Labour has retained control of the Welsh Senedd, matching its best-ever result of 30 seats out of 60 after all votes were counted. It means Mark Drakeford will remain in power as the country’s first minister.
It comes as Boris Johnson has rejected a second referendum on Scottish independence as “reckless and irresponsible,” with the prospect of a SNP majority still on a knife edge.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she would push ahead with legislation for another referendum “when the time is right” – claiming Mr Johnson “would have to go to court” to block another vote.
Polling guru Prof John Curtice has said the SNP’s path to an outright majority has “narrowed” after the party failed to gain target constituency seats on Saturday.
Sir Keir Starmer is to embark on a re-shuffle after Labour’s local election losses and devastating by-election defeat in Hartlepool.
Labour said it was “too early” to say if London mayor Sadiq Khan will be re-elected, with Mr Khan on 39 per cent of first preference votes and Tory challenger Shaun Bailey on 37 per cent.
SNP path to majority ‘narrows’
The Scottish Conservatives have held onto Galloway constituency seat, holding off the SNP.
It makes Aberdeenshire West all the more important. If the SNP fails to make a gain there, it makes the path to a majority hard to see. Or it could pick up the extra seat it needs from the regional list.
“This outcome narrows further the SNP path to an overall majority, but it doesn’t put a complete barrier across it,” says polling guru Prof John Curtice. He said the odds of the SNP gaining a seat through the list system “less than 50 per cent”.
Tory ahead in West Midlands mayoralty – goes to 2nd round
The Conservative candidate Andy Street is ahead of Labour’s Liam Byrne by about 55,000 votes on the first preference round in the West Midlands – but it’s short of 50 per cent, so it goes to a second round.
Street got 299,000 first preference votes (almost 49 per cent) and Byrne got 244,000 votes (almost 40 per cent).
Byrne would need to scoop a massive proportion of second-preference votes to stand a chance of overhauling the incumbent mayor.
SNP majority? ‘Absolutely on knife-edge,” says Tory leader
Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross admits the prospect of the SNP winning an outright majority is “absolutely on a knife-edge”.
“Whether or not the SNP gets an overall majority now rests on the outcome in just a handful of seats,” said polling guru Prof John Curtice.
If the SNP fails to get Aberdeenshire West, then “they then need either to win Galloway, another Tory-held marginal, or to win a list seat in the South of Scotland – a neither of these currently looks probable,” says Prof Curtice.
All eyes on Aberdeenshire West
More SNP constituency seat holds to report: Glasgow Provan, Uddingston and Bellshill, Mid Fife & Glenrothes, Almond Valley and Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley.
But the big one we’re waiting for is Aberdeenshire West – with the result now expected at 3pm. If the SNP can take the seat it looks set for an outright majority, but if the SNP fails to make a gain there, it makes the path to a majority hard to see.
Sturgeon has ‘responsibility’ to get indyref2, says Salmond
Alex Salmond has prematurely congratulated Nicola Sturgeon “on her victory” in the Scottish parliament elections, but said she had a “responsibility to carry forward the independence argument”.
Although his Alba party looks set to leave the election empty-handed, he also said his newly-formed organisation would be there to “urge things on”.
“I know that the SNP have been a little bit nervous, sending people letters saying if they are associated with Alba they might be disciplined by the SNP, or all sorts of things,” he said on Saturday.
“But I put that down to over-enthusiasm of some people who just joined the SNP and are perhaps not aware of the politeness with which the SNP normally conducts its operations.”
Alex Salmond at count in Aberdeen
” height=”726″ width=”982″ srcset=”https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/05/08/14/newFile-2.jpg?width=640&auto=webp&quality=75 640w” layout=”responsive” i-amphtml-ssr data-hero class=”i-amphtml-layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined” i-amphtml-layout=”responsive”> Alex Salmond at count in Aberdeen
SNP hold onto two more seats
SNP have held onto Falkirk West and Cumbernauld & Kilsyth. The vote share was slightly down on 2016 in both places.
Labour candidate re-elected as Salford mayor
Labour’s Paul Dennett has been re-elected as Salford mayor with a healthy vote share.
He took 59 per cent in first-round votes.
Labour holds on to power in Wales with 30 seats
Final results for the Welsh Senedd are in and Labour has won, holding on to power.
Mark Drakeford will stay on as the country’s first minister
His party won 30 seats out of a possible 60, equalling a record and gaining one seat in this election.
Follow our political editor Andrew Woodcock’s report here:
SNP hold Perthshire South and Kinross-shire
More from Scotland. The SNP’s Jim Fairlie has won Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, in a blow to the Scottish Conservatives who were eyeing the constituency as a top target.
The seat, which was held by Roseanna Cunningham for 22 years, was the SNP’s most marginal in 2016. Fairlie increased the SNP majority to 1,848.
Prof Curtice: SNP majority ‘comes down to a handful of seats’
Whether or not the SNP gets an overall majority now rests on the outcome in just a handful of seats, election guru Prof John Curtice has said.
The party really needs to win Aberdeenshire West, where the Conservatives are defending a small majority, to be in with a shot – but it looks like the Tories might benefit there from tactical voting.
Nicola Sturgeon’s party also needs to win either Galloway, another Tory-held marginal, or a list seat in the South of Scotland. But neither of these currently looks probable, according to Prof Curtice.
“At the same time, the SNP need to pick up a list seat in the Highlands, for which their prospects are somewhat brighter,” he predicts.
