"Even early this morning, Sir Keir Starmer chose to get out there and tell his party and all of us that he was not going to go anywhere.

"He didn't even wait to see how bad it was before putting his defence out there, as if he was anticipating some attacks," Laura Kuenssberg says.

Watch her analysis below.

Ed Thomas
UK editor, reporting from Barnsley

Barnsley has had a Labour council for 50 years - but that's changed, with the stronghold flipping to Reform UK.

Lee, who says he voted Reform, has voted Labour for most of his life.

He tells the BBC that he's worked since he was 16 and his wife was employed as a carer. "As a tax payer we are paying too much out for illegal immigrants; for housing, for benefits," he says. “I just want the country to be run fairly.”

At Beth’s Corner Kitchen, a busy sandwich shop, manager Beth says for many of her customers, it’s time for change.

“I just think there have been quite a lot of issues,” she says, listing cost of living, school provisions, working families not eligible for free school meals. “People are not getting what they need.”

Beth’s Mum, Adele, is helping out with deliveries. She has changed her vote from Labour to Reform because she’s craving change. When asked, she says it is for one reason: "Starmer. He’s done nothing for the country at all."

And Jackie, who spoke to the BBC while doing her weekly shopping, told us she is worried.

“I’ve been Labour all my life. I’m sad,” she said. “I don’t think they will know how to run the county, Reform.”

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

The unions that financially back Labour are calling for an "urgent meeting" with the prime minister to discuss a change in direction.

Those unions with left-wing leadership have been critical of Keir Starmer.

But in a joint statement which includes usually more supportive unions, they are calling for a change of direction on "economic policy and political strategy".

And they suggest the "disastrous election results" show a "stark disconnect between the Labour government and working people".

I was told by a Labour veteran, regarded as on the right of the party, that the pressure a united union front could put on the prime minister "shouldn’t be under-priced".

Sharon Graham, leader of the Unite union, says: "It is change or die, now or never."

And Andrea Egan, the relatively new leader of Unison, the country’s biggest union, says "there will clearly be a change of Labour leader sooner or later".

But she warns "Labour will face political oblivion because it’s simply not delivering".

If the Labour leadership grants a meeting, it might need a stiffer drink than beer with the sandwiches.

Image source, Jeff Overs/BBC

We're still waiting for results from 11 councils in England.

Here's where we're expecting results:

• Bradford
• Calderdale
• Croydon
• Lambeth
• Haringey
• Kirklees
• Lewisham
• Newham
• Redbridge
• West Surrey
• Tower Hamlets

We've just heard that the last constituency seat for the Scottish Parliament has been declared. Uddingston and Bellshill is an SNP hold.

But that doesn't mean the results are finished yet, as Holyrood's regional members are still to be announced.

Out of the 129 seats available, 56 come from eight regions, which together cover all of Scotland. Each region elects seven MSPs.

This means people in Scotland are each represented by eight MSPs - one for their constituency, and another seven for their region.

Image source, PA Media

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has retained his place in Holyrood after winning a regional seat in Glasgow.

Earlier, Sarwar lost his attempt to win the Glasgow Cathcart and Pollok constituency, with the SNP beating him by more than 5,000 votes.

As a reminder, the Scottish Parliament is made up of 129 MSPs. Of that total, 73 represent local areas known as constituencies. The remaining 56 MSPs are drawn from eight regions, which cover the whole of Scotland. Each region elects seven MSPs.

Image source, PA Media

It's been a day filled with change.

Plaid Cymru have become the biggest party in the Welsh Parliament, bringing an end to Labour's decades-long dominance.

In England, Reform UK are winning big. Nigel Farage's party are up more than 1,350 seats compared to the last local elections, with 13 councils left to be declared.

Meanwhile, the BBC projects the Scottish National Party will win the most seats in Holyrood, but they will fall short of the 65 needed for a majority.

We've taken a look back at how party leaders across the UK have reacted:

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he "won't walk away" after Labour's poor performance and paid tribute to the "formidable" Eluned Morgan, who stepped down as leader of Welsh Labour after a historic defeat.

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said it was a moment "100 years in the making" as his party overtook Labour to return the largest number of seats in the Senedd.

SNP leader John Swinney told BBC Scotland he was "absolutely delighted" with the Holyrood results, adding that Downing Street has "a lot of listening to do" after Labour was "hammered" in Scotland.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage hailed a "historic shift" earlier, calling it a "big, big day" for the party and the "reshaping of British politics".

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said two-party politics was "dead and buried", as the Greens secured their first directly-elected mayor in Hackney. The party has gained over 315 council seats in England.

