Local elections 2019: Conservatives see huge losses in England – as it happened

Here’s a little more from May’s speech to Tory activists in Grimsby. Again, it’s remarkably similar to what she told Sky News earlier:

Yes, we had challenging results, but Labour were predicting that they were going to gain seats. In fact, they made net losses of seats.

But I think a message has been given to both main parties from the public – I think people are saying to us: ‘We’re sending a strong message, just get on and sort Brexit out and do it’.

I welcome the fact that Jeremy Corbyn has said today that he sees the time is now to get a deal and to deliver on Brexit – it’s what I’ve been saying for some time. It’s what we want to do, it’s what we’ve been working for, so now we must get on and do that.

I also know that last night, I’m sorry to say, a good number of good local councillors across the country lost their seats. Brandon [Lewis] and I both started our careers in local government and we know what it’s like when you’re fighting local elections against a difficult national background. I’d like to thank all those councillors for all their hard work and effort that they’ve put in.

It’s excellent to be here to recognise and celebrate a success. For the first time, you have control of North East Lincolnshire. That is an excellent result and you’ve all worked extremely hard for that result.

I want to congratulate you and I want to say a huge thank you for delivering this success, but also congratulations to the people of North East Lincolnshire because they have now got a first-class Conservative council that is going to deliver for them.

Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, has called yesterday the party’s best ever local election performance:

These are spectacularly good results, stemming from the hard work and the commitment of our campaigners all around the country.

This is a springboard to the European elections in three weeks’ time, when we hope to do well again. Ours is the strongest Remain voice in British politics. Every Liberal Democrat vote is a vote to stop Brexit.

Theresa May has been addressing the Tories’ performance, admitting in an interview with Sky News that she had been expecting a “difficult election” and that Brexit was “an added dimension”.

These were always going to be difficult elections for us with us nine years into a government. Of course, there is the added dimension we haven’t got the Brexit deal over the line.

But, of course, it wasn’t a good night for Labour either – they were predicting they would make gains but they have lost over 100 seats.

I think there has been a very clear message from people to both main parties that they want us to get on and deliver Brexit, so I welcome comments from Jeremy Corbyn that he thinks we should be working to ensure we can deliver a deal.

She repeated a similar message when speaking to Conservative activists in a hotel in Grimsby, which lies in a council area captured by the Conservatives:

It’s great to be back in Grimsby and in Conservative North East Lincolnshire. Because we haven’t delivered the Brexit deal through parliament yet, this was going to be a particularly challenging set of elections for both of the main parties.

As the party who has been in government for nine years, it was of course always going to be particularly difficult for us.

But as we look at what happened, nobody was expecting that Labour was going to do as badly as they did.

Here’s the lay of the land from the Press Association, with results available from 241 out of 248 councils:

• Conservatives: 91 councils (down 43), 3,449 seats (down 1,173)
• Labour: 60 councils (down six), 1,972 seats (down 68)
• Lib Dems: 18 councils (up 11), 1,265 seats (up 620)
• Green: no councils (no change), 250 seats (up 174)
• Ukip: no councils (no change), 31 seats (down 36)
• Others: Five councils (up four), 1,143 seats (up 270)

There are 67 councils of which no party is in overall control, that’s up by 34.

The results are being interpreted by many as a poor performance by Labour, with the party seeing a net loss in seats, as well as ceding control of some councils in its heartland and failing to take much advantage of Tory travails.

But Andrew Gwynne, Labour’s election coordinator, has been talking up what he says are some significant wins.

As the final results come through, it’s become clear that, since this morning, Labour has made some significant gains in important areas of the country.

Of course we are disappointed to have lost councillors but the real story of these elections is the catastrophic result for the Tories, who are facing their largest seat loss since 1995, with over 1,000 councillors lost and 30 councils gone.

Labour has won key target councils, such as Trafford, Amber Valley, Calderdale and won two mayoral seats for the first time ever. And we have made gains in key areas where repeat results in a general election would see Labour win those target constituencies. We will be stepping up our campaigning in these areas and across the rest of the country so that we’re ready for the next election, whenever it comes.

Here’s Jonathan Carr-West, the chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit with the thinktank’s final verdict on yesterday’s voting:

Results in these elections have been far more dramatic than anyone expected. For the Conservatives, the loss of more than a thousand seats and 40 councils is little short of catastrophic, while Labour will be concerned to be moving backwards and to be losing heartland councils like Middlesborough or Bolsover. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats, Greens and independents have been resurgent.

The meaning of all this will be fiercely debated but it’s clear that Brexit has been a dominant factor as local government is once again overshadowed by dysfunctional national politics.

Attention is deflected from the crisis faced by local government and local public services and the real issues they face. A decade of austerity has left many councils close to breaking point. That’s what we should be focusing on instead of the gridlock in Westminster.

Today’s results usher in a new wave of councillors who will have to rise to the urgent challenges that lie ahead.

The centralist Alliance Party topped the local government poll in part of Belfast during early vote counting. The party has appealed for support to both unionists and nationalists and is trenchantly critical of Brexit and the Stormont powersharing stalemate which was denounced following the murder of journalist, Lyra McKee.

Alliance held the balance of power between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionists in the outgoing Belfast City Council, the largest in Northern Ireland. The former Alliance leader, David Ford, said:

People want serious politicians getting on with serious issues rather than what we see of the two main parties squabbling and failing to form the executive at Stormont.

Here’s a little more on Alison Bennington, the DUP’s first openly gay election candidate, who has been elected to Antrim and Newtownabbey borough council.

