LONDON. May 4. Stunning opposition victories Friday In local elections shook the Conservative Party's 12-vear grip on power and dashed the likelihood of early parliamentary elections, reports AP.

Battered Conservatives blamed their trouncing in local elections on the recesston and on the so-called poll tax imposed under Margaret Thatchers fnremment.

Prime Minister John Major, who hastily disowned the tax after the party dumped Mrs Thatcher in November said the results were "quite dtsap pointing."

'But I think there's a great deal to took forward to. . . We are on an upswing and they have peaked." he said In a television interview. iXerHng to the main opposition "Labout Party

At stake In the Thursday polling were seats In 369 local councils. Labour gained control of 17 new councils, for a total , of 127. The Conservatives tost control of 42 councils and gained control of three others, leaving them with 80 councils

The Liberal Democrats also won control of 17 councils. The rest of the councils do not have a majority of seats held by

Tory setback may hasten elections

any party

Overall, the Conservatives lost 17 per cent of their seals, while Labour showed a 15-per cent gain and the Liberal Democrats had a 31-per cent

The opposition drive into Conservative strongholds In eluded the genteel coastal town of Eastbourne, which went to the Liberal Democrats, and the naval base of Plymouth, which swung socialist after 25 years of Tory control.

In the industrial belt of central England, droves of skilled blue-collar workers who voted Conservative tn the Thatcher decade of the 80s turned back to Labour. The Socialist Party's prize there included the city of Nottingham.

The results of the voting appeared to stymie any hopes major had of following Mrs. Thatcher's practice of calling a general election every four years — a year before the deadline — and winning.

Observers - believe he will now likely watt until the autumn when inflation to expected to fall by half to 4 per cent and mortgage rates, painfully Increased as part of an anti inflationary squeeze, will be down.