Local election results live: Labour lose control of councils as Reform make big gains

A Labour MP who saw his wife lose her council seat as Reform surged in Hartlepool has repeated his call for Sir Keir Starmer to step down amid a “terrible” night for his party.

Jonathan Brash, whose wife Pamela Hargreaves lost to Nigel Farage’s party, said: “I’m looking for change at the top of the Labour Party.

“It’s clear to me that the prime minister should take this opportunity to set out a timetable for his own departure, and then allow for the widest possible leadership election that includes all the talents of our party.

“There should be no blocking of any candidate from coming to the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) if they feel they’ve got something to offer.

“As you can imagine, I’m really angry about tonight, because Labour politicians are delivering really big things, but we need a leadership of the party that is on the side of the British people.”

He added: “The results are terrible. It’s devastating for Hartlepool. It’s a terrible night.

“I don’t think Keir Starmer should survive these results.”

Reform UK has gained its first council of this year’s local elections, taking Newcastle-under-Lyme from the Conservatives.

As polls closed last night, and Sir Keir Starmer braced a difficult day ahead, The Times reported that energy secretary and former Labour leader Ed Miliband privately urged him to set out a timetable for his departure after the elections.

The outlet reported that Mr Miliband was concerned Labour will descend into “a bitter and damaging leadership contest” after the local elections.

But deputy prime minister David Lammy has urged his party not to play “pass the parcel” with the leadership in response to the election results.

He told the BBC there were “questions that we have to answer” but there were “no circumstances in which the answer to the questions that the British people are raising is to change the leader yet again”.

Labour sources also pointed to the heavy defeat suffered by the party in 1999 before Sir Tony Blair went on to win re-election by a landslide in 2001.

The Lib Dems have hailed the party’s results in the local elections so far, with the party’s deputy leader Daisy Cooper claiming they are on a “record-breaking winning streak”.

In a statement, she continued: “We are heading for our eighth set of local election gains in a row and are on track to beat Labour and the Conservatives once again.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our hardworking teams across the country, who knocked on over three-and-a-half million doors to take the fight to Farage and his politics of division.”

Ms Cooper added: “We’ve recorded stonking results in Stockport and Portsmouth, taking control of both councils and beating Reform. Many of our best results are still to come in places like Surrey, Sussex, Huntingdonshire, and Southwark.

“While those on the populist extremes of left and right just want to pitch groups against each other, Liberal Democrats have a plan to fix what’s broken and bring our country together.”

We’ve just reported on Labour losing Wandsworth, and control of its sixth council – well, the party has just losts its seventh with Southampton.

The Labour leader of the council, Alex Winning, has also lost his seat.

The results for the council, where a third of seats were up for election, showed Reform gained seven seats, while Labour lost nine. Greens also won two, and the Lib Dems two also.

Labour has lost Wandsworth Council to no party majority after shedding six seats, leaving it with 28.

The Tories have 29 seats after gaining eight, but failed to retake control of the south London council.

In 2022, Labour caused an upset by winning power from the Conservatives, who had been in control of the council since 1978.

So far, Reform has made huge gains in England, taking more than 20 seats so far, while Labour has lost almost 160 and the Tories more than 30.

Pollster John Curtice told the BBC this morning that after Reform, Labour, Lib Dems, Conservatives and Greens were all trailing with just below 20 per cent of the vote share.

He said: “None of the parties are very big. The fracturing of British politics is underlined by these results and confirmed by them.”

As we and other outlets have reported, Labour was expected by some pollsters to lose more than 1,500 seats, which would place huge place on Sir Keir Starmer.

However, despite gains for Reform, pollster John Curtice told the BBC this morning that Labour’s losses may not be as big as expected.

He said: “It may well be now that Labour lose less than the 1,500 seats that perhaps some people said was the tipping point for attempts to unseat Keir Starmer, but only a hird of the seats are declared overnight and they are not all in yet. There is still along way to go.

“The big picture is Reform are ahead, it is clear that Reform are winning most votes in the elections declared so far in much the same way as they were in last year’s council elections.”

Dawn is breaking in the UK, and although it’s still very early days in the results for the local elections, we’re starting to get an idea on the early winners, and so far it’s Reform.

The party has gained more than 200 seats in 37 of the 136 councils that have declared to so far, while Labour has lost more than 160, including its traditional northern heartlands.

Crucially, Labour has lost control of seven councils so far.

In Hartlepool, Reform won all 12 seats on offer, pushing the previously Labour-held council into no overall control, while Labour also lost control of Redditch, Tamworth and Exeter.

In Tameside, a council in Angela Rayner’s Greater Manchester constituency, Labour lost its majority to no overall control as Reform took 18 of the 19 seats up for election.

The party has also lost control of Wandsworth four years on from taking over what had been a long-held Conservative authority.

This morning, Reform leader Nigel Farage heralded a “historic change in British politics,” telling reporters “there is no more left-right” as his outfit was “scoring stunning percentages in traditional old Labour areas”.

Harlow’s Conservative council leader, who led his party to victory in all 11 district council seats up for election in the town, has said a “bold vision” locally was behind his victory.

Asked what the Conservative Party’s future looked like, Dan Swords told the Press Association: “I think what we have shown in Harlow is if you set out a bold vision, you deliver against it and deliver tangible change that people can see, people will come out and vote for it – I think that’s what we need to do nationally.”

Mr Swords earlier said: “This is a local election, it’s about local issues and it’s about us finishing what we’re doing, and I’m pleased that residents have voted for that.

“I would certainly find it interesting if I were either a Labour or a Reform campaigner now trying to defend the fact they’ve just been utterly trounced but, you know, we just get on with what we’re doing.”

Mr Swords told PA: “I think it’s an incredibly hard night. You know, I know hundreds of councillors, Conservative councillors, up and down the country and they are truly the most dedicated, caring, loyal people who want nothing more than to improve the area they live in.

“And I think in nearly every single scenario, they will have lost because of the national picture.

“I don’t think many people have voted this evening because they think that Reform or whomever else will do a better job of running their council, I think they’re voting because they want change and that’s clear for everyone to see.

“And I hope that they will all be back very soon, following Harlow’s lead.”