Nick Clegg is facing a battle to save three flagship Liberal Democrat councils and around 300 seats from an election rout on May 5.
In a possible sign that the party fears defeat in Newcastle it has postponed the count until the following day, which some suspect is designed to reduce the news impact of a setback.
Lib-Dems are also facing a battle to keep control in Bristol and Hull and stop Labour retaking control of Mr Clegg's home city of Sheffield. Ed Miliband hopes to gain around 1,000 town hall seats across Britain in what Labour officials are excitedly billing as his first nationwide victory as Labour leader.
David Cameron's party is braced to lose 650 to 700 seats nationwide, mainly to Labour, on the first anniversary of last year's general election that saw his Lib-Con coalition take power.
A YouGov/Sun survey of how people intend to vote in the council elections put Labour ahead on 39 per cent, up from 22 four years ago. The Tories were down four to 34 while the Lib-Dems had fallen from 24 per cent to 15. Such a swing suggests the Lib-Dems could lose 11 out of the 25 town halls they control and 700 councillors, according to Colin Rallings of Plymouth University.
