The Conservative Party has been mocked after a dire set of local election results reached a benchmark.

At around 7.30pm on Friday, the Conservatives had lost more than 1,000 council seats in England – and rising – with some authorities still to declare.

For the last month, Tory party chairman Greg Hands has been telling anyone who will listen they were on course to lose 1,000 councillors.

But it doesn’t take a seasoned political watcher to know this is “expectation management” – a device used by all political parties during campaigning.

The idea is to set out the worst case scenario, so when it’s not so bad you have a positive story to tell. In short, the Conservatives really didn’t think the May 4 ballots would be this bad.

A Lib Dem spokesperson said: “Rishi Sunak has delivered three things in the past 24 hours – pizza, bacon sandwiches and 1,000 seats lost for the Tories.”

Labour frontbencher Wes Streeting said: “I take it all back Greg Hands – I thought losing 1,000 Conservative councillors was a cynical expectation management exercise, not an ambition. What is the point of Rishi Sunak?”

Twitter was enjoying the show too – with the refresh button getting a hammering.

Rishi Sunak remained defiant despite heavy losses, with both Labour and the Lib Dems seizing control of Tory councils across England.

Keir Starmer’s party was projected to have won a nine-point lead over the Conservatives if all of Britain had gone to the polls, as the Tories slid backwards.

Labour seized councils in Tory MPs’ seats that would be hotly contested at a general election – including in Swindon, Medway, Dover and East Staffordshire.

Sunak conceded the results were “disappointing”, but said he was “not detecting any massive groundswell of movement towards the Labour Party or excitement for its agenda”.

But the Tories will be concerned by Labour wins in the North, South and Midlands and a resurgent Lib Dems, as the prospect of a general election in 2024 looms.

Tory chairman Greg Hands has been roasted over the lack of progress being made by the government on Rishi Sunak’s five promises to voters.

The prime minister has pledged to halve inflation, cut NHS waiting lists, grow the economy, reduce national debt and stop the small boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel from France.

But it emerged last week that waiting lists have hit a record high, GDP flatlined in February, while inflation also went up that month.

Sunak has also refused to commit to stopping the small boat crossings by the time of the next election.

On the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Hands was skewered over the government’s poor record.

He said the government is “working very hard at delivering all of the five priorities”.

But Kuenssberg said: “What happened to the economy in February?”

The Tory chairman replied: “Well in February it wasn’t one of the better results, but in January it grew by 0.3%. We had the best growth in the G7 in 2021 and 2022.

“Overall with this Conservative government we’ve got a record to be proud of on growth.”

Kuenssberg replied: “And in February there was zero growth. Are you proud of that? Are you proud of zero growth in our economy?”

Hands said: “That is a monthly figure. If you look at the previous month, for example, it was plus 0.3.”

In a separate interview on Sky News this morning, Hands said the Tories were on course for disaster in next month’s local elections.

He said: “The independent expectations are that the Conservatives will lose more than a thousand seats and that Labour need to make big gains.”