She hugged supporters at a Belfast count centre as it became clear she had made it. Bennington attracted 1,053 votes as part of her campaign for the pro-union and Christian party and praised the “good, hard work and good teamwork” of her supporters.

The DUP’s founder, Rev Ian Paisley, once led a campaign to “Save Ulster from Sodomy” and prevent the decriminalisation of homosexuality. His fundamentalist party is staunchly opposed to same-sex marriage and has thwarted recent efforts to legalise it.

Speaking on Friday, the DUP’s deputy leader, Nigel Dodds, said:

Our party is open to everybody who subscribes to the aims and objectives of our party, wants to ensure the union is defended and we deliver all our policies.

Alison will be an excellent addition to our team, she is a very hard worker. She’s been a member of our party in the South Antrim association for many years and we are delighted now she is a councillor.

The environment secretary, Michael Gove, has backed the notion that today’s English council election losses for the Tories and Labour were a clear warning that voters want to see Brexit delivered.

At a fringe event at the Scottish Tory conference in Aberdeen, Gove was pressed by Graham Simpson, a Conservative MSP who has been the most vocal advocate of Brexit at Holyrood, on whether he remained confident Brexit would take place. Simpson asked him: “Do you think there’s a danger that it won’t happen?”

Gove, who has been carefully wooing activists in Aberdeen before the contest to replace Theresa May, without stating he plans to run, replied:

I think, in a way, that whatever else one takes from these local elections – and there are reasons for sadness when good councillors lose their seats – one lesson that we can take is that the electorate has pretty clearly said to both major parties: ‘Get on with it’.

My view is that the message is more acute for Labour because the overwhelming majority of Conservative MPs have supported the prime minister but only a tiny fraction of the Labour party have. But the responsibility rests on all us in Westminster to respect that result.

Good evening, we’ve come full circle.

Let’s start with news from Beaconsfield, where – according to ITV News’s Daniel Hewitt – the Conservatives have chosen not to deselect their MP, Dominic Grieve:

The remain-supporting Tory MP lost a no-confidence vote in late March. You can read about that here:

The DUP’s first openly gay candidate, Alison Bennington, has been elected to Antrim and Newtownabbey borough council, the Press Association reports.

And on that note, I am finishing for the day.

My colleague Kevin Rawlinson is taking over now.

Here is the the latest list from the Press Association showing which councils have changed hands.

Conservatives councils lost to no overall control

Babergh
Basildon
Broxtowe
Chichester
Craven
Eden
Folkestone & Hythe
Malvern Hills
Mendip
Mid Devon
Mid Suffolk
North Hertfordshire
North Somerset
Pendle
Peterborough
Richmondshire
St Albans
South Oxfordshire
Southend-on-Sea
Staffordshire Moorlands
Swale
Tandridge
Tendring
Torridge
Warwick
Welwyn Hatfield
Worcester
Wyre Forest

Labour councils lost to no overall control

Bolsover
Burnley
Cannock Chase
Darlington
Hartlepool
Middlesbrough
Stockton-on-Tees
Wirral

Conservative gains from no overall control

North East Lincolnshire
Walsall

Conservative gain from Labour

North East Derbyshire

Labour gains from no overall control

Calderdale
Gravesham
Trafford

Labour gains from Conservative

Amber Valley
High Peak

Lib Dem gains from no overall control

North Devon
North Norfolk
Teignbridge

Lib Dem gains from Conservatives

Bath & North East Somerset
Chelmsford
Cotswold
Hinckley & Bosworth
Mole Valley
Somerset West & Taunton
Vale of White Horse
Winchester

Independent/other gains from no overall control

Ashfield

Independent/other gains from Conservatives

North Kesteven

Ratepayers or residents gain from Conservative

Uttlesford

This is from the Labour MP Lucy Powell.

The value of sterling has gone up on the back of Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit comments (see 4.56pm), Reuters reports.

Sterling surged past $1.3150 on Friday after Jeremy Corbyn said parliament must break the deadlock over Brexit and “get a deal done” to exit the European Union.

Lee Hardman, MUFG’s currency analyst based in London, said “optimism” over a “cross-party deal to break the impasse” had extended the move higher in sterling.

Against the dollar, the pound surged more than a percent to $1.3175, a one-month high.

Against the euro, the pound surged 0.9% to 84.98p, a new one-month high.

Stuart Davies, the former Conservative councillor who heckled Theresa May at the Welsh Conservative conference at lunchtime, has explained why he told May to resign. He told the Press Association:

I am furious at what she has done to our party. To put it bluntly, she is telling lies – ‘We will be out by March the 29th’.

If she’s given a choice, she always picks the wrong choice, and that’s what she’s done all the way through.

She doesn’t listen to people. I knew this was my opportunity to get my views across and I think I share the views of a lot of people who are party members. I did what I did because I know it was the right thing to do.

The former engineer and press officer added: “I shouted out: ‘Prime minister, why don’t you resign?’ Her reaction? It was like looking at a rabbit caught in the headlights. I am glad I did it.”

Davies said he was not impressed by May’s response, saying good afternoon in Welsh. “By the way, if she speaks Welsh, I’m a frog,” he said.

Eleven local authority areas have been running voter ID pilots at these elections, where people were asked to provide particular forms of ID when they turned up to vote. At Woking borough council, which was trialling a version involving people having to show photo ID, turnout was 36.3%, slightly down on the 37.7% in last year’s election. There
were 133 rejected papers, up from 89 last year.

Here is an article from my colleague Dan Sabbagh on five things we have learned from the elections so far.

