First day in office for councillors in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire
Both councils will now be running under a majority local government
Newly-elected and returning councillors will be stepping into office today at Buckinghamshire Council and Hertfordshire County Council, following shock election results.
In both counties all seats were contested in last week's election, with both councils previously run with a Conservative majority.
For the very first time in Buckinghamshire, while Conservatives won the most seats, the majority was narrowly lost.
In Hertfordshire, the Liberal Democrats took over from the Tories, with no group having an overall majority.
Discussions will now take place between political groups to agree executive arrangements, with a Leader of the Council and Chairman to be appointed at the first meeting of the new County Council on 20 May, after which a new Cabinet will be appointed by the Leader.
Over the last few days, the Liberal Democrats have celebrated their success in both counties.
Victoria Collins, Harpenden and Berkhamsted MP, said: "Our newly elected team of 31 councillors is prepared to hit the ground running. They are ready to listen to the local communities and work tirelessly to deliver on the change that voters."
Amersham and Chesham MP Sarah Green said local politics are essential and central to our everyday lives, which is why local elections matter.
She said: "We've got people from all walks of life wanting to represent their community, and I personally think local government is the unsung hero of of politics because they do so much of the graft.
"Bins being collected, the schools, special educational needs, that you name it, the local council and local government's mission critical to what we do."
She insisted the priority was to deliver for local residents, ensuring councils and MPs can work together on cross-level political issues.
"We do work well together I have to say, and that's because we all want the best for our communities and we might have different political perspectives, but I don't think the voting public want to see their politicians at each other's throat.
"If it's something that needs all of us to work together, then we should."
Meanwhile Conservatives have reacted to their loss in all counties they were defending, including in Buckinghamshire.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has said the Conservatives are going to "come out fighting" to try to regain public support.
Nigel Farage has said the Tories will "never recover" and Reform UK has "supplanted" them as the opposition to Labour after his party made sweeping gains in local elections.
Both Sir Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch are under pressure to reverse their parties' fortunes after Reform picked up 10 councils and more than 600 seats.
In voting percentages, Reform UK gathered the third highest number of votes in Hertfordshire with 24%, close behind LibDems and Tories with both 26%.
The party led by Nigel Farage however did not perform as well in Buckinghamshire as it has elsewhere, with just three newly-elected councillors.
Labour has lost significant support across the country.
In Buckinghamshire, only four councillors representing the party were elected on Friday, while in Hertfordshire they were five, gathering 14% of overall votes.
The Prime Minister has said he will go "further and faster" with his plans in response to the poor result, while Mrs Badenoch apologised to defeated Conservative councillors and pledged to get the party back to being a "credible alternative to Labour".