One significant outcome of the local elections was the collapse of electoral support for the far right. The biggest of the far right parties, the BNP gained no seats in the General Election, and lost nearly half of all their councillors - losing 26 and retaining 28.

The BNP had its sights on Barking to be the first BNP-controlled council, building on the 12 seats on the council it had won in the 2006 elections. Not only did BNP leader, Nick Griffin, come a poor third place in the national elections in Barking, but it lost all 12 of its councillors on Barking council. In their other stronghold, Stoke on Trent, the BNP had their seats on the council halved from 9 to 5, and there is a similar picture in the North West, losing in the pockets where the BNP had hoped to gain ground, such as Burnley and Oldham.

The BNP could have expected to benefit from a situation where there is with low faith in the political system, dissatisfaction with all the main parties, coupled with fears of cuts and unemployment. But the opposite has happened.

There are many explanations for this.

• The main one is the high voter turn, in particular in the areas where the BNP had hoped to win seats. Nick Griffin blamed the high turn-out for their poor performance where he stood.
• There was some degree of cooperation between the main parties to oppose the BNP at a local level, as well as local work to support community cohesion, set in train by the last Government (e.g. the Connecting Communities Programme).
• Community activists and celebrities were active in campaigning in key areas - including Billy Bragg, originally from Barking, and groups like Hope not Hate.
• Rumours also suggest that the BNP were riven with political infighting even before the election results came out, with a re-emergence of the National Front in some areas resulting from these divisions.

There is likely to be some truth in all of these explanations, demonstrating in particular the importance of getting the vote out.

But the most important part of the explanation has got to be down to the electorate. It's not a time for complacency, and continued effort around anti racism and cohesion, and building on the renewed public interest in politics, continues to be essential. But for all of those working in communities, striving for greater equality, tolerance and inclusivity, these results can only be hugely encouraging.