The Liberal Democrats have lost four seats at the City Council elections, whilst Labour gain four of the 14 seats contested. The composition of the council is now almost balanced between the two parties, with 21 Liberal Democrats and 19 Labour councillors.

Turnout dropped by over 10% on last year, with the council's Chief Executive Antoinette Jackson revealing it to have been only 32.2%.The statistics for the last two years are 63.9% for 2010 and 44.6% for 2011.

The result marks a rejection of Liberal Democrat candidates after the outrage over student fees last year. However, in central wards with high student populations, such as Newnham and Market, the Liberal Democrats held firm. It is in areas further outside the city centre that the key seats changed hands. This suggests a swing towards Labour from local residents, with many traditionally Liberal Democrat voters choosing to stay at home.

Sian Reid, leader of the Cambridge Liberal Democrats, acknowledged that "we expected this election to be tough", adding:

"But I also believe that national issues playeda big part in how students voted and tuition fees were a major part of that. Clearly students are as unhappy with the tuition fees as we are here in Cambridge and this election was a way for them to demonstrate their displeasure.

"Having said that, the voting turnout was low and the number of students going to the polls was down on last year. All these factors must be taken into consideration when looking at the overall results."

The Cambridge Liberal Democrats will now have to assess whether the result reflects a resurgence of Labour in local government, or whether the vote was a protest against the party's coalition involvement. The shocking statistics in Cherry Hinton ward, in which Labour won 1556 votes to the LibDem's 185, indicate that it is largely the left vote that has shifted.

Cambridge Labour chairman Daniel Zeichner commented on his party's success:

"The reasons for that are mixed. It’s partly because people think the Lib Dems have run the council for a long time and have run out of steam, and they like some of our fresh ideas.

“But also people are very fed up with the Government, and the problems that have beset the Government since the Budget are coming home to roost. From the moment the Lib Dems went into coalition with the Conservatives, they made a fatal mistake.”

Protest votes did not extend to independent candidates, with the only independent victory of the evening coming from Castle ward, in which John Hipkin retained his seat. In fact, the only green seat being contested was lost to Labour. The leader of the Green Party Adam Pogonowski, whose seat was not contested in this election, defected to Labour before polls opened. As a result, the party is without representation in the new council.

With a national turnout of 32%, the lowest since 2000, and Labour gaining 17 councils across the country, Cambridge fits the trend of rejecting the coalition partners. These results indicate a general anger over coalition policies rather than a reflection of the local councillors themselves.

The Cambridge Liberal Democrats promised not to be distracted by the outcome:

"These results, however, will not deter us from our committment to continue to work hard for Cambridge to see out city through this economic downturn."

It remains to be seen whether the vote is an indicator of a long-term shift to Labour, or whether residents are using the local elections to demonstrate their displeasure with the coalition government.