The People’s Vote campaign has released figures showing the swing away from Labour to either the Greens or to the Lib Dems in certain council areas. It is keen to highlight these figures because they boost the People’s Vote argument that Labour has been losing votes to parties that unequivocally back a second referendum. (See 2.45pm.) Here are the figures as calculated by People’s Vote.

Barnsley: 17.3% swing from Labour to LDs

Coventry: 2% swing from Labour to Greens

Derby: 6.2% swing from Labour to LDs

Dudley: 1.4% swing from Labour to LDs

NE Lincolnshire: 2.7% swing from Labour to LDs

Oldham: 2.8% swing Labour to LDs

Peterborough: 6.9% swing Labour to LDs; 2.7% swing Labour to Greens

Sunderland: 13.4% swing Labour to LDs; 10.9% swing Labour to Greens

Labour’s Jamie Driscoll elected on second count at North of Tyne. Driscoll is a member of Momentum, the Labour organisation for Jeremy Corbyn supporters, and Momentum has put out this statement about his victory

Devastated by Thatcherism and blighted by austerity, for decades the North East has been held back by Tory rule. By electing Momentum member Jamie Driscoll as the region’s first mayor, the people of the North East have rejected the economic orthodoxy of the past 40 years and taken back power for their communities.

From building good, affordable homes to creating a people’s bank and highly paid, unionised green jobs, Jamie will deliver a transformative, socialist agenda for the North East and we look forward to supporting him as mayor.

My colleague Aditya Chakrabortty wrote a positive profile of Driscoll last month. It’s here.

This is from Tony Robinson, the former Black Adder actor and longstanding Labour activist. It speaks for itself ...

Here is a picture of Stuart Davies, the Tory activist who heckled Theresa May as she started speaking at the Welsh Conservative conference. “Why don’t you resign,” he shouted.

As the man shouted “we don’t want you here”, a small group of delegates at the Welsh Conservative conference at Llangollen Pavilion clapped and chanted “out”, in an apparent call for the heckler to be removed. As the Press Association reports, the prime minister then drew laughter and applause from a majority of the hall as she told the conference: “It’s great to be back in North Wales again - I have to say my experience of North Wales is that everybody I meet here is friendly.”

The Conservatives have retained control of Solihull metropolitan borough
council in the West Midlands, despite seeing their majority cut, the Press Association reports.

On the World at One John Healey, the shadow housing secretary, was asked what the message from the results was for Labour with regard to Brexit. He replied:

I think it’s mixed. If you take a look at the Labour wins, we’ve won Trafford, which voted remain. We’ve won Amber Valley, which voted leave. We’ve won Calderdale for the first time in 20 years. That also voted leave. And we’ve made some gains in areas like Telford, Plymouth, Southampton, even Southend, Basildon, Peterborough, Worthing, where we need to do well for the next general election.

When he was asked what he would say to colleagues who wanted Labour to be the remain party, he replied:

I would say you cannot take that lesson from a set of mixed local election results ... We’ve got to be the one party, because we are the only party that can bring the country back together again.

The Conservatives are now close to having achieved a net loss of 600 seats. Labour are on a net loss of 75.

And here are some of the latest developments, from the Press Association.

• Conservatives say they could lose overall control of Bromsgrove.

• Labour sources say Pendle is too close to call. Conservatives currently hold power, but it could move to a position of no overall control.

• Conservatives have kept control of Redditch borough council. They have 15 seats out of 29 with 3 seats still to be declared.

Here is a round-up of some comments from readers on the election results.

There are, of course, another 13,000 BTL. I can’t claim every single one is brilliant, but you can never read the comments here at Politics Live without learning something, so do take a look.

Labour has released this statement from Jeremy Corbyn on the results. He said:

Even at this stage of the results, we have won Trafford council and are making gains across the country, including Tory heartlands. Throughout the campaign, we have been putting forward our vision of a better society, and the need to end the austerity imposed on our communities by the Conservatives, along with the Liberal Democrats when they were in the coalition government.

As well as local issues, voters have been talking to us about how the Tories’ shambolic handling of Brexit is overshadowing everything else. We will continue putting our case for an alternative deal to Parliament, and we will put that case to the European Union, because Labour does not want to divide people on how they voted in 2016, we want to bring people together.

I congratulate all the Labour councillors who have been elected, and I am sorry for those who were not successful. We will fight and win those seats back and, whenever a general election comes, we are absolutely ready for it.

These are from Patrick English, another academic who has been working on the BBC’s election analysis.

Earlier this morning the Labour MP Neil Coyle posted this on Twitter.

Coyle has been a strong critic of Jeremy Corbyn’s, and so he seemed to be referring to the Labour leader, although not necessarily. For his colleague Bridget Phillipson, the elephant in the room was Brexit. (See 12.19pm.)

But now it is clear Coyle was talking about Corbyn. He has told the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn that Corbyn’s leadership was the biggest problem for the party.

The People’s Vote campaign, which wants a second referendum, believe the results show Labour’s equivocal stance on Brexit is harming the party. It has released this statement from one of its supporters, the Labour MP Bridget Phillipson, who represents Houghton and Sunderland South. She said:

Council elections are always about local issues but Brexit was the elephant in the room and no one can deny it played a key part in Labour’s disappointing performance last night.

In my city of Sunderland, there was a big swing against us to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.

Too often places that voted for Brexit back in 2016 like Sunderland get caricatured by the media as if everyone voted leave. But the majority of Labour voters now want a people’s vote on Brexit and would vote to stay in the EU given the chance.

