Gordon Brown has described the local elections as "disappointing" after Labour suffered its worst poll losses in a generation.

The prime minister accepted it had been a "bad" night for the Labour Party, but pledged to "learn the lessons" and move on.

"It's clear to me that this has been a disappointing night, indeed a bad night for Labour," Brown said.

"We have lessons to learn from that and then we will move forward. My job is to listen and to lead, and that is what I will do."

Pointing to "testing" economic circumstances such as rising fuel and food bills and "uncertainty about mortgages and bank lending", he said people "want to be assured that the government will steer them through these difficult economic times".

"I think over the next few months it will become clear that the decisions we have made to help people on mortgages, to help people with food and fuel bills and the decisions we've made about the future of the economy will see the economy through," he said.

"We are preparing the economy for the upturn and prosperity to follow and I think that will become clear over the next few months.

"But we will learn the lessons, we will reflect on what has happened, and then we will move forward."

Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman acknowledged that the results were "very disappointing".

"We have got to reflect on it and listen to what people are saying," she told BBC1's Breakfast programme.

"People are concerned about rising food prices and the increase in fuel bills and there is a worry about the financial stability and we have got to recognise those concerns and do absolutely everything we can to make sure that people are protected from the economic problems that are out there."

But Labour's chief whip Geoff Hoon told the BBC there was "no crisis" for the prime minister, saying: "This isn't something that's going to affect the fundamental stability of the government.

"We have to go on making the difficult decisions the country requires."