LIVE: Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan RESIGNS seat in shock result

Baroness Eluned Morgan has announced she will step down as leader of Welsh Labour after her party suffered heavy defeats.

‘Welsh Labour has today suffered a catastrophic result,’ she said.

‘It ends a century of Labour winning in Wales, and the party will need to take a really hard look at itself, and understand the depth of the challenge that we face.

‘I’ve lost my seat here in Ceredigion Penfro and I will be standing down as leader of Welsh Labour.

‘I take responsibility for the Labour result in Wales.’

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.

Reform UK has taken control of Barnsley’s council after more than 50 years of Labour rule.

Applause erupted at the count in Barnsley Metrodome as Reform took all three seats in the Stairfoot ward, meaning they had 32 councillors – enough to form a majority on the South Yorkshire local authortity.

The Labour candidates who lost did not stand on the stage when the results were announced.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, speaking of possible Labour defections to his party and its leader Sir Keir Starmer’s future, said: ‘We have been in talks with several former Labour MPs, and a couple who are sitting in the House of Commons right now.

‘There’s going to be a rebellion. There’s going to be a “Red Wall” rebellion against Starmer’s premiership.

‘I mean, we’ve just brought a campaign with our main slogan, “Vote Reform, Get Starmer out”.

‘I think that’s been quite effective, and even though these are local elections, we all know that national politics has a massive, massive impact on these things.

‘Look, my own belief is, he won’t be there by mid-summer.’

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to Eluned Morgan as a ‘formidable First Minister and tireless champion for Wales’.

Lady Morgan failed to win a Senedd seat and announced her decision to resign as Welsh Labour leader.

Sir Keir said: ‘She broke barriers and has never stopped fighting for families in the communities she loves.

‘Together, we have worked to lift children out of poverty, cut hospital waiting lists, and create thousands of new jobs.

‘I want to thank Eluned Morgan for the over 30 years of service she has already given to our country and our party.

‘I have no doubt her contribution to Wales will endure.’

The Green Party has taken its first council of this year’s local elections by winning Norwich City Council.

Outgoing First Minister of Wales Baroness Eluned Morgan said the election results showed ‘we need the Labour government nationally to change course’ in a criticism of Sir Keir Starmer.

In a speech announcing her resignation as Welsh Labour leader, Lady Morgan said: ‘It is clear that results across the whole of the United Kingdom have demonstrated deep frustration with the Labour Party.

‘We need to go back to being the party of the working-class.

‘We need the Labour Government nationally to change course. We need the wealth of this nation to be more equally distributed away from the South East.

‘But I was always clear that this election was about Wales and Keir Starmer was not on the ballot. I am taking responsibility, and I am resigning.”

Baroness Eluned Morgan, the First Minister of Wales, has lost her seat in the Senedd in a dire set of elections for Welsh Labour.

Lady Morgan losing her seat marks the first time a sitting Welsh leader has lost an election in the Welsh Parliament.

Labour has led Wales since the Senedd was first established as the National Assembly for Wales in 1999, and has been the largest party in the country for more than a century.

Lady Morgan’s departure comes amid a brutal day for the party across Wales and the UK.

She had been a member of the Senedd since 2016, became a minister in the Welsh government a year later and was the first woman to hold the role of First Minister in Wales.

She took over at a turbulent time in Welsh Labour, with former first minister Vaughan Gething lasting just five months in the role.

Reform UK has taken control of a second council from Labour, winning Thurrock in Essex, taking 28 of the first 32 seats to be declared.

Sir Ed Davey said the Liberal Democrats were ‘the only non-populist party left standing’ after making gains at the local elections.

The Lib Dems have taken Stockport and Portsmouth councils, which were previously under no overall control, and won a net 22 seats across the country.

The overall picture emerging from the local elections is one of significant gains for Reform UK at the expense of Labour and the Tories, which have suffered losses of 348 and 236 respectively.

Zack Polanski’s Greens have also made inroads in some Labour strongholds, winning the Hackney mayoralty and a net 51 seats overall.

But during a visit to Guildford, Surrey, where the Lib Dems hope to win control of the council, Sir Ed said his party were ‘the only non-extremists to have made gains’.

‘In areas like Surrey it’s clear the Conservatives are finished and it’s now between the Liberal Democrats and Reform,’ he said.

by Sophie Church, Political Reporter

The Green Party has seen its first ever mayor elected in Hackney as Zack Polanski’s party continues to eat into dwindling Labour support across the country.

Showing the depth of anger for Labour under Keir Starmer, Zoë Garbett was able to take the Hackney mayoralty for the Greens with 35,720 votes, leaving Labour incumbent Caroline Woodley with just 26,865.

Ms Garbett’s victory comes as yet another historic blow to Labour on a punishing local elections results day – with Sir Keir’s party holding the East-end mayoralty since the role was created in 2002.

In her speech, Ms Garbett said that the people of Hackney had ‘made it clear that they are desperate for an alternative to this failing Labour government’.

She added that Hackney voters ‘own Hackney’ and that ‘it’s time to take it back’.

The Labour leader of Barnsley’s council said it was ‘clear we are going to lose our majority to Reform’ as the results for the first six wards were announced.

Sir Stephen Houghton held on to his own seat, but said he was ‘gutted’ the party ‘weren’t able to get our local message through’.

He told the Press Association:

It was the national politics that dominated this election 100%. Reform have played that card, not talked about Barnsley in any way, shape or form. It was just about Keir Starmer and the Government.

We hoped our proud record in Barnsley would be able to block some of that, sadly, in too many cases, it’s not been the case.