I fear Labour’s position has been too hesitant and lacking in clarity over the past few months, depressing support among our voters at a time when they expect strength and leadership from my party rather than fudge.

A number of voters took to social media to boast about spoiling their ballot papers in the local elections, with many referencing a disillusionment with Brexit. As the Press Association reports, people shared images of voting slips with messages including “Get May out”, “Brexit betrayal” and “Traitors” written across them. Another wrote: “I’d rather poo in my hands and clap than vote for this lot.” Jordan (Jord16-) voted in the Worcester city council elections and said he spoiled his ballot because of issues surrounding Brexit. He told the Press Association:

The major parties have been lying for three years straight about Brexit and, in a two-party system, neither of them deserve to be voted for at any level.

I’m actually a member of the Conservatives, so under normal circumstances I would have voted for them. If there was a Brexit party candidate I would have voted for them.

The campaign was started by Leave.EU, which tweeted in March, encouraging people to spoil their ballot papers.

As the Press Association reports, it is not illegal to spoil a ballot paper, but filling it out incorrectly or covering it with graffiti will render it invalid.

The Brexit party and Change UK have not been taking part in these elections. But they will be contesting the European elections later this month and Prof Sir John Curtice, the BBC’s elections expert, told BBC News a few minutes ago that the Euro results would probably show the electorate to be more fragmented than ever.

Asked if Sir Vince Cable was right to say these results show the return of three-party politics, Curtice said:

I think it is fair to say that this is the return of at least three-party politics. But I suspect that on 23 May we will discover that there are more than three significant players and we may see the most fragmented British electorate since the advent of mass British democracy.

Earlier I quoted a tweet from the Labour MP Neil Coyle (see 9.48am) referring to “Bailout Barry”. It was a reference to Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, saying Labour were bailing out the Tories.

Here is the actual quote from Gardiner. He was speaking on one of the overnight election programmes and told the Tory Brexit minister James Cleverly:

We are in there, trying to bail you guys out. We are now trying to negotiate with you because your prime minister, who’s lost control of her party and lost any chance of getting her deal through parliament, has come to us and said: ‘Please, I now need to listen to the ideas you have been putting forward.

Here is Lewis Baston’s take on the election results overnight.

And here is how his analysis starts.

Comically large swings to the Lib Dems in the commuter belt marked a night in which, in keeping with the fragmented landscape of British politics, there is not a single message from the electorate, but several. Despite the threats, the Conservative section of the electorate didn’t go on strike over their party’s failure to deliver Brexit. Turnout was generally down a bit, but recent political turmoil has not resulted in a big drop in participation, as had been feared.

Election Maps UK, a Twitter feed that, well, does what it says on the tin, has produced maps with some of the more interesting results.

These are from Jayne McCormack, the BBC’s Northern Ireland political reporter.

Jeremy Corbyn has tweeted a picture of himself with Labour councillors in Trafford, where the party took control of the council.

A party spokesman said:

Taking Trafford council is a great result for Labour and has completely extinguished Tory blue from the Greater Manchester map. Voters have seen over the last year what a difference Labour can make and have given the Labour councillors a thumping vote of confidence.

These are from Steve Fisher, an academic who works with John Curtice analysing the local election results for the BBC.

He says the Tories are losing about one in four of the seats they are defending.

He says the Tories are doing better the more leave voters there are in an area.

He says Labour are also losing seats, but fewer than the Tories.

He says the Lib Dems have more than doubled their number of seats.

He says there are almost three times as many independent councillors as four years ago.

And he says the Greens have gained from the decline of the two main parties.

Here are two more pro-European Labour MPs who support a second referendum saying the local election results show why the party’s current equivocal stance on Brexit is flawed.

Sir Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, has said his party are “the big winners” from these elections. He said:

Voters have sent a clear message that they no longer have confidence in the Conservatives, but they are also refusing to reward Labour while the party prevaricates on the big issue of the day: Brexit.

Our army of 100,000 members and 250,000 supporters have shown us to be the strongest campaigning force in local government, in remain and leave areas alike.

We are winning from leave-voting Chelmsford to remain-voting Cotswolds, gaining ground in rural England and cities too.

This is from the Labour MP Darren Jones.

The Green party says it has had its best-ever election night. The party has won 42 new seats, and is represented on 16 new councils. In a press statement Jonathan Bartley, the party’s co-leader, said:

This is the biggest election night in our history. Greens are winning right across the country, and taking seats from a wide range of other parties.

The Green message is clearly taking hold and can win anywhere.

Voters see that we need a new kind of politics, one that recognises the huge imperative of acting on climate change, but also the social emergency that is creating misery and suffering in communities across the country.

They want clear, consistent politics, principles and values.

It is also clear that Brexit has played a significant role in these elections. Greens have been clear in standing up for the UK’s membership of the European Union and will continue to do so.

Ian Lavery, the Labour party chairman, told BBC News this morning that the Labour leader of Sunderland council was blaming the party’s support for the option of a second referendum as the reason for it losing nine seats on the council. “People want to see Brexit over and done with,” said Lavery, who is one of the shadow cabinet members most hostile to a second referendum.

Labour has lost overall control in party stronghold Bolsover for the first time. As the Press Association reports, voters stripped the party of 13 seats in the Derbyshire town’s local council elections, giving them now just 18 on the council and taking away their majority. In what is traditionally a Labour heartland, the Conservatives gained two seats. The Liberal Democrats took one seat and Independents are up by 10, taking them to 16 seats.

The town is represented in the Commons by the leftwing Labour MP Dennis Skinner.

