Votes are being counted overnight in the UK’s local elections, with the Tories bracing themselves for the loss of some key council seats.
But with results starting to come in after midnight, it was Labour who lost out in the first significant change of control on Friday morning, losing Hull to the Lib Dems.
Significant Conservative losses are expected to follow — Wandsworth, which has been in control of the Conservatives for more than 40 years, is among the London boroughs expected to fall to Labour.
The losses have prompted Conservative local leaders to call upon Boris Johnson to “take a good, strong look in the mirror.”
Outside of London, it is looking like a good night for the Lib Dems. After their Hull victory, Baroness Kramer said it was “a community that in a sense has been taken for granted frankly by both Labour and Conservatives”.
And meanwhile, Labour took control of the newly created Cumberland council, a strong result in an area that has three Conservative MPs.
Local Conservatives ask PM to ‘take a good, strong look in the mirror’
One local Tory has called on Boris Johnson to “take a good, strong look in the mirror” amid the council seat losses in his area.
Leader of Portsmouth City Council’s Conservative group Simon Bosher told the BBC: “I have to say the results have been extremely disappointing, not totally unexpected I have to say. We have actually lost some very good working community councillors this evening.
“Personally I think those in power in Westminster really do need to take a good, hard look in the mirror because it is the rank and file grassroots members they rely on that are actually losing their seats tonight and it is pretty disappointing across the board.”
I think Boris does need to take a good, strong look in the mirror as well because I think he needs to look at those people that we have lost tonight… because those are people that are actually bearing the brunt on the doorstep of behaviour of what’s been going on in Westminster
Latest elections scoreboard
Labour take newly created Cumberland council
Labour has won a convincing majority on the newly created council of Cumberland.
The party was “surpassing all expectations” with the result in a place where, as ITV’s Tom Sheldrick points out, all three local MPs are Conservatives.
BBC correspondent Robert Cooper calls it “devastating” for the Tories here.
Baroness Kramer ‘delighted’ with Lib Dem win in Hull
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Kramer said she was “obviously delighted” her party had taken control of Hull council.
Lady Kramer told Sky News the party had had “high hopes in Hull”.
She said: “It is a community that in a sense has been taken for granted frankly by both Labour and Conservatives.”
The Lib Dem peer said that “big significant local issues” like the number of GPs locally came up on the doorstep, as well as the cost of living and partygate.
It is not just partygate, it is everything it stands for, this sort of whole sense of a Government in moral collapse.
Lib Dems win Hull
The Liberal Democrats have taken control of Hull city council, in the first major swing of the night, after they won 29 seats out of 57, with results still pending on three.
With this decisive victory, the Lib Dems have taken back the control of the council that has been under Labour since 2011.
Tories hold Basildon
Tory councillors hold 22 of the 42 seats on the authority, giving an overall majority, after the winners of 11 of the 14 wards that went to the polls were announced at the count at Basildon Sporting Village.
Of the 11 wards announced, Conservative councillors held seven seats, Labour held one and gained one from a non-aligned candidate, one independent candidate held his seat and another independent candidate gained a seat from the Tories.
The Conservatives have held overall control of Basildon Council in Essex, with the results of three wards still to be declared.
Tories facing losses in London
Boris Johnson’s Tories are braced for losses in London as the first votes start being counted following elections across the UK.
Council seats are up for grabs in Scotland, Wales and many parts of England, while Northern Ireland is electing its new assembly in what could be the most significant vote of them all, with Sinn Fein seeking to become the largest party.
Votes were being counted in some of the English contests overnight including key authorities in the capital, where the Tories fear their flagship council Wandsworth will fall to Labour.
The south London borough is a totemic authority for the Tories. It was a favourite of Margaret Thatcher’s – turning blue in 1978 a year before her election as prime minister – and is renowned for its low taxes.
But Tory insiders believe it is a “definite loss”, along with Barnet, while Westminster could also see a loss of Tory control in what would amount to a grim night for Mr Johnson’s party in the city he used to run.
Labour sources said it was too early to tell, but the Conservatives are prepared for a difficult night.
Labour ‘confident’ of taking Barnet
The leader of the Labour group on Barnet council said the party was confident of taking the council from the Tories.
Barry Rawlings told the BBC: “I’ve been feeling confident for a while, I think we’ve had a very good campaign, got good candidates, it feels good on the streets.”
The north London borough has a large Jewish community and he said the “stain” of anti-Semitism had been removed from the party under Sir Keir Starmer.
“We’ve certainly turned a corner on anti-Semitism since Keir’s been the leader,” he said.
“Obviously I’ve been leader [in Barnet] for six years so it hasn’t always been the most comfortable six years to represent Labour in a place like Barnet, where there’s about 15% of the population – but if you’re talking about regular voters, it’s probably about 20 per cent are Jewish.
“But of course it means that there’s a lot of non -Jewish people who have Jewish friends and so anti-Semitism was a stain on us. We were a tainted brand.”
Sir Keir launched Labour’s London election campaign in Barnet, which showed the “symbolic value” of the borough, which his party has never before had overall control of.
Tories ‘threw kitchen sink’ at Sunderland
The Conservatives “threw the kitchen sink” at Sunderland Council, and still did not manage to gain it from Labour, a Labour MP has said.
Speaking after Labour retained control of the council, Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq told Sky News: “I am delighted to see the Sunderland result, mostly because speaking to MPs who are connected to Sunderland from the Labour Party … and local activists, the Conservatives have thrown the kitchen sink at it.
“I mean, the prime minister was there. When you are in government you only send the prime minister to seats that you think you can overturn and change. So the prime minister was there on Bank Holiday Monday and we still held it.”
Boris Johnson and the Chancellor Rishi Sunak both visited Sunderland on the campaign trail.
First results declared
The first results are in and pole position goes to Broxbourne, in Hertfordshire, where the Conservatives kept control of the council, winning nine of the 10 seats contested, with Labour taking the other one.
Labour have kept control of Sunderland, where the Liberal Democrats gained two seats, and of Halton, where the Conservatives gained a seat from the Greens.
