Full results tracker
A reminder that you can find all the results from England, Scotland and Wales in our tracker:
You might notice, however, that our results appear slightly differently to others’. My colleagues who built the tracker have provided this explanation:
Our results are provided by the Press Association (PA). Numbers for change in seats are calculated against the state of the council or parliament just before this election. Other organisations calculate using the previous election, and this can lead to discrepancies. In Wales, the electoral system is sufficiently different to previous elections that comparison is not given.
Other outlets may also announce individual ward councillor results as they become known, while PA release results for each council only when its full count is complete. PA collates results only for elections that were due in this electoral cycle, meaning there may be council byelection results in other parts of the country that are not included. There are frequent changes in ward boundaries, sometimes accompanied by changes in the number of councillors overall. “Shadow elections” were also held for two new unitary authorities due to be created in Surrey in 2027.
Key events
Hamish Mackay
To all who’ve been reading overnight, thanks for joining. My colleague Andrew Sparrow is now taking over and I’ll be heading to bed to pick up my phone and carry on reading this blog.
Labour loses control of Wandsworth, holds Merton
In what was an incredibly tight contest, Labour has lost control of Wandsworth in south west London. The Tories picked up eight seats to push the council into no overall control.
In slightly better news for Labour, though, they did manage to hold on to nearby Merton.
Pollster John Curtice says that while Reform UK is clearly ahead it has “probably not” reached 30% of the vote, underlining “the fracturing of British politics”.
He told the BBC:
It may well be now that Labour lose rather less than the 1,500 seats that perhaps some people said was potentially the tipping point for attempts to unseat Keir Starmer.
He added:
There is still a very long way to go and certainly what one has to say is this: the big picture is Reform are ahead.
It’s clear that Reform are so far winning most votes in the elections that have been declared so far, in much the same way as they were in last year’s council elections.
And they are basically being trailed by four parties that are all of them just a little bit below 20% or so, somewhere between 15 and 20%, but are actually at the moment quite difficult to disentangle.
But none of the parties are very big, let’s make that clear. Even Reform are probably not quite at 30% of the vote, so the fracturing of British politics is underlined by these results and confirmed by them.
Labour holds Hammersmith and Fulham
I mentioned earlier Labour’s confidence in Hammersmith and Fulham, and that seems to have been well placed.
Labour picked up one seat to increase its majority over the Tories.
Meanwhile in Sutton – another area where all seats were being contested – the Lib Dems have massively increased their majority.
What’s happened overnight?
If you’re just joining us, here’s a summary of developments so far:
Results in English council elections have been coming in since midnight, though counting is yet to begin in Scotland and Wales.
In England, Labour has lost control of five councils – Hartlepool, Redditch, Tamworth, Exeter and Tameside – and, overall, shed more than 150 seats so far.
In Hartlepool, the local Labour MP told the Guardian it was time for Starmer to step down.
Reform UK has seen surges around the country, picking up more than 225 council seats overall so far – though the party is yet to gain overall control of a council, in part because in many areas only a third of seats were being contested.
The Greens have seen their vote share increase since 2022, but have struggled to turn that into significant seat gains. Professor John Curtice said they were suffering due to first past the post.
The Liberal Democrats have gained Stockport and Portsmouth, while now holding every single council seat in Richmond. However, they lost control of Hull.
The Conservatives have lost more than 50 seats overall.
It’s been a tough night for Labour, though party sources insist they are hopeful over results in Merton, Hammersmith and Fulham and Ealing.
They also point to Labour holds in Lincoln and Reading, which Reform and the Greens respectively had been expected to do slightly better in.
Jamie Grierson
Jamie Grierson is at the count in Oxford
In Oxford City Council, Labour lost two seats to the Greens but is expected to continue to be the biggest party and maintain its minority administration after winning in 10 wards.
The Greens gained three seats overall after winning nine wards.
Labour holds Reading
Labour has held Reading, where a third of the seats were up for election.
The Greens took three seats, while Labour lost three, but that wasn’t enough to have a significant impact on their majority.
A potential leadership change must be “on the agenda” if Labour has “nightmare” local, Senedd and Holyrood elections, Labour MP John McDonnell said.
Asked whether he believed Starmer had to go, the former shadow chancellor told the Press Association:
We will have to see when results are in and Wales and Scotland results may be more influential than council seats in England in shaping the party’s attitude to the future.
If it is the nightmare as we are worried it will be, then there should be no precipitous coup.
He added:
The party needs to consider why we are in this situation and that discussion should be at all levels of the party and consider all the issues, including why there have been so many policy mistakes alienating our support, but the leadership question has inevitably to be on the agenda. If there is to be a leadership change, it has to be an orderly transition, not a coup.
Lib Dems take every Richmond seat
You’d be hard pressed to find a part of the UK where voters seem as politically aligned as Richmond, where the Lib Dems have just increased their majority.
They now hold all 54 seats after the Greens lost five.
Richmond is the first council of the night to declare where every seat was being contested.
What’s the wider picture so far?
On the BBC, John Curtice says there is a “pretty clear broad picture emerging, and it’s one that helps to explain much of the puzzles of gains and losses”.
Basically, Reform are ahead. However you look at it, Reform are clearly in pole position. In truth it looks as though…they’re well ahead of any of their opponents.
Their four other opponents are all seemingly not that dissimilar from each other in terms of the kind of shares of the vote they are getting.
He adds:
Reform are ahead (with a) relatively evenly spread vote under first past the post – that helps to explain why Reform are currently bringing in about 45% of the seats that have so far been declared.
But equally it also helps to explain why Conservatives and Labour are losing seats at a scale that is towards the higher end of what they feared.
It also helps to explain while the Greens are getting lots of credible performances, they’re not gaining that much in the way of seats because the truth is they are suffering the problem that many second and third parties suffer, which is under first past the post, you lose out. The Greens are just not doing well enough to be able to turn an eight-point lead in their support (compared to 2022) to gains in seats in any substantial number.
Labour loses control of Tameside after swing to Reform
There’s been a big swing in Tameside, which had been under Labour control. Reform has gained 18 seats, while Labour has lost 14 – meaning they have lost control of the council.
In Bolton, Reform has again made significant gains but the council remains under no overall control.
With results available from 21 out of 136 councils, Labour has now lost Tameside, Tamworth, Hartlepool, Redditch and Exeter.
It has lost 125 seats with Reform gaining 163.
We have two more results from councils where the Lib Dems are the largest party.
In Brentwood, Reform gained seven seats but the Lib Dems remain the largest party.
In Hull, Ed Davey’s party have lost their majority but remain the largest party.