These are from the Labour MP Neil Coyle, who has often criticised Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in the past.

This is a reference to Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, saying Labour is “bailing out” the Tories over Brexit.

There were local elections in Northern Ireland as well as in England yesterday. But counting in Northern Ireland only started this morning. Northern Ireland uses the single transferable vote for local elections, which makes the counting more complicated.

Jamie Pow at Democratic Audit has a good guide to what to look out for in the Northern Ireland elections here. Here is an excerpt.

As in other parts of the UK, Brexit is at the top of the political agenda in Northern Ireland – and it is an issue that reinforces, rather than undercuts, the ethno-national dimension. Nationalists overwhelmingly voted to remain in the EU; a majority of unionists voted for the UK to leave. In other words, the issue of Brexit does not challenge the basis of Northern Ireland’s party system.

However, Brexit has the potential to shape voting behaviour within the unionist bloc in particular. While a clear majority of unionist voters (66 percent) supported leave in the 2016 referendum, a significant minority (34 percent) did not. The two main unionist parties were divided during the campaign itself: the DUP advocated leave, but the UUP backed remain.

The Conservatives have lost Peterborough city council to no overall control after three years in charge of the consistently marginal authority, the Press Association reports. The Tories now hold 28 of 60 seats on the council after the party lost three seats to Labour and one each to the Green party and the Liberal Democrats, but also gained one seat from Labour. Ukip lost the only seat it held on the council to the Lib Dems. Labour remains the second largest group on the council with 17 seats, followed by the Lib Dems with nine.

There is particular interest in the city because there will be a byelection in Peterborough on Thursday 6 June after the successful recall petition against Fiona Onasanya, who was elected as a Labour MP but then jailed for lying about a speeding offence.

Here is the Change UK MP Chuka Umunna on the results.

Here are two Labour MPs who favour a second referendum tweeting on the results.

Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, read John McDonnell’s tweet (see 8.26am) in much the same way I did.

McDonnell is now claiming that he has been misinterpreted.

Personally, I think it is hard to equate the message “Brexit - sort it” with the second referendum/remain outcome that many in the Labour party would like to see, but if McDonnell says that that is not what he meant, it is fair to take him at his word.

Curtice also told the BBC that the Greens were getting 11% of the vote, up five points on last year. He said they were on course for their best ever local election results.

Sir John Curtice, the BBC’s lead election analyst, told the Today programme that his analysis suggested the Lib Dem surge was not being driven by support for a second referendum. He explained:

The Liberal Democrats used to be the traditional party of protest. And then they went into coalition with the Conservatives and they rather lost that mantle.

It looks as though they are beginning to recover that mantle, particularly in areas where until recently they had quite a lot of strength.

But when you actually look, is there any evidence that the Liberal Democrats are doing better in remain areas than in leave areas? The truth is that the evidence seems to be lacking.

So it seems easier to interpret this as evidence of Liberal Democrats recovering from the coalition, being the party of protest, and that’s the basis of their success, rather than necessarily a rush of enthusiasm for the idea of a second EU referendum.

The Press Association has just filed this useful list of councils that have changed hands.

Conservative councils lost to no overall control

Basildon
Broxtowe
Folkestone & Hythe
Peterborough
St Albans
South Oxfordshire
Southend-on-Sea
Tandridge
Tendring
Welwyn Hatfield
Worcester

Labour councils lost to no overall control

Bolsover
Hartlepool
Wirral

Conservative gains from no overall control

North East Lincolnshire
Walsall

Labour gain from no overall control

Trafford

Lib Dem gains from no overall control

North Devon
North Norfolk

Liberal Democrat gains from Conservatives

Bath & North East Somerset
Chelmsford
Cotswold
Hinckley & Bosworth
Somerset West & Taunton
Vale of White Horse
Winchester

Independent/others gain from no overall control

Ashfield

Independent/others gain from Conservatives

North Kesteven

Ruth Davidson, the Conservative leader in Scotland, said the English local election results should be a spur to both Labour and the Tories to reach a compromise on Brexit.

In one of her first interviews since returning from maternity leave, she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

I do understand the frustration that’s out there. The results that are coming in should really focus minds in the talks that are going on between my party and the Labour party to get a deal through so that we can have that orderly Brexit that will allow the country to move on.

Politicians told the people that they would make this decision and that that decision would be respected. And now it looks as if we the professional classes we’re the stumbling block to making this happen.

Davidson, who was a leading remain campaigner, rejected both a no-deal Brexit and a second referendum. She said:

I genuinely believe that the answer lies in the middle. It will require a compromise both from people within my party and from people within the Labour party. I’m really hopeful, actually, that the talks that have been ongoing in the last week can can reach that sort of resolution.

And again denied that she had any plans to lead the Tory party. She said: “I’ve been pretty consistent that that’s not where my ambitions lie. I want to be the first minister of Scotland. I’ve no interest in No 10.”

Here is Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the LGiU, the local government thinktank, on what the results show so far.

It’s looking like a pretty grim night for the Conservatives and Labour and a very good night for the Lib Dems.

The Conservatives were expecting to lose hundreds of seats and they have. But they’ve also lost control of 13 councils so far. Councils due to declare on Friday are more solidly Conservative, so they will be hoping that trend doesn’t continue; if it does, things could be even worse than they were expecting.

Things aren’t as bad for Labour. They have taken control of Trafford but they’re also losing seats and have lost control of Hartlepool and Wirral.

Labour and Conservative local leaders have angrily blamed the national parties for their losses.

