Voters across England headed to the polls on Thursday for the latest round of local elections – and now the results are being counted and will begin to trickle in.
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 and the opposition parties will be hoping to have eaten into that Tory majority by 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.
Conservatives, for their part, will hope that prime minister Rishi Sunak has 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, which coincided with a period in which Britain was attempting to recover from the economic turmoil of the pandemic and meet the challenges of Brexit.
Many voters are likely to be motivated by more hyper-local concerns, such as their council’s handling of everyday issues like pothole repairs, the frequency of rubbish bin collections and the administration of social services.
Below, you can see the very latest results at a glance to get a sense of the national picture.
For more of our local elections coverage follow our blog here.
