British Prime Minister Gordon Brown admitted Friday that his party had suffered a "bad" blow in key local elections, as forecasts predicted the worst results for Labour since the 1960s.

As results poured in, Labour -- with Brown leading them into elections for the first time since taking office last year -- was set to finish in third place behind the opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, the BBC said.

The ruling party could face further humiliation in the London mayoral race, which pitched the current mayor, Labour's Ken Livingstone, against the Conservatives' maverick Boris Johnson.

"It's clear to me that this has been a disappointing night, indeed a bad night for Labour," Brown told reporters.

"We have lessons to learn from that and then we will move forward."

Linking his party's performance to the effects of the global credit crunch in Britain, he added: "The real test of leadership is not what happens in a period of success but what happens in difficult circumstances."

Amid speculation Livingstone would be voted out as part of the backlash against the government, Brown added that he had spoken to Livingstone last night and thanked him "for the campaign he has run and the message he has put across."

The Conservatives have 44 percent of the vote, the Liberal Democrats 25 percent and Labour 24 percent, according to BBC projections, which added that this result would be its worst in local polls since the late 1960s.

With results from 100 out of 159 local councils officially announced, the Conservatives had won 45 local councils, Labour 14 and the Liberal Democrats six. The remainder were not controlled by any single party.

Labour lost six councils and 162 councillors and the Conservatives gained eight councils and 147 councillors.

Senior government figures blamed on the global economic downturn and insisted Brown -- who succeeded Tony Blair in Downing Street last June -- was still the best man for the job.

Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader, told BBC television: "We all think these are disappointing results and we recognise the economic context with people feeling the pinch...

"But we are determined to listen and confident to take the country forward."

Some commentators suggested that the results could represent a tipping point for the Conservatives' hopes at the next general election, which must be held before the middle of 2010.

"The possibility at least that the Conservatives might win the general election is no longer inconceivable," Professor John Curtice, professor of government at Strathclyde University, told BBC radio.

Brown has been shaken in recent months by poor opinion polls and by lawmakers' dissent over tax reforms and plans to extend the period of pre-trial detention for terrorist suspects to 42 days.

It seems unlikely that he will face a leadership challenge in the wake of the results, but he is expected to try and relaunch his government.

"A change of Labour leader? No, for all the discontent with Gordon Brown, hardly any Labour MP (member of parliament) believes that's possible, let alone desirable," wrote the BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, on his blog.

"A change of policy? Certainly, though it's already clear that there is disagreement about the direction in which policy should change."

In all, some 13,000 candidates fought for more than 4,000 seats on 159 municipal councils in England and Wales as well as the 25-member London Assembly and mayoral vote. Polls closed at 10:00 pm (2100 GMT) Thursday.

London's mayor controls an annual budget of more than 11 billion pounds (14 billion euros/22 billion dollars) and his decisions affect 7.5 million Londoners plus millions of visitors.

While a Johnson victory would be another huge boost for the Conservatives, a Livingstone win could reassure Labour that their dip in form is only temporary.

Most opinion polls have put the two men neck-and-neck.

Results in the London contest were expected after 1600 GMT Friday.

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Mr. Brown admitted his party had suffered a "bad" blow in key local elections.

AFP