Big winners are the Liberal Democrats, up hundreds of seats with surprise wins in Winchester, Chelmsford and Bath and North East Somerset.

Does this mean that remain voters are flocking to the Lib Dems while disillusioned Tory and Labour leave voters simply stay home? Perhaps. But we shouldn’t forget the salience of local issues. Campaigners around the country have been desperate to shift the debate on to local issues and have had some success.

These elections are not a glorified opinion poll, they’re about electing councillors who will make decisions about the local services people rely on.

The Lib Dems have won control of Vale of White Horse district council from
Conservatives after winning 20 of the 38 seats with several results still to
come, the Press Association reports.

More results from the LGiU, the local government thinktank.

Here are some more results coming through in the last hour or so, taken from the Press Association feed.

• The Conservatives have failed to take control of Torbay, after winning 15 seats of the 35 declared with just one result to come.

• The Conservatives have lost control of Broxtowe council after Labour gained seats.

• Stoke-on-Trent will remain under no overall control. Labour had been hoping to win it.

• The Lib Dems have won control of Chelmsford from Conservatives after winning at least 29 seats.

• The Conservatives have held Hertsmere.

• Independents have won a majority in Ashfield, which was previously under no overall control.

Here is the Lib Dem MP Layla Moran commenting on the overnight results.

The Lib Dems have won control of Bath and North East Somerset Council from the Conservatives, the Press Association reports. It says Sir Vince Cable’s party won 37 seats - including the ward where prominent Brexiteer MP Jacob Rees-Mogg lives - to gain an overall majority of 15. Casualties included leader of the council Tim Warren, who lost his Mendip seat to Liberal Democrat David Wood, cabinet member for transport Mark Shelford and veteran Conservative councillor Les Kew, who was beaten by 20-year-old Ryan Wills. The Conservatives had won control of the council in 2015 from the Liberal Democrats and held 36 seats, but were left with just 11.

Commenting on the result, Warren said:

I feel we’ve been given a kicking for something that wasn’t our fault.

I don’t think people are happy. The people that voted to remain blame us for leaving and the people that voted to leave blame us because we haven’t left yet.

I think it’s almost anti-political. I think a lot of people didn’t turn out and I think they want to punish us for a lack of action in Government, if I am honest.

I’m sure there are one or two things we’ve done locally they don’t like, but on a whole I think it’s national issues.

The guy who took my seat did a great campaign and when you are running a council you have to work full-time, and I didn’t have the time to match him.

It sounds a bit cheap to blame anybody, but Brexit didn’t help.

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, picking up from Alison Rourke.

Here are the latest results, from the Press Association feed.

Conservatives

Councils held: 29 (down 11)

Seats won: 896 (down 254)

Labour

Councils held: 37 (down 2)

Seats won: 806 (down 45)

Lib Dems

Councils held: 8 (up 6)

Seats won: 384 (up 177)

Greens

Seats won: 40 (up 33)

Ukip

Seats won: 12 (down 4)

Here’s an emoji take on tonight’s results from the BBC’s @nickeardleybbc

Pundits in the Twitterverse are beginning to wonder if Vince Cable will still stand down as leader of the Lib Dems after tonight’s big wins for the party.

Professor John Curtice has been telling the BBC that this is a terrible night for the major parties.

Here’s the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg’s take on where she thinks we are so far, with the caveat that there are still many hundreds of seats still to declare.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that the Liberal Democrats are the big winners from tonight. There’s talk that they are being seen as the natural party of opposition as voters turn away from the Tories and Labour, in both leave and remain areas.

In a blow to Labour, the party has lost its control of Bolsover in Derbyshire, a council it has held since 1973. It lost 13 seats in this election, 10 of which were picked up by Independents and two by Conservatives.

Just a reminder that you can find out what’s going on in your local area using the Guardian’s live results tracker. The picture is becoming clearer with losses mounting for the Tories and wins mounting for the Lib Dems.

The senior Tory Brexiter MP Sir Bernard Jenkin has been blaming Theresa May for tonight’s drubbing, saying voters overwhelmingly believed that she had “lost the plot” and that the time had come for a change of leader. He told PA:

She still has a degree of personal sympathy but I think people think it is time for a change. They can see that she has lost the plot. They can see she is not in control of events. Certainly among Conservative activists and council candidates there is an almost universal feeling that it is time for her to move on.

I feel that I am starting to sound repetitive. The Lib Dems have taken control from the Tories in Cotswold.

Here’s a good visual take from Ian Jones at PA on how the night has gone so far.

I mentioned earlier that the Lib Dems have made gains in Bath, with Dave Wood beating the Conservative council leader, Tim Warren.

Warren Bath and North East Somerset Council until the annual general meeting, told Press Association:

I feel we’ve been given a kicking for something that wasn’t our fault. I don’t think people are happy. The people that voted to remain blame us for leaving and the people that voted to leave blame us because we haven’t left yet. I think its almost anti-political. I think a lot of people didn’t turn out and I think they want to punish us for a lack of action in government, if I am honest. I’m sure there are one or two things we’ve done locally they don’t like but on a whole I think its national issues. The guy who took my seat did a great campaign and when you are running a council you have to work full-time and I didn’t have the time to match him. It sounds a bit cheap to blame anybody but Brexit didn’t help.

Asked whether there needed to be changes in leadership or policies at the top of the Conservative party, Warren replied: “There needs to be a change in action.”

