136 of 136 councils Counting complete
This page has now closed - for the latest reaction to Thursday's election results follow our live coverage here
A Labour MP says if a cabinet minister does not put themselves forward to challenge Keir Starmer by Monday, she will attempt to trigger a leadership contest herself
In an exclusive BBC interview, Catherine West says she currently has 10 MPs who are prepared to back her and is "confident" enough MPs will come forward to trigger a contest
This is a big moment, writes the BBC's Henry Zeffman, with West kicking off a process that could lead to a leadership battle
Earlier, Starmer admitted that Labour had made "unnecessary mistakes" but said he would not walk away following heavy election losses in Wales, England and Scotland
He also appointed Labour veterans Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman as advisers
The election results, in brief: Plaid Cymru win big in the Senedd; SNP take the most seats in Holyrood but miss out on an overall majority; Reform UK makes sweeping gains in England - here's a look at the results
In Halton, Cheshire, Reform have won 11 seats so far.
It's a council of 54 seats and only a third were up for election. As Labour had 47 seats overall, it was always going to hold the council.
So far, Reform has won every seat that has been declared - apart from one, which Labour held in Highfield.
Jonathan Josephs
Reporting from Havering
Image source, Jonathan Josephs/BBC"We are confident of a historic victory for Reform" - that’s the unequivocal view in Havering, east London, of Andrew Rosindell, one of the local MPs.
Back in January, the Romford MP defected from the Conservatives to Reform. And with a big smile on his face, he says that what’s happening here is a sign of things to come.
He tells me "it will show the way the country will go in two years' time [at a possible general election]. It’s all starting here in Havering."
For what it’s worth, all the other parties are also saying this will be a victory for Reform. That would give them control of a London council for the first time - the questions seems to be, by how much.
Harry Low
Reporting from Merton
Image source, Harry Low/BBCThe count here is in full swing here in south-west London. The Liberal Democrats are hoping to remove Labour, who have run Merton Council since 2014.
If the Lib Dems succeed, it will be the first time they have run four London councils simultaneously, alongside Kingston, Sutton and Richmond.
Senior figures say they're confident of adding to the 17 seats they won in 2022 but whether they can reach the magic number of 29 (out of 57) remains to be seen.
One of the Liberal Democrat candidates, wearing a bright yellow tie, has collapsed here at Canons Leisure Centre in Mitcham. A Reform UK candidate, who is a doctor, has sprung into action to help and make sure he is OK.
Having been up since 04:00 BST, the candidate has now headed home.
We have our second seat result of the night - Reform have taken a seat from Labour in Chorley, that of the current speaker.
But with only a third of seats on the council up for grabs, Labour's lead is unassailable. The first result coming in means our results banner - at the top of the page - is now marking Chorley as a Labour hold.
We've just had our first *seat* declared - and we're expecting a few councils to declare their overall results soon. Here are some we should be hearing from shortly:
Image source, PA MediaBallot papers for Essex County Council election at Clacton Leisure Centre in Essex
Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert
We have our first ward result in Brentwood in Essex, in which Reform have taken a seat from the Conservatives.
Remember, this is just one seat - not the result of the council.
As our reporters in Basildon, Lincoln, and Havering have just reported, there are signs it may be a good night for Reform.
The party's chairman, David Bull, tells us their rise has been nothing short of "meteoric".
He says people are telling him "two party politics are dead", with both Labour and Conservative "in trouble".
If Reform were to win 800 or 900 seats in England, it would be a "great night" - and 1,000 would be a "measure of success", Bull tells the BBC.
He says that while it may be a local election, today's poll is a "referendum on the Labour Party".
Meanwhile, shadow transport secretary Richard Holden says there's "obviously" going to be some "significant losses" for the Conservatives. He doesn't put a number on the amount of seats his party is expecting to gain or lose.
But he adds that Kemi Badenoch is coming up "positive" on the doorsteps.
The Green Party's Deputy Leader Rachel Millward says that the Greens are "an alternative that's hope based" for those feeling "such dissatisfaction and anger with the status quo".
She tells the BBC that the Greens want to "make a difference to ordinary people's lives".
And Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney says she expects a "really good set of results" for her party, arguing that people are "getting really frustrated with the traditional two parties" but that Reform and the Greens are both "populist" and "quite extremist".
Green Party's Deputy Leader Rachel Millward talking on the BBC's election special
Simon Dedman
BBC Essex political reporter
I'm covering the election to Basildon Borough Council in Essex.
