The electoral map of Swindon is blue after the Conservatives increased their majority five-fold in the borough council elections last week.

And, boasting 36 of 57 councillors, the Tory leadership – being voted on last night – has enough of a grip on the council chamber to do pretty much whatever it wants for the next year.

Except, perhaps, to overturn its one significant defeat of the last two years – when the administration failed in its attempt to change the frequency of elections.

The ruling group proposed a change in 2019 from the current cycle where a third of the council’s 57 seats are voted on every year with the fourth year fallow to one where half the seats will be elected every other year.

That proposal gained the support of 31 councillors against 22 when it was put to the vote in November 2019 – but such a constitutional change needed approval of 66 per cent of councillors.

Their tally of 36 of 57 councillors is just short at 63 per cent.

Council leader David Renard said without a change of opinion from Labour councillors, who all voted against the plan, he didn’t see the point of revisiting the proposal in the next council year.

He said: “We can’t get it through as a single group, so unless there’s a change in the Labour group, it’s not something I intend to bring back to council.”

The make-up of the political scrutiny and oversight committees will also change for the next year.

The chairmanship of the main overarching scrutiny committee is traditionally held by an opposition councillor, and it seems like Jim Robbins will continue in the role.

But membership and chairmanship of other scrutiny and overview committees which keep an eye on the council’s actions on health, housing, children’s services and education, the economy and facilities and amenities in the borough s allocated along political lines. The committees will see more Conservative backbenchers being drafted in.

And in 11 months the campaigning will start all over again. If the in-thirds election cycle is kept, there will be elections every year until 2024 after the postponement in 2020.

Councillors elected this year will serve a three-year term to get back to the correct pattern, so people in the town can expect canvassers, leaflets and ballot papers every year until a year off in 2025.