It looks like there is starting to be some movement on who is being punished the most in this election. Earlier in the night, Labour and the Tories were both suffering at the hands of the Liberal Democrats and independent candidates. The BBC has just published it’s latest scoreboard which shows the Tories have lost 212 local council seats in England, Labour has lost 54 and the Lib Dems have gained 145.

Results are coming in thick and fast now. The Lib Dems have also won North Norfolk, the BBC is reporting, which was previously no overall control.

Arch Tory Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg might not be delighted by the fact that he has a new Lib Dem councillor. Dave Wood has beaten council leader Tim Warren in Bath.

So far the Liberal Democrats and independent candidates are proving to be the big winners from tonight’s elections, as voters turn away from the major parties.

It’s worth noting that we are only part way through the night and the overall picture won’t be clear for some time.

Labour’s shadow defence minister, Nia Griffiths, is currently telling Sky News that in some councils, voters are punishing Labour candidates for the cuts that have been implemented by the Tory government.

“The lesson from this one is there are a lot of local factors. But I think there is an issue that poeple are generally turned off politics,” she said.

Acknowledging that Labour had lost seats to the Lib Dems and to independents, she said:

“When people want to protest they often look for something different.”

These election results are obviously not good for the Labour party, which must have hoped that Theresa May’s inability to deliver on Brexit would have helped them. Apparently not.

I’m hearing from Labour that they think these are a tough set of elections in areas that traditionally favour the Tories and that the mess the government has made of Brexit has hit turnout.

The party also thinks local factors have been important, including in Sunderland, where they say independents have made a strong showing. (Labour lost 9 sets, Lib Dems picked up 2, Tories picked up 4, UKP 3, Greens 1).

The Labour leader in Sunderland, Graeme Miller, however, squarely blamed the party’s stance on Brexit as the reason for losses. See post from two hours ago .

Just taking stock for a moment of where we are overall. The BBC tally for England is showing Labour has lost 54 councillors, the Tories have lost 103 and the Lib Dems have picked up 75. They will be sobering numbers for the two major party leaders.

Independent Andy Preston says he “couldn’t be prouder” to be the new mayor of Middlesbrough, winning 17,418 versus the Labour candidate Mick Thompson’s 6,693.

As well as local council elections, there are several mayoral elections taking place tonight, including in Middlesbrough, where Labour has lost by a huge margin to independent businessman Andy Preston. And by a whopping margin of nearly three to one.

Brexit is again taking centre stage with Newcastle’s City Council Labour leader, Nick Forbes attacking his party’s “constant fudge”.

In Southend-on-Sea, the Tories have lost control, losing a sizeable eight seats.

The Guardian’s North of England editor, @helenpidd says it’s looking like it may be a “dead heat” in Stockport between Labour and the Lib Dems. This would be a great night for the Lib Dems who started with just 5 seats there.

Henry Newman, director @OpenEurope agrees that this slap in the face to Labour in many electorates is a message to get off the fence on Brexit.

Sky’s Lewis Goodall says these elections may encourage the leaders of the two main parties to try to cut a deal on Brexit.

Final results are in for Bolton and it’s been a terrible night there for Labour, who lost seven seats. No party retains overall control.

It looks like we have a result for St Albans now, with the Conservatives losing to no overall control, the BBC is reporting. Earlier we reported the Tory council leader had lost his seat to the Lib Dems.

Another change of control, this time in Walsall. The Tories have taken control back from no overall control. They picked up two seats and Labour lost two there.

In Sunderland, Labour has kept control of the council but lost a thumping 9 seats. Four went to the Tories, two to Lib Dems, 3 to UKIP and one to the Greens. The Labour council leader Graeme Miller is blaming Brexit, saying leave voters deserted the party over its stance on a second referendum.

I’m hearing from the Liberal Democrats that their vote share has gone up 9% in Liverpool and in St Albans the conservative council leader has lost his seat to the Lib Dems.

And Jessica Elgot makes the point that in fact no overall control is a pretty good summary of the county just now.

https://twitter.com/jessicaelgot/status/1124104146049732609

So far 15 councils out of 249 have have been declared. There’s been three that have seen a change in control – Hartlepool which has gone from Labour to no overall control. Labour lost four seats there and Independents won three.

Wirral has also gone from Labour to no overall control. Labour lost two seats and the Greens picked up two there. The Tories also picked up one.

Basildon has changed from Conservatives to no overall control, where four Tory councillors lost their seats, and were picked by by Labour and Independents, two a piece.

Just a reminder you can stay up to date on election results as they come in on our live tracker here:

The For Britain Movement, which is a splinter party from UKIP, has gained its first council seat in Britain, it’s being reported.

Meanwhile it’s looking like the Greens have done well on Merseyside. The Guardian’s chief political correspondent @jessicaelgot says they are up by 12% there and Labor is down by 14%.

Another big theme of the night is that both major parties are doing badly. The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg is reporting the Tories have lost Basildon and Tandridge in Surrey and Labour has lost control of Wirral.

One of the themes from the night seems to be low turnout. BBC journalist Rob Mayor in the West Midlands is reporting that turnout in one ward was 19%.

In Penhill & Upper Stratton (Swindon), the Conservatives have made a gain from Labour, with a 6.6% swing to the party.

Good evening, well actually good morning and welcome to this live blog coverage of the local elections, I’m Alison Rourke.

There are plenty results to come with some 8,200 seats up for grabs in these elections, in what’s being seen as a key test for Theresa May.

Candidates are contesting 248 English local council elections and all 11 local councils in Northern Ireland. There are also elections for six directly elected mayors.

You can get up to speed on all the key races here wiht this handy overview of the key battleground areas from our chief political correspondent, Jessica Elgot.