Kevin Blake, a senior Basildon Tory who is defending Burstead - one of their safest seats - has told us he expects to lose his seat, and thinks it has been a bad night for the Conservatives.
He is also repeated what another Tory source told me - that turnout has been near general election levels in parts of Basildon.
Blake thinks Reform could take all the seats that are up in Basildon for the district authority.
An independent councillor has also told me it looks like Reform UK have won all 14 seats that are up in Basildon.
Sharon Edwards
Political Reporter, BBC Radio Lincolnshire
Labour is bracing itself for losses in the City of Lincoln election.
The party has controlled Lincoln's council for the past 15 years - but one stalwart councillor who has been watching the counting at one station has already called it for Reform (from Labour) "by a mile".
Image source, Sarah Sanderson/BBCMeanwhile in North East Lincolnshire, counting has begun at the Grimsby Auditorium
Jonathan Josephs
Reporting from Havering
Havering in east London is one of Reform's top targets - and a well-placed local Reform source tells me "we are smashing it all over the place and I'm very confident of taking control".
The council is currently run as a minority administration by local residents' associations and they seem to think that's coming to an end tonight.
Labour only have a large handful of councillors and the question facing them is - will they be wiped out?
If Reform win it will be their first London council. The dire financial situation, which has seen the council borrow more than £230m from central government in recent years, will be their top challenge
Our election coverage has begun on the BBC News channel and BBC One - and at the top of the page.
On it, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy tells Laura Kuenssberg "the clear picture from the doorstep" for the Labour Party is "tough".
"We've got the backdrop of the crisis and the Iran war, the Strait of Hormuz, meaning that people can feel a sort tightening amidst already a cost of living crisis," he says.
And, he adds, "there's been the Peter Mandelson issue".
Nicholas Watt
Political editor, BBC Newsnight
In Keir Starmer's cabinet, the mood is that there is going to be an emotional reaction in the Labour Party - because it's going to be a very difficult result.
But I'm not getting the impression that potential leadership contenders are going to go over the top.
What I do detect is that they will be testing the atmosphere.
Deputy Labour Leader Lucy Powell put out a statement earlier which made no mention of Keir Starmer.
The prime minister will be popping up tomorrow, where he will acknowledge the scale of the results - and the expected defeat.
Overnight, votes are being counted in 46 councils in England, out of 136 local authorities where elections have taken place. Counting in Scotland and Wales, and the other English elections, doesn't begin until Friday.
Image source, PA MediaCounters are working at Lindley Hall in Westminster, London
In North East Lincolnshire, this black box was the first to arrive for the election count at the Grimsby Auditorium
The first ballot boxes have also arrived at the Guildhall for Hull City Council election
Gareth Lewis, David Deans, Shelley Phelps and Mark Palmer
BBC Wales
Image source, PA MediaFirst Minister and Welsh Labour leader Baroness Eluned Morgan cast her vote earlier today
Labour is expected to lose Thursday's Senedd election ending its 27 year-long rule in Wales, multiple party sources have told BBC Wales.
The party has won Westminster and Cardiff Bay elections in the country for more than a century but opinion polls say Plaid Cymru and Reform are both vying for the top spot.
Former Welsh government minister, Mick Antoniw, said that if the results were "as bad as predicted" Sir Keir Starmer should stand down as prime minister.
Voting closed at 22:00 BST on Thursday and counting takes place on Friday, with full coverage of the results across BBC Wales online, television and radio.
Both Plaid Cymru and Reform have been pitching the election as a two-horse race in an effort to either run a minority government as easily as possible, or to make a deal with other parties as straightforward as possible.
No party is likely to reach a majority of 49 of the 96 Senedd seats under Wales's new proportional voting system, although Reform's Welsh leader Dan Thomas said on Tuesday that he thought it was possible for his party to achieve it.
Alec Doyle
Local Democracy Reporter
Image source, Alec DoyleThe first Fflint Wrecsam ballot box arriving at Plas Coch Sports Centre at Wrexham University ready for the Senedd 2026 Election count tomorrow
The first ballot box has arrived at Plas Coch in Wrexham, after the polls closed in the Senedd election at 22:00.
Ballot boxes from across Flintshire and Wrexham will be delivered through the night and securely stored before counting begins at 08:00 on Friday.
This is the first time that Wales has gone to the polls under the new proportional representation system.
It will elect more Members of the Senedd than ever before – 96 – and the number of candidates elected from each party will be based on the percentage of votes their party receives.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has thanked party volunteers in a post on X - after what his deputy leader called a "tough" election campaign.
