Seems like having party politics at the local level does have the advantage of revealing the mood of the voters. I don't know if I'm correct, but I see them acting in the same way that the US mid term elections do ... as a comment on how well the ruling party (current administration) is doing. I was bored last nite, and a little stoned; so I followed the elections on the "Guardian" web site. Some things I found significant, foremost among them the size of the vote for the UKIP, even tho' it didn't translate into many seats. This seems to have goaded some tories in proposing that the party move further to the right.
This will probably not sit well with their coalition partners. Labour did well; however, it does appear that lots of voters voiced their displeasure by voting for a move to the right, rather than to (slightly) left of centre. The low voter turn out is also surprising, given the economic mess the country is in.