The past few days of election results have shaken Derbyshire's political bedrock.

In a month of campaigning, a day of polling and three days of counting, the election results across the county and city have changed political control remarkably.

The county and city now has a new Police and Crime Commissioner in Conservative Angelique Foster, the county council has seen long-held traditional Labour areas trade their allegiances from red to blue for the first time in decades, and several district and borough councils have changed control.

We also saw inroads for parties outside of the top two, through the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats, with what one returning councillor hopes is a move away from "Punch and Judy politics".

At South Derbyshire District Council there were four by-elections, with the Tories retaining all four spots, some of which had been created by Conservative resignations following infighting.

This takes the authority out of Labour control (with no majority) to no overall control, under four months after taking it off the Tories due to the vacancies left by resignations, which had made it the largest single party.

Labour and the Conservatives now both have 15 councillors apiece, while the Independent Group (former Tory group councillors) have five, followed by solo independent Cllr Amy Wheelton.

Previous attempts to make a deal between the Tories and former Tory group councillors failed.

In the Derbyshire County Council contests, Labour was dealt a drubbing by the Conservatives, losing many of its heartland seats to the Tories.

Labour had gone into the contest holding 11 out of the 14 seats which comprise Bolsover and North East Derbyshire.

Following the election, it now holds just four of those seats, with three in Bolsover and just one in North East Derbyshire.

Labour lost all county council representation in half of Derbyshire's districts – Amber Valley, the Derbyshire Dales, Erewash and South Derbyshire.

It also saw its leader, Paul Smith, and deputy leader, Mick Wall, lose their seats, leaving Derbyshire Labour leaderless. The Liberal Democrats also lost their group leader, Beth Atkins, meaning the Conservatives are the only party to see their leader Cllr Barry Lewis – return to County Hall

The Conservatives are now fully unopposed at a county level in two Derbyshire districts – Erewash and South Derbyshire – which are now completely blue.

Meanwhile, three districts have only one opposition seat apiece: Amber Valley through the Greens in Duffield and Belper South; the Derbyshire Dales through the Lib Dems in Matlock and North East Derbyshire through Labour in Clay Cross South.

The Conservatives gained three seats and their first representation in a long time in Bolsover and almost swept the board in North East Derbyshire after a results day unlike any other.

This comes two years after the Conservatives won the Bolsover parliamentary seat and gained control of North East Derbyshire District Council in 2019 for the first time.

Its deputy leader, Cllr Charlotte Cupit, was one of the Tory councillors to gain a spot on the county council on Friday – an historic victory in Clay Cross North.

However, the Tories lost their one county seat in Chesterfield borough, the one part of Derbyshire in which it has no representation, swapping with Bolsover.

The Conservatives now enter their first ever consecutive administration at the county council since local government reorganisation, previously losing control after one innings on a few occasions.

Derbyshire County Council now has a fourth political party through the Green Party's Gez Kinsella's victory in Duffield and Belper South.

The Green Party has also seen its votes and vote share grow significantly, surging from just 2.1 per cent of votes in 2017 and 4,779 votes cast to 7.38 per cent and 18,339 votes cast for the party across Derbyshire this year – just behind the Lib Dems on 21,950, who stood in 12 more seats, but won four divisions (three more).

The Conservatives saw its vote share rise five per cent – 20,000 more than in 2017 – while Labour's dipped by four per cent, around 3,000 fewer votes.

UKIP has all but disappeared, fielding just one candidate, in Etherow, earning 47 votes and 0.02 per cent of the overall vote share, down from 9,640 votes and 4.2 per cent of the vote share four years ago.

In Derby, with a third of seats up for election, the Conservatives made a couple of gains to remain the largest political party in the city, with 21 seats ahead of Labour's 13, but short of a majority. It says it will rule alone but that the door is open for other parties to assist it.

Labour's Hardyal Dhindsa, who is also a Derby city councillor, retained his council seat but was knocked out of his Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner role by Conservative county councillor Angelique Foster – marking another significant Tory gain.

The final result was not a close one, unlike five years ago, when Cllr Dhindsa beat then Tory Cllr Richard Bright by just over 1,600 votes.

This time, Cllr Foster won the position by a resounding 32,000 votes.

Turnout improved markedly from 23.9 per cent to 35.64 per cent, but this may be because the PCC election was paired with other contests this time around, after being delayed from last year due to Covid.

Amber Valley Borough Council had been in Labour control heading into its election this year – in which a third (15) of the authority's seats were up for grabs.

However, the authority has now turned blue after a dominant display from the Conservatives, gaining nine seats out of the 11 which Labour had held, with the Tories retaining the four and, Labour, just two.

Amber Valley Labour also lost its leader, Chris Emmas-Williams, its planning board chair, Mick Wilson, and cabinet member Tony Holmes.

The change in administration at Amber Valley will once again delay its long-expected blueprint for future development – its Local Plan.

Labour has regained the authority in 2019 on a platform that they would scrap a Local Plan formed by the Conservatives which would have earmarked acres of Green Belt land for housing.

When Labour came into office, this Local Plan was scrapped and the costly process to form a new plan started. With Labour losing office it leaves the situation in limbo.

There were two by-elections held at Bolsover District Council, with one retained by Labour and the other a gain for Labour over the Community Independents – taking the authority back under its control after losing it to no overall control in 2019.

Meanwhile, a three-vote victory for Conservative candidate Dermot Murphy in the Derbyshire District Council Masson by-election means the Tories have regained their majority on the council.

It had relied on the support of two independents to maintain its command of the authority, but it no longer requires this alliance.

Cllr Murphy received 447 votes and Labour candidate Nicholas Whitehead received 444.

The Masson ward had been left vacant after incumbent Labour councillor Joyce Pawley died earlier this year.

Labour won the Wirksworth by-election and it now has four members on the council, retaining its slim spot as the fourth largest party on the authority.

There were three by-elections at North East Derbyshire decided on Thursday, with the Conservatives gaining one and retaining the other two, expanding their majority on the authority with a win in Eckington South & Renishaw.

The Tories now have 31 councillors on the district council to Labour's 16.

There were two by-elections being contested in Erewash Borough Council's Hallam Fields and Nottingham Road wards following the resignations of two Labour councillors.

Pam Ashley and Diane Fletcher had both resgned due to the need to move home to assist their families after Covid-19.

The Conservatives gained both of the vacant seats off Labour, extending their grasp on the council from 26 seats to 28 out of 47 and leaving Labour on 16.