"To all the Labour members and volunteers who have supported local campaigns across the country: thank you," he writes.
"Together we will build a stronger and fairer Britain."
Image source, PA MediaLucy Powell and Keir Starmer, pictured last month
Now that the polls have closed and some councils begin counting, we’re hearing from party leaders.
Labour
Conservatives
Lib Dems
Plaid Cymru
Reform UK
Greens
Peter Barnes
Senior elections analyst
Counting is now under way in 46 councils in England, out of 136 local authorities where elections have taken place. As a reminder, counting in Scotland and Wales doesn't begin until Friday.
When those English results come in, the council seat change figures you’ll see on the BBC are calculated by looking back at who won the seats the last time they were contested at a scheduled election, and comparing those results with the winners this time around.
For most of the seats being contested this year, that means going back to the results in 2022. We ignore by-elections and changes of party allegiance – when a councillor defects from one party to another.
That’s the same approach we take when reporting the results of general elections, and many experts think it’s the best way to gauge how the parties have performed from one election to another.
Some media organisations calculate change differently – they look at what party each councillor represented just before this year’s elections. The difference between the two approaches is going to be unusually big this year.
Lots of councillors have switched from one party to another or have left the party they were originally elected for to sit as independents.
In particular, many Conservative councillors have defected to Reform UK and lots of Labour councillors have switched to the Greens or have become independents. Reform have also won a lot of seats in by-elections.
So, the BBC is likely to show a higher number of seat losses for Labour and the Conservatives, and a higher number of gains for Reform UK and the Greens, than you might see elsewhere.
Chris Mason
Political editor
If you're not staying up overnight, you will wake up to headlines on Friday morning that reveal only an emerging picture.
Yes, we will have a sense of the magnitude of Reform’s likely advances and Labour’s likely defeats. But the results for the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party of England and Wales will be limited and there will be no results for Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party – two likely headline makers, one way or another, by the end of Friday.
There will be counting here, there and not quite everywhere during the day on Friday, in parts of England, and across Scotland and Wales. By teatime or early evening there should be close to a complete picture – but not everything. Some counting is happening on Saturday.
By Friday teatime, ish….the picture should be pretty clear. We should know who the biggest parties in the new Welsh and Scottish Parliaments are, the scale of Reform’s advances and the magnitude of Labour’s retreat.
We’ll know how well the Greens have done, and how the Conservatives, Lib Dems and independents have fared. And throughout Friday, we’ll be keeping a keen eye on senior Labour figures from the prime minister down.
How do they react to what is expected to be a very, very difficult day? There are some fascinating hours and days ahead.
Chris Mason
Political editor
Image source, PA MediaJust over 40 councils in England are willing to ignite the midnight oil and count in the coming hours.
This should mean the results in around 1,300 seats will be known by breakfast time, out of a total of just over 5,000 seats being contested around parts of England.
If you fancy staying up until the early hours, we are expecting the results in Halton, Broxbourne, Harlow and Exeter before 2am.
While Labour’s majority in Halton in Cheshire is unassailable as just a third of seats are being contested this year, it is the spot where Reform UK won a parliamentary by election a year ago. So seeing the extent of any Reform gains there will be fascinating.
The Conservative majority in Broxbourne in Hertfordshire is also unassailable, but again it’ll be interesting to keep an eye on any Reform gains at the Tories’ expense.
Harlow in Essex is a classic Labour Conservative marginal at general elections. And yes, Labour hold the parliamentary seat and the Conservatives have run the council. But again there is the Reform factor. It could well mean the council is under no overall control after tonight. Let’s see.
Labour have run Exeter City Council since 2012, but the Green Party has been eating into Labour’s majority in recent years and Reform won a council by election last year. So there’s just a flavour of the likely tussles in the early hours.
Looking deeper into the night, Reform have their eyes on the London Borough of Havering. Like all the council contests in the capital, every seat is up for grabs, so there is much greater potential for the balance of power to shift.The Romford MP Andrew Rosindell defected from the Conservatives to Reform in January.
The Liberal Democrats have their eyes on Merton, another London borough. They won the parliamentary seat of Wimbledon two years ago. The party is a smidgen short of a majority in Stockport too, so worth keeping an eye on that.
The Conservatives would love to win the London boroughs of Wandsworth and Westminster back from Labour. They were previously Tory strongholds, until they lost them both in 2022. It is likely to be a difficult few days for the Conservatives, but these two spots could give them something to cheer.
