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.

by Claire Ellicott, Whitehall Editor

Angela Rayner suffered a major blow to her expected run at the Labour leadership after she failed to even hold her local council.

Labour lost its majority on Tameside council, the authority which includes the former deputy prime minister’s Greater Manchester constituency.

The party lost control of the council after an uninterrupted run of 47 years as Reform took all but one of the seats up for election

Sir Keir Starmer’s party lost 16 councillors while Reform UK gained 18 while the Conservatives lost two and the number of independents stayed the same.

It is likely to raise questions about whether Ms Rayner is popular enough to turn around Labour’s fortunes in the event there is a leadership contest.

Kemi Badenoch said she can ‘signs of renewal’ as she told reporters she is ‘very proud of how we have done’.

Speaking outside Westminster City Hall, the Conservative leader said:

I said that we were going to rebuild after our worst defeat ever and we can see those signs of renewal everywhere that we are standing.

Just two years ago, people were writing us off, saying that we were completely finished, and now we are winning Westminster.

Mrs Badenoch continued:

I’m very proud of how we have done. I’m not saying that we’re there yet. I’m not saying that the results are perfect. There are loads of councillors, Conservative councillors, who have lost their seat, but they can see that our strategy is working good.

Strategy takes time. It doesn’t all happen overnight.

The spread of Reform UK’s local election wins across the country so far is ‘highly significant’ as a sign of potential performance at a future general election, a polling expert has said.

Keiran Pedley, politics director at Ipsos, noted that Nigel Farage’s party had gained council seats across the north of England and in places including Dudley, Southampton and Plymouth.

He told the Press Association:

Reform has only been a national party for a couple of years, and so we’re always looking for evidence that they’re the real deal in terms of a potential governing party in the UK.

I think what we’re seeing in these results is because they’re winning support across the country, that is the activist base that forms the campaigning base for when you’re trying to win parliamentary seats in a future general election.

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.

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