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Friday, May 8, 2026

LIVE: Greens beat Labour to Hackney mayoralty as Reform win in Essex

The Greens have beaten Labour in the Hackney mayoralty to mark the party’s first major win in the local election

Zoe Garbett declared ‘today we start a fightback’ as she was elected the first non-Labour mayor in the borough since the role was created in 2002.

The mayoralty was identified as one of the Greens top targets heading into the election with Zack Polanski’s party receiving 5,720 votes to Labour’s 26,865.

Meanwhile, Reform has taken control of Essex County Council from the Conservatives after securing at least 40 of the 78 seats up for election.

It comes after Nigel Farage boasted both Labour and the Conservatives face being ‘wiped out’ in the local election results marking what he described as a ‘historic shift’ in UK politics.

Meanwhile Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to stand at the next election despite a calamitous night for Labour which has led to calls inside his own party whether he can remain as Prime Minister.

Follow live updates and reaction from the 2026 UK local election results 

UK local election results: See our live-updating maps and charts across the country

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.

Welsh First Minister expected to lose seat, sources say

Baroness Eluned Morgan, the Welsh First Minister, is expected to lose her seat in Ceredigion Penfro, sources have told the BBC.

The Welsh Labour leader has led the party in Wales since 2024.

Welsh Labour expect to be reduced from 30 to around 10 members in the Senedd, with a party spokesperson saying they are ‘deeply disappointed’ they will not lead the government.

Reform win Suffolk council from the Tories

Reform UK have taken control of Suffolk County Council from the Tories.

Greens eyeing majority on Hackney council after winning mayoralty

A Green candidate in the Hackney council election has said his party is hopeful it will get a majority on the local authority, which has historically been a Labour stronghold.

Jacob Cable, standing for the Greens in Stoke Newington, said Zoe Garbett’s decisive victory over the Labour mayor in Hackney has ‘given us an indication that change is on its way’.

‘We have a wonderful, diverse borough that is calling out for change, that needs better action on housing, on child poverty and on community space, and I think it’s going to come,’ Mr Cable told the Press Association.

Asked whether he thought a Green majority was on the cards for Hackney council, which has been a Labour-led since 2002, Mr Cable said: ‘We’re taking nothing for granted. Every vote counts. But I think given the decisive victory for Zoe today, we’re really hopeful that we’ll have a majority.’

Labour faces ‘bin fire’ in bid to retain seats in Birmingham

A Labour source said they feared speculation that it faced a ‘bin fire’ in its battle to retain a significant number of seats on Birmingham City Council would prove to be accurate.

The source tipped Reform UK, Green and independent candidates to prosper.

As the first three seats to declare resulted in a Tory hold and Green and Reform UK gains, both from Labour, the Labour source said:

Let’s just say I haven’t seen anyone looking even remotely happy. The mood is worse than bad. It’s bleak.

QUENTIN LETTS: Sir Keir was asked how he was feeling – it should have been if

by Quentin Letts, Parliamentary Sketchwriter

Sir Keir Starmer, open-collared, stony-eyed, insisted he was ‘not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos’. Four times he said it as the extent of Labour’s losses became horribly clear.

Interviewer Beth Rigby from Sky News was too kind to say the country was already in chaotic decline thanks to Sir Keir’s ineptitude.

The Prime Minister, up before 9am to get his media torture out of the way early, was doing that computer-speak thing where he keeps repeating a message, no matter what the question. In addition to the ‘I’m not going to walk away’ line he kept saying the results were ‘tough’, as if they were a slice of bad beef.

Reporter Rigby pressed quite hard on whether or not the PM understood how stinkingly unpopular he was. The AI-programmed premier did not recognise this scenario. ‘I’m not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos,’ repeated Sir Keir.

Read Quentin’s full sketch here:

1pm update – Reform leads the way as Labour loses power in 10 councils

We’ve now had declarations from a third of councils in England.

With 45 councils in England having fully declared their results, Labour has won 54 per cent of the seats it was defending while the Conservatives have won 69 per cent of the seats they were defending, according to Press Association analysis.

Reform has so far won 32 per cent of the seats it contested.

Let’s take a look at the current state of play:

Nigel Farage’s party has so far won 339 seats plus council wins in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Havering, Essex

Lost 208 seats and control of Blackburn and Darwen, Exeter, Hartlepool, Oxford, Redditch, Southampton, Tameside, Tamworth, Wandsworth, Westminster

  • Conservatives

Lost 103 seats and control of Essex and Newcastl-under-Lyme but gains Westminster from Labour

  • Liberal Democrats

Gained 30 seats and won control of Portsmouth and Stockport councils

Gained 22 seats Won Hackney mayoralty

Labour council leader calls on Starmer to quit

The leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, under Labour control since 2011, said Keir Starmer ‘has to go’.

