Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone has admitted her party “got a kicking” at the local elections in Haringey.

The Hornsey and Wood Green representative said local candidates were paying the price for a backlash against the coalition government.

The Liberal Democrats lost 12 seats to Labour, leaving them with just nine out of a possible 57 on the authority.

Speaking after the crushing poll results, Ms Featherstone said: “Clearly there is quite a kicking going on in terms of our place in the Government, which I think is very sad because there are a lot of fantastic Liberal Democrat councillors who did not get in.

“I think historically this is the trend, but things will improve. I expected it to be a very difficult fight, and it was very tough – people wanted to send a message to the coalition.

“But I think this is as good as Labour are going to get in this area.”