Political heavyweights across Sussex are waking up today stripped of their power, prestige and salaries after a series of shock results across the county.

Brighton and Hove proved one of the most compelling fights as the Conservatives and Greens cut chunks out of the once Labour dominated-council.

The Tories are now the biggest party with 26 councillors - compared to 13 Labour members - while the Greens have established the city as their foremost powerbase in the country with 12 representatives.

In Arun, Chichester, Crawley, Horsham, Mid Sussex, Rother and Worthing the Tories strengthened their grip on power and they cut back the Lib Dem's majority in Lewes.

But it didn't all go the Conservative way as David Cameron's rejuvenated party were routed in Eastbourne and lost control of Hastings.

The scalping of a series of high-profile politicians across the county proved one of the biggest surprises to emerge from Thursday's 12 elections.

In Brighton and Hove, the leader of the council Simon Burgess, deputy leader Sue John, mayor elect Ken Bodfish and chief whip Brian Fitch all lost their seats.

Mr Burgess, who hopes to be the Labour parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown at the next general election, said: "We are not going to be hiding away and if anything I feel even more determined to stop the Conservatives taking back control of the parliamentary seats.

"I am very much up for the fight."

Labour said that the Tony Blair-effect had caused them woes but also pointed to a series of controversial moves on secondary school admissions and plans to sell off the council housing stock.

Conservative leader Brian Oxley said that low council tax, safer streets and tackling antisocial behaviour would be a few of his aims over the next four years.

He said: "We have pledged to keep council tax under inflation and we will be looking at what other councils have been able to achieve elsewhere."

The £290 million King Alfred development, which was given planning permission earlier this year, has yet to be approved by the Government and the Conservatives have been vociferous opponents of the scheme.

Coun Oxley has previously said he will look at the options available to the party if elected and yesterday added that his party was waiting for Ruth Kelly's decision before deciding what course of action to take.

The business community has welcomed cross-party support for the regeneration of the Brighton Centre, the city's key economic driver, and Tony Mernagh, executive director of Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, said his group was ready to work with all parties.

He said: "The two problems facing Brighton and Hove is transport and affordable housing."

Gill Mitchell, now leader of the Labour group after Mr Burgess lost his seat, warned that it was the Tories' pro-car agenda which put the city most at risk.

Coun Oxley, however, says his party seeks simply to rebalance transport priorities.

In Eastbourne, controversial parking plans played a part in the Conservatives losing control of the borough council and their woes were made worse by losing their leader, Ian Lucas, and cabinet finance lead member Chris Williams.

The Liberal Democrats took 20 seats, reducing the Tories to just seven seats out of 27.

Mid Sussex saw the Conservatives cement control of the council with 30 seats, and a majority of seven, but lose their leader Patrick Shanahan. The Liberal Democrats' leader Graham Knight also lost his seat.

The Tories made gains in Lewes cutting the Lib Dems majority from 16 to six and ousting council chairwoman Marina Pepper.

In Worthing, the Lib Dems failed to make ground on the Conservative administration, which has increased its majority by one to 24.

The leader of Wealden District Council, Nigel Coltman, and Lib Dem leader Laura Murphy both lost their seats as the Tories retained 34 councillors. The Liberal Democrats lost two seats, taking them to 12, the Independents and non-affiliated candidates took seven seats and the Green Party gained two.

The Tories won with style in Horsham as the party claimed eight seats from the Liberal Democrats and extended their majority on the council from two to 18.

Labour group leader Jan Cosgrove - a district councillor for 14 years - was the major causality in the Arun District Council election, as the Conservatives secured 43 of the 56 seats.

Chichester District Council now has an extra eight Conservative councillors, making it 34 Tories to 11 Lib Dems.

The Conservatives have also strengthened their hold on Crawley by gaining four seats from the Labour party.

Labour bucked the national trend in Hastings as the Conservatives lost control of the borough council in two by-elections.

Parking and plans for a travellers' camp were two burning issues in this election.

The Conservatives remain the biggest party with 15 seats, but a Lib-Lab coalition could seize power.

True-blue Rother proved a comfortable victory as the Conservatives took 28 out of 38 places.

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