Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives are facing up to heavy losses as results come in for local elections across England, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats both making gains after what one Tory MP said had been a “terrible” night for his party.
Counting is underway and the results from the latest round of local elections in England are beginning to trickle in after the public headed to the polls on Thursday.
More than 8,000 seats were contested across 230 councils, with Bedford, Leicester, Mansfield and Middlesbrough among several cities and regions choosing a new mayor.
Going into Election Day, the Conservatives had 3,363 seats to defend, Labour 2,140, the Liberal Democrats 1,221, independents 954, the Green Party 240, residents associations 112, UKIP 25, the Reform Party four and the Liberal Party and the Yorkshire Party two apiece.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer cheered on his side’s “fantastic” results on Friday morning as both his party and the Liberal Democrats made significant gains, seemingly profiting from widespread dissatisfaction with central government after a year of political chaos in Westminster and a biting cost of living crisis defined by rocketing bills, double-digit inflation and bitter strikes impacting public services.
Conservative hopes that Mr Sunak had done enough to steady the ship and restore faith in the party at a local level after the rolling chaos of the Boris Johnson and Liz Truss premierships appeared to have fallen away as of Friday lunchtime.
Below, you can see the very latest results mapped out county by county to give a sense of the national picture as it stands.
For more of our local elections coverage follow our blog here.
