THE Conservatives comfortably held on to Dorset County Council in Thursday's local elections as the top tier authority awaits a government decision on its future.

The Tories won 32 seats, the Liberal Democrats 11, the Green Party 2 and Labour 1.

What happened at the election count, live

Although turnout was initially predicted to be disappointing, in fact it was not much lower than four years ago. In Christchurch turnout was 33 percent and 36 percent in East Dorset.

The big surprise of the night was that DCC Tory leader Robert Gould lost his seat in Sherborne.

The ruling Conservative group meets on Monday to elect a new leader with Spencer Flower, Rebecca Knox and Deborah Croney thought to be in the running.

Cllr Gould replaced Cllr Flower three years after he was forced to resign.

Cllr Flower said it had been a mixed night for his party in Dorset.

"From what I have heard so far it is a bit of a mixed bag.

"We have lost a couple of seats, gained a couple."

On the leadership he said: "I have no comment to make about that. We will have to wait and see what comes out of the sausage machine next week."

Nationally the Tories made some substantial gains, in part thanks to a major drop in the UKIP vote, but also at the expense of Labour.

The Liberal Democrats made moderate gains but their progress was somewhat patchy.

If re-elected the current government is set to announce its thinking after next month's general election on the restructuring of Dorset's nine councils into two unitaries, the Future Dorset plan.

But Chris Chope, the leading anti-merger campaigner and the Conservatives' prospective parliamentary candidate for Christchurch said he was confident the newly elected county councillors would be serving for four years not just two.

Speaking at the Christchurch and East Dorset count at the Riversmeet leisure centre, he said: "The government will have enough on its hands with Brexit without stirring up the hornet's nest of LGR, for which there is no consensus."

However senior Christchurch councillor, Trevor Watts, said: "Dorset County Council has voted to abolish itself and I predict it will not exist in two years.

"There is no alternative plan on the table. This is all about maintaining services and in this part of the world that's critical."

David Stokes for Labour said he was pleased with the party's performance overall and it had held up well from four years ago.

"We are already getting encouraging feedback on the doorstep in Bournemouth for the general election," he added.

Former UKIP parliamentary candidate in Christchurch, Robin Grey failed to win a seat in the Moors division. He said he would support Chris Chope in the general election.