LABOUR is struggling to retain overall control of Newport city council - the party's last urban stronghold in Wales - after a dramatic poll brought gains for the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

With voting in two wards postponed due to the death of candidates, a recount in one ward and a verification of voting numbers pending in another, both to be performed this afternoon (FRI), Labour appears to be struggling to reach the 26 seats it requires for an overall majority.

It currently has 18, with the Conservatives on 12 and the Liberal Democrats on six. Plaid has one seat, and there is one newly-elected independent councillor.

But three seats are up for grabs in Caerleon, where the recount is required, and the Argus understands the Conservatives will claim two of these, and possibly all three. A similar scenario is understood to exist in Rogerstone, another closely fought ward, where a verification process is required.

If the Tories win these six seats, Labour would be denied an overall majority even if it then won all six seats available in the two wards where voting was postponed.

Even if the Tories won just four more seats later today, Labour might still be left needing to win those six remaining by-election seats - in Bettws and St Julians - to scrape an overall majority.

Those by-elections are likely to be held early in June, and while Labour won the three Bettws seats last time around, the trio of seats in St Julians were all Liberal Democrat.

Tory fortunes gathered momentum as the counting of votes continued beyond dawn today.

They gained a seat each from Labour in Stow Hill and Malpas late on in the count, and following prolonged all-party discussions with election officials on the counting floor, in relation to the Caerleon and Rogerstone wards, emerged quietly confident of ending Labour's sole control for the first time in decades.