As Labour lost multiple seats with counting continuing in the Lancashire town, Councillor Phil Riley told the Press Association:

I heard David Lammy on Radio 4 this morning saying that he (Starmer) is not coming up on the doorsteps. I don’t know what doorsteps he has been on but it was certainly coming up on the doorsteps I have been on. Keir Starmer has a very poor reputation with people out there.

His poll rating of minus 40, whatever it is, I think accurately reflects what people at the moment in this country think about him and that’s a real challenge. Getting back from that position, I think, is virtually impossible.

He has clearly done a very good job in terms of foreign affairs but I think the party lacks political direction. I believe he has to go.

Zack Polanski – Country has rejected Keir Starmer

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 08: Zack Polanski, Leader of the Green Party congratulates Zoë Garbett as she is elected as the new Mayor for Hackney after the Hackney council election on May 08, 2026 in Hackney, London, England. The 2026 London local elections saw millions of voters across the capital head to the polls to elect 1,817 representatives for all 32 London boroughs. Results expected to be declared from early Friday morning through Saturday afternoon (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Green leader Zack Polanski has said ‘my message to Keir Starmer is it’s time to go’ and ‘the country has clearly rejected you’ in the local elections.

Mr Polanski was speaking to reporters in Hackney, where the Greens won a decisive victory in the contest for the directly-elected mayor of the borough.

He said:

My message to Keir Starmer is it’s time to go. The country has clearly rejected you. I think he’d been rejected before these elections even started.

We had 14 years of Conservative austerity. Keir Starmer was voted in on a promise of change and, actually, what we’ve seen is very little change, and in many ways things have got worse.

Diane Abbott – Removing Starmer won’t avert disaster in 2029

Labour grandee Diane Abbott has warned replacing Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister won’t avert Labour from a disaster in the next general election.

Ms Abbott, a staunch critic of Sir Keir, told her followers that while the PM is ‘very unpopular’ it is Labour policies that is driving people away.

Here’s what she had to say:

Labour lose control of Blackburn Council

Labour have lost control of Blackburn Council after Reform and Independents won enough seats to take the authority into no overall control.

Zach Polanski celebrates with Hackney’s new Green mayor

HACKNEY, ENGLAND - MAY 08: Zack Polanski, Leader of the Green Party congratulates Zoë Garbett as she is elected as the new Mayor for Hackney during the count for the Hackney council election on May 08, 2026 in Hackney, England. The 2026 London local elections saw millions of voters across the capital head to the polls to elect 1,817 representatives for all 32 London boroughs. Results expected to be declared from early Friday morning through Saturday afternoon (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Zack Polanski, Leader of the Green Party, congratulates Zoe Garbett as she is elected as the new Mayor for Hackney during the count for the local elections.

Writing on X, Mr Polanski said:

The Greens win our first ever directly elected Mayor – a huge historic victory. Huge congratulations to Zoë and the entire team.

Two party politics isn’t dying. It’s dead and it’s buried. And we’re making hope normal again.

It marks a significant win for the Greens ahead of more results in London this afternoon.

Key Updates

  • Welsh First Minister expected to lose seat, sources say

  • Reform win Suffolk council from the Tories

  • 1pm update – Reform leads the way as Labour loses power in 10 councils

  • Labour council leader calls on Starmer to quit

  • Zack Polanski – Country has rejected Keir Starmer

  • Labour lose control of Blackburn Council

  • Greens win Hackney mayoralty from Labour

  • Reform wins control of Essex County Council from the Tories

  • Angela Rayner faces fight to save own Commons seat as Labour loses council

  • Kemi Badenoch – I’m proud of our results

  • First union calls for Starmer’s head after local elections disaster

  • Starmer – Ed Miliband has made it clear he supports me

  • DEBATE: Can Badenoch save the Tories or should she strike pact with Reform?

  • JASON GROVES: Reform is extending its reach while Labour loses votes to everyone

  • Nigel Farage – You are witnessing historic shift in British politics

  • Reform win Havering council

  • Reform claim victory in Havering

  • Starmer – I take responsibility for very tough election results

  • Will Labour calls for Keir Starmer to resign grow after local elections nightmare?

  • UK local election results: See our live-updating maps and charts across the country

  • Defence Secretary – Starmer can still turn it round

  • Westminster win shows Tories are ‘coming back in London’, says party

  • MP John McDonnell says leadership change ‘must be on the agenda’

  • Labour hold Ealing council, while Lib Dems keep control of Richmond-upon-Thames and Sutton

  • Tories take Westminster City Council from Labour

  • Reform UK take Newcastle-under-Lyme from the Conservatives

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