Election results 2021 – live: Sturgeon eyes independence push early next year as Starmer reshuffles Labour team

Beccy Cooper, who was the first Labour councillor to be elected in Worthing for 41 years back in 2017, has said it is key for leaders not to “lose sight of local focus”.

Speaking to PA, Ms Cooper said she was excited her party had gained five seats.

“All politics is local, if you lose sight of local focus, you can become irrelevant, and voters will move to more entertaining people instead,” she said.

“I support the national team, but you need to find a voice, to listen to communities and reflect the best of the communities through leadership,” she asserted.

“(We should) not be interested in what opposition parties are saying.”

Additional reporting by PA

Keir Starmer is imminently expected to reshuffle his top team amid frustrations over the Labour party’s poor electoral performance.

An announcement around the reshuffling is expected to come today, so stay tuned to our live blog as we follow the latest developments.

You can also read more on the expected changes here:

The Tories must be more than just the “party of no to indyref2” in order to pose a real challenge to the SNP for power, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has said.

Asserting that his party was “starting on the long road to building that credible alternative to the SNP”, Mr Ross said: “We know there is a lot of hard graft to be done to get into that position and that right now it may seem incredible to some.”

“But we proved yesterday that 2016 was no fluke, that the Scottish Conservatives are here to stay as Scotland’s second party,” he said, as he insisted the Scottish Tories saw their best-ever result in a Holyrood election under his leadership.

The party has maintained 31 seats, the same number it won in 2016, representing a record total.

Noting victories such as in west Aberdeenshire, where the Tories increased their majority, Mr Ross said: “We have actually increased our vote share, so it is the best-ever result for the Scottish Conservatives.”

However, he said now, the Tories must seize the “opportunity to move on from just being seen as party against another independence referendum”.

While he said that would “always” be his party’s position, he said the Tories needed to show they have the “ideas and ambition to take Scotland forward.

Additional reporting by PA

The UK has seen a third of adults fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the latest figures show.

A total of 17,669,379 people have so far received both jabs – the equivalent of 33.5% of all people aged 18 and up.

England and Northern Ireland are estimated to have given two doses to 33.6% of their respective adult populations, with Wales seeing 33.4% given the jab and Scotland 33.1%.

Meanwhile, 35,371,669 people in the UK have now received a first jab – the equivalent of 67.2% of the adult population.

Wales has given a first jab to 76.2% of adults, with Northern Ireland seeing 66.9% of the adult population given an initial dose, ahead of England (66.8%) and Scotland (65.4%).

“Yet another incredible NHS milestone has been reached as one in three adults in England have now had both doses of the Covid vaccine – meaning that they have maximum protection from the virus,” Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and medical director for primary care at NHS England, said in a statement to PA.

“Reaching this milestone is no accident – it is down to months of hard work and everyone in the NHS who has played a role in this is helping to protect millions of people from serious illness and saving lives,” Dr Kanani said.

Many across the UK are already watching the dramatic scenes within Labour unfold as the party reels from its disastrous election results – but now, a picture of Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner is drawing comparisons to hit crime drama Broadchurch too.

Can you see the resemblance?

Labour has gained five seats in Worthing, with the Conservatives only narrowly retaining control of the council in their Sussex heartlands.

The Conservatives lost four seats, and now have 19, with Labour on 15 and the Liberal Democrats three.

Legislation for a referendum on Scottish independence could be put before the country’s parliament by early next year, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, Ms Sturgeon said she “wouldn’t rule that out”.

“The people of Scotland re-elected me as First Minister with the first task of continuing to steer us through this pandemic, getting us into recovery,” she said.

“Then, of course, there is a question about what kind of recovery do we want? What kind of country are we rebuilding to?

“That brings into sharp focus where do decisions lie. I am not sure the kind of recovery Boris Johnson envisages is one that the majority of people in Scotland would support.”

She said the SNP would “lay out frankly the challenges an independent Scotland would face” in advance of any referendum.

Ms Sturgeon acknowledged that the road to independence would not be “challenge-free”, but she said “it is absolutely the right thing for Scotland because it puts control over our future and the kind of country we become into our own hands.”

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has said he hopes to see “intimate contact” between friends and family restored come 17 May, when coronavirus restrictions are eased.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday May 9 Mr Gove said: “All being well the prime minister will confirm tomorrow that there will be a relaxation”.

“Friendly contact, intimate contact between friends and family is something that we want to see restored,” he said.

Prime minister Boris Johnson will announce details of the UK’s roadmap out of lockdown tomorrow.

Watch Mr Gove’s comments:

Welsh Labour would welcome a Union summit called by Boris Johnson if it is “real”, a minister has said.

Mr Johnson has invited Welsh Labour leader mark Drakeford and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon to talks following their victories in the Welsh and Scottish parliaments.

The prime minister called for the meeting after Ms Sturgeon maintained that a Scottish independence referendum was the “will” of the people.

In his letter, however, Mr Johnson said the UK was “best served when we work together”.

On Sunday, Welsh Labour housing minister Julie James said she backed the call for a “Team UK” summit, so long as it is “real”.

“I hope very much that it’s real. We would welcome it if it was,” she said.

“We’ve been calling for many, many years for a proper constitutional summit, where we talk properly about the role of devolution across the UK, in a United Kingdom,” she said. “We very much welcome that. You’ve heard party leaders from us for many, many years saying how necessary that is.”

Ms James said that in devolved nations, there is a “clear appetite for it”.

Ms James also noted that the Welsh Cabinet would be meeting on Monday afternoon to discuss “the next set of measures” as Wales waits for an announcement on any further easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions to be made on Friday.

She said she was “absolutely not able to say” whether the easing of restrictions could move forward, at least until ministers had received the latest advice from scientific advisers.

However, she said foreign holidays are “very much part of the package of discussion for Monday”.

A social care reform plan should be “heading for the statute books” by the end of the year, Michael Gove has said.

Asked whether social care reform would be part of this week’s Queen’s Speech, Mr Gove told Times Radio: “We’re working to make sure that we have an effective social care plan at the moment. That work is going on.”

“So, by the end of the year you will have a specific social care plan that is heading for the statute books at the very least,” he said. “We want to make sure that we can get cross-party support for it. That is critical.

“That’s the point the Prime Minister has always made. The more support we can get for it across parties, and I hope we do, the quicker we can be,” he said.