The Liberal Democrats have described today's Powys Council election results as "seismic" after the group became the largest in the council chamber.

The group won 24 seats to become the biggest on the county council, leading to glowing praise from Welsh party leader Jane Dodds.

“The results today in Powys really are seismic and the Welsh Liberal Democrats now have the highest number of councillors on the council ever," she said.

“The results here tell us that politics in the county is changing once again. Our team ran a really fantastic, positive campaign that resonated with voters who were fed up with mismanagement by the Conservatives and Independents.

“We’ve had a terrific range of hard-working and diverse candidates elected, including our highest ever number of female councillors in Powys and a number of energetic young candidates.

“These results not only put us in a strong position for local Government, but shows that the work we have been doing to rebuild the party as a serious political force in Powys is working and we will be looking forward to Westminster elections."

Among the victories thought out the day, the Welsh Liberal Democrats unseated the incumbent leader of Powys County Council. Independent Rosemary Harris, who was beaten by Liberal Democrat candidate Jackie Charlton in the Llangattock and Llangynidr ward.

Other notable results include the election of Glyn Preston to Llanidloes who at 22 is the youngest councillor elected in Powys since at least reorganization in 1995.

The results also saw Labour grow to nine councillors, while the Conservatives saw their numbers fall by six to 14. There are 17 independents on the council including one non-affiliated member and three members of Action for Powys.

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies MS said: “Things might not have gone our way in some areas of Wales, but lots of fantastic Welsh Conservative candidates have been elected to authorities up and down the country.

“I have no doubt that they will now hit the ground running and work tirelessly for their communities, delivering on their pledges.

“Let’s not forget that Welsh Conservatives fielded the highest number of candidates ever and increased the number of candidates at these elections whilst other parties went backwards.

“We have a strong Welsh Conservative brand, but we went into these elections with a difficult national picture and it appears that has had an impact.

“We have to build on that strong Welsh Conservative brand in the coming months.

“A huge thank you must go to every single person who turned out to vote for the Welsh Conservatives, all of our candidates and our fantastic volunteers who have been working tirelessly over the last few months.”