Labour leader Ed Miliband promised the people of Birmingham that he would repay their trust by working hard to fulfil party pledges.
Flanked by jubilant supporters in the city's Victoria Square this morning as Labour celebrated a comfortable victory, Mr Miliband said the party would focus on people who are "struggling" and "hurting".
"We're determined to repay that trust and we know times are difficult right across Britain and, you know, the most important thing is not to think about politicians, but to think about people," he said.
"People who are struggling, people who are hurting, people who are finding they can't make ends meet, people who are worried about their sons and daughters getting work.
"It's them that I'm worrying about, it's them that I'm concerned about, it's them that Labour councils, Labour councillors, are going to be spending their time in the coming days, weeks and months working for."
Labour celebrated a rout of its rivals in Birmingham, winning overall control and ousting the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition which has ruled the city since 2004.
The comfortable victory, which became clear well before results had been declared in all the 40 seats being contested, saw Labour's share of the vote increase to about 51%.
Taking advantage of a marked dip in support for the Tories, Labour gained a total of 20 seats from the ruling "partnership" administration, giving it 77 councillors on the 120-member city council.
Labour last had overall control of Birmingham in 2003 and acted as a minority administration until the Tory-Lib Dem partnership was formed in 2004.
Mr Miliband sidestepped a question about if he was feeling particularly pleased that people may have cast their vote for him rather than the party as a whole, and said: "I think the most important thing is that we've had people right across Britain putting their faith in Labour.
"There are lots of people who didn't vote at the election, there are people who voted for other parties. The process of change in Labour has just begun, we've got more to do and I know that."
Mr Miliband promised Labour would fulfil party promises on issues such as jobs, apprenticeships and housing in the city and Birmingham Labour group leader Sir Albert Bore would tackle the issue of cuts.
"It's a tough thing that Albert's got to do," he said.
"We've set out a clear set of promises and we're going to make sure that we fulfil those promises and repay that trust that the people of Birmingham have put in Labour."
