seen that.”

Conservative Cllr Roy Berg said although it was disappointing to see two seats lost, his party “held up well” in other wards.

Cllr Berg, who retained his seat in Endlebury, will work alongside one of the country’s youngest councillors, Mitchell Goldie.

The teenager was elected with 2,166 votes just three days after celebrating his 19th birthday.

There were tight results in Valley ward where Conservative group leader, Cllr Alan Siggers was re-elected with 1,703 votes and Conservative Cllr Jemma Hemsted won 1,764.

The ward’s Labour seat was won by Elizabeth Baptiste who received 1,747 votes, replacing Cllr Aktar Beg who was just 49 votes behind Cllr Siggers.

Cllr Berg praised his party for holding key Labour targets in London such as Barnet and Wandsworth, saying “it’s very good considering the Conservatives have been in power for almost eight years.”

He added: “We went into the election being told by Labour that they were going to wipe us out in Waltham Forest and we ended up holding 14 out of 16 seats.”

He vowed the opposition would “take the fight forward” and hold the council to account.

Cllr Coghill praised MP for Walthamstow Stella Creasy for turning up at the Town Hall to cheer on Labour candidates as results started to be announced shortly before 2am.

She added: “Stella is wonderful. She was out and about today and we are very grateful. We support her and she supports us.”