Tories were today recovering from the shock of losing both seats in last night's by-election in Basildon.

Seats in Laindon Park and Westley Heights were snatched by Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates in a surprise defeat for the majority party.

While the Conservatives still control both Basildon Council and Essex County Council, party activists were left wondering what went wrong.

Malcolm Buckley, Tory leader of Basildon Council, said: "I am very disappointed. The district council seat is up for election again in May and we will be doing everything we can to win it back again."

The by-election was caused by the death of David Walsh, who represented Essex County Council in Westley Heights and the district in Laindon Park.

Geoff Williams of the Liberal Democrats won the county seat, making him the only Lib Dem representative in the south of the county. He now serves on two authorities; he is already leader of his party's group on Basildon Council.

Labour secured the Laindon Park seat with a margin of more than 200 votes. The winning candidate was father-of-two Allan Davies, who is now the youngest member of the Labour group.

He said: "I am absolutely elated. We fought hard and it paid off. "I think the Conservatives are reeling now because this is the point that they should by picking up votes but they clearly aren't."

The by-elections attracted a voter turnout of only 19.8 per cent for the county seat and only 22.9 per cent for Laindon Park.