LIVE: Farage boasts Labour and Tories are being ‘wiped out’

Take a look at our live-updating maps and charts produced by the Daily Mail’s Deep Dive team for the latest election results across England, Wales and Scotland.

Mail on Sunday columnist Dan Hodges says it’s ‘impossible’ to give an accurate assessment of politics in Britain because of Sir Keir Starmer’s unpopularity.

Dan says:

The head of a union affiliated to Labour has called for a leadership election in the wake of the local election results.

Transport Salaried Staffs Association general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust likened Sir Keir Starmer to former US President Joe Biden in paving the way for a hard right government.

She said:

At the last general election, the country didn’t vote simply to repaint the front bench red. People voted for meaningful change they could actually feel in their lives.

That’s why Labour urgently needs a leadership election to allow members to pick a candidate who is much more responsive to the needs of working people and who can stop the very real danger of a far-right government coming to power in this country.

The Conservatives have lost control of Hampshire County Council, which now has no overall majority.

With 77 of 78 seats counted, the Conservatives have won 27, with the Lib Dems winning 26 and Reform UK 19.

It means no party has reached the 40 seats needed for a majority.

by Christian Calgie, Senior Political Correspondent

Kemi Badenoch has woken up with a spring in her step this morning after local election results overnight suggested the party is beginning a long-awaited comeback after the 2024 general election.

While the Tories have lost dozens of council seats, crucial battlegrounds across London have proved surprisingly positive for the party.

Ms Badenoch’s team has bucked the trend against recent polls, all of which said the Tories were no-hopers in major councils like Wandsworth and Westminster.

But this morning, residents in both affluent areas are waking up to Conservative-run councils for the first time since 2022.

In Westminster, which includes major areas such as the Houses of Parliament, the West End, and Belgravia, the Tories took 32 seats to Labour’s 22.

The party had run the council since its creation in 1965, before losing it in an anti-Boris wave four years ago.

Following declarations from 42 councils, Reform has won 311 council seats, while Labour has lost 210.

Nigel Farage’s party has also gained overall control at two councils, Havering and Newcastle-under-Lyme.

While Labour has lost power at eight local authorities: Exeter, Hartlepool, Redditch, Southampton, Tamworth, Tameside, Westminster and Wandsworth.

The Liberal Democrats have gained 29 councillors while the Tories have lost 78 and the Greens have won 23 seats.

We can now bring you video of Sir Keir Starmer’s reaction to Labour’s disastrous local election results as he insists he will not quit Downing Street.

The Prime Minister has vowed to stand in the next election despite calls for him to stand down from his own party.

Watch his interview below:

Sir Keir Starmer has said his Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has made it ‘absolutely clear’ he supports him carrying on in Downing Street.

The Prime Minister made the remarks following a report in The Times that Miliband has privately urged Sir Keir to set out a timetable for his departure.

Miliband, a former Labour leader, has dismissed the report.

Asked this morning about whether Miliband has encouraged him to consider when to leave office, Sir Keir replied: ‘Well, I think Ed Miliband has dealt with this and made it absolutely clear that he supports me.’

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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch could face growing calls to strike a pact with Reform following Nigel Farage’s success in the local elections.

Tell us what YOU think.

Join Daily Mail columnist and Consultant Editor Andrew Pierce as we discuss the fallout from the local election.

by Jason Groves, Political Editor

Labour have taken a battering at the hands of Nigel Farage in a mega round of local elections that will seal Keir Starmer’s fate.

Overnight results point to stunning gains for Reform UK in what was once Labour’s Red Wall.

In Hartlepool, Labour lost every seat to Reform. The local Labour MP, whose wife was among the defeated candidates, made the first of what will be many calls for Keir Starmer to resign.

The psychological blow is hard to overstate.

In Angela Rayner’s backyard, in Tameside, Labour lost all but one seat to Reform. Fellow cabinet minister Lisa Nandy saw Labour lose every seat to Mr Farage’s party in Wigan.

These are areas that stayed Labour even in the great Brexit election of 2019 when Boris Johnson made sweeping inroads into the party’s heartlands.

Labour have already thrown in the towel in Wales, where they had seemingly ruled forever, and there is no prospect of the hoped-for revival in Scotland.

The results also underline the fracturing of the UK’s two-party system. Labour is losing votes to everyone, everywhere.

Speaking in Havering after Reform UK won control of the east London council, Nigel Farage said he was ‘thrilled and delighted’ at his party’s results in the local elections.

Asked by reporters whether the success was a result of a protest vote against the Labour government, he said:

It cannot continue to be a fluke or a protest vote. I can honestly say you are witnessing an historic shift in British politics. This (Reform UK) is now the most national of all parties.

Mr Farage added Labour and the Conservatives were being ‘wiped out’ in their traditional heartlands and said Reform would bring a mix of new ideas and experience.

He added:

We all know that finances of local councils all over the country are severely stretched. We are not promising miracles but we are promising good value for money.

The result in Havering now means Reform has won 299 council seats in what is proving to be a hugely successful night for Nigel Farage and his party.