We’re getting a few results now; though perhaps not yet all that much clarity on what they mean. My colleague, Alison Rourke, is now taking over the search for some.

Labour will be hoping to make progress in Swindon, which has been talked up as a bellwether council. But they’ve just seen the Tories take a ward from them there.

That said, it’s perhaps worth noting that – according to the BBC – Labour’s overall share of the vote in Swindon is up so far; albeit with many votes still to count.

Sky News’ Beth Rigby adds this insight:

My colleague, Jessica Elgot, has this on the Lib Dems, who have been making positive noises this evening:

The Green party has gained its first seats of the evening, taking Sunderland’s Washington South and the Wirral’s Birkenhead and Tranmere wards from Labour:

And, almost at the same time, it’s emerged that Labour lost another seat to Ukip in Sunderland:

You can follow the local election results as each council declares here:

The page will be updated as we get the results for council areas, rather than individual wards. We’ll continue to post interesting ward results here, so keep an eye on both.

The Lib Dems are sounding hopeful this evening – and they’ve just gained their first wards of the evening. They are Sunderland’s Doxford and Millfield, which they’ve taken from Labour:

Labour’s vote appears to be down by a not-insignificant margin as the early results come in from Sunderland.

Appearing on BBC News, the party’s shadow international trade secretary, Barry Gardiner, is spinning that as less problematic than might perhaps have been expected in a Brexit-backing area. And says the city appears to still be solidly backing Labour.

We have our second gain of the evening: It has gone to the Tories, who have taken Sunderland’s St Chad’s ward from Labour.

There are still a lot of votes to be counted in Sunderland before control of the city council is decided, however.

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has said it’s natural for voters to feel disappointed with the current state of politics. He’s told Sky News this evening:

I agree, I can’t blame them. It’s frustrating because the Brexit issue has clouded all the other issues. I’d rather people on a local election were voting on how their local council performed ... often you will have a hard-working local councillor doing their best knocked out by what’s happening in the national politics.

The comedy writer, James Felton, notes a slight problem with this now-deleted tweet:

The former Tory party deputy chairman, James Cleverly, has told Sky News he’s concerned the Tories will face a “disproportionate” Brexit backlash today – and has blamed that partly on Labour, whom he accuses of not helping the government.

He also told the broadcaster he fears the damage to the Conservatives could be in the region of 1,000 seats.

The chief executive of Local Government Information Unit thinktank, Jonathan Carr-West, is playing down the likelihood of a high turnout today, since the local elections were not being held alongside a general election. And that, he says, spells bad news for the Tories.

As polls close in these local elections, tribute must be paid to the thousands of council employees who made today happen and will be working tirelessly through the night to ensure each and every vote is counted. Their efforts often go unrecognised but they are the unsung heroes of our local democracy.

Local elections are often talked about in terms of turnout. In years like this one, where they don’t coincide with a general election or a European election on the same day, turnout is often as low as just a third of the electorate. However, it is difficult to tell how much election fatigue from the last two years will impact the results. Will the fallout of Brexit drive people to the polls? We are hearing that a lot of voters are staying home which could be bad news for the Conservatives.

For the Conservatives, anything short of disaster will feel like a reasonable result. They’re predicted to lose hundreds of seats. But the consolation could be that the profile of these elections means they shouldn’t lose control of too many councils.

Carr-West concurs with Labour’s own analysis that Calderdale and Trafford are key targets:

Labour will hope to consolidate their hold on the northern, metropolitan councils and take full control of places like Calderdale and Trafford. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats should pick up anti Brexit votes and win seats but start from too far back to take over many councils though they may have their eyes on Stockport.

And, while there is always a temptation to view local elections as a glorified opinion poll, we shouldn’t forget that local elections are about real issues that impact our homes, care of older people, school places, children’s services, libraries, streets and refuse collection. All the things that matter most in our day to day lives.

In Northern Ireland, 819 local government election candidates are standing across 11 council areas. No indication has yet been given as to how many voters turned out at the 1,463 polling stations.

There will be overnight verification of unused ballot papers, with councils ready to begin counting at 8am on Friday. Counting will continue into Saturday.

Northern Ireland’s political leaders have cast their votes in their local areas. The DUP leader, Arlene Foster, voted in the Co Fermanagh village of Brookeborough, while the Sinn Fein vice president, Michelle O’Neill, voted in Clonoe, Co Tyrone.

The Ulster Unionist leader, Robin Swann, voted in Ballymena, the SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood, voted in Londonderry and the Alliance leader, Naomi Long, voted in east Belfast.

Among the noteworthy races will be the efforts of Sinn Féin’s former West Tyrone MP, Barry McElduff, to return from the political wilderness. He was forced to step aside after offending the families of those shot dead by republicans at the height of the Troubles in Kingsmill, Co Armagh. He is running for a place on Fermanagh and Omagh District Council in the far west.

In Newtownabbey, near Belfast, the DUP’s first openly-gay candidate is seeking election. Alison Bennington is standing for a party that has repeatedly vetoed same-sex marriage and holds what it sees as strong Christian values.

It is also the first poll since the journalist, Lyra McKee, was shot dead by dissident republicans. Her death prompted revulsion against the group blamed for the killing and a call by a Catholic priest for politicians to redouble efforts to restore devolved powersharing. Fresh negotiations are due to begin next week following McKee’s death.

The election is being conducted by single transferable vote, a proportional representation system.

Earlier this afternoon, my colleague Heather Stewart put together an excellent primer on what we expect to happen this evening: