Great Yarmouth MP and Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis has blamed the failure to resolve Brexit on the Tories dismay performance in local elections.

Some analysts are predicting overall Tory loses of 800 seats or more across the country, and many seats have so far been lost in Norfolk.

But Mr Lewis said: 'I have said for a while these are going to be tough elections for us.

'The reality is we were fighting these elections from a real high water mark for us off the back of the 2015 general election.

'People are frustrated with where they see parliamentarians are.

'And the fact that we have found this impasse in parliament.

'It's a stark reminder to everybody in the House of Commons that we need to get past that impasse, deliver on what people voted for, and focus on that as parliamentarians as well.'

Mid Norfolk MP, Conservative George Freeman, said: 'This is a terrible night for local government. Hardworking local councillors being hit by a tsunami of anger from all sides of the Brexit chaos, for which they are not responsible.'

The Conservatives managed to hold on to overall control in Mr Lewis' constituency, but were given bloodied noses elsewhere.

On his own constituency Mr Lewis said: 'A good result in Great Yarmouth. To win both seats in Caister South and Yarmouth North is very good. L

'Labour are going backward in the key marginal wards, where they should have been challenging hard.

'The team worked well and this is an endorsement of their good work.

'Working together for flood defences, infrastructure improvements with our roads, college and so much more has benefitted us locally and I look forward to continuing to work in partnership with our excellent Conservative council to get more done for Great Yarmouth as we go forward.'