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey described his party as the "only non-populist party left standing". The Lib Dems have seen the third-highest gains on English councils, gaining more than 75 seats so far.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, whose Conservative party has lost hundreds of council seats in England, said that "good strategy takes time".

Labour has lost Birmingham council - the UK's largest local authority - to no control.

As it stands, 79 of the 101 seats have been declared. For a majority, a party needs 51 seats.

Reform UK are currently leading the pack with 17 councillors, but with only 22 seats left to be declared they cannot win an overall majority.

The council is therefore under no overall control.

Sadaf Maruf & Colletta Smith

We’re gathering reaction in Ashton-under-Lyne in Tameside, where 47 years of Labour control has been lost as the council is now under no overall control.

One third of seats were up for election in Tameside, with Reform winning 18 out of 19 seats in the poll.

Brad, 21, did not vote but says he's pleased Reform won the seats they did.

The results send a message that change is needed, he tells the BBC that Reform will be "better than Labour anyway".

Luke, who says he was homeless three years ago, also welcomes the change.

He says taxes need to be lower and that it is "unfair" that people can come to the UK and be handed things. He adds that things need to be better for those born in the UK.

"Things are very hard," he says. "We are going shopping now and we've only got 50 quid, but I got paid just a few days ago - but I've had to pay all the bills."

Charlotte, meanwhile, says she and her partner - who is Romanian - are a bit depressed about Reform's win, because their household are all Green supporters.

She's worried about misinformation and feels there is "an atmosphere of division and hate, which detracts from the real issues".

Bobbie, who was with her, says she voted for Labour and feels "a bit down and deflated".

She wanted to vote Green, she explains, but says the Labour candidate was the only one who was actually engaged with the local community.

Labour has lost Hackney to the Green Party, as well as three further London councils to no overall control.

In London, Labour has not managed to keep its majority in Southwark, Enfield and Brent.

Outside the capital, the party has also lost Coventry to no overall control.

With about 15 councils still to confirm their results, we'll keep bringing you updates as they come in.

We're now getting the first regional results in Scotland, and Reform UK have won their first seats there.

The Scottish Parliament is made up of 129 MSPs and, of that total, 73 represent local areas known as consituencies.

The remaining 56 MSPs are drawn from eight regions which cover the whole of Scotland. Each region elects seven MSPs.

Here are the first set of results for three of the eight regions:

• In Edinburgh and Lothians East: Three for the Scottish Greens, two for Labour, one for the Conservatives, one for Reform UK
• In North East Scotland: Two for the Conservatives, two for Reform UK, one for Labour, one for the Lib Dems, one for the Scottish Greens
• In Mid-Scotland and Fife: Two for the Conservatives, two for Labour, two for Reform UK, one for the Scottish Greens

Remind me, how do elections work in Scotland?

Reform continues to make gains this evening in England's councils, with just 19 left to be declared.

In the last hour, it's taken three councils - two from the Labour party: Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, and Sandwell in the West Midlands.

Reform also gained control in Walsall, which had formerly held no party majority.

For Labour, debates over where to go next will only get knottierpublished at 19:55 BST 8 May

19:55 BST 8 May

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent

We shouldn’t forget that these figures always come with a pinch of salt, but they nevertheless have symbolic significance for those involved in politics.

The projected national share of the vote - which puts Reform at 26% - won't come as a surprise to anyone, but it will nevertheless feel like a hammer blow to many Labour MPs.

Heavy Labour losses have been baked in for some time, but we've been reporting for weeks now that the political consequences of those losses could be informed by the emotional reaction from Labour MPs.

In other words, anticipating defeat isn't the same thing as actually experiencing it.

To have fallen behind the Green Party in this projection will be deeply uncomfortable for many within the Labour party.

For some it will be evidence that the prime minister has focused too much on the threat from Reform on the right and not enough on the threat from the Greens on the left.

For others, the clearer water between Reform and the other parties will add to a feeling that a successful Labour party will need to take some votes back from Nigel Farage and that a tack to the left would be the wrong approach.

There is a very active conversation happening within Labour about where to go next. This projection will only make those debates knottier.

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

On the basis of results in over 1,000 wards where the BBC has collected detailed voting data, it is estimating that if the whole of the country had had an election and those people who didn't have an election voted similarly to those who did, the outcome of the election would be as follows:

The picture presented by these estimates is one of deep and unprecedented fragmentation, with all the parties bunched between 26% and 16% of the vote.

Apart from Reform clearly being ahead in these elections, there is very little difference in the performance of the remaining parties.

Meanwhile, the Reform tally of 26% is down on the 30% figure which the BBC published after last year's local elections.

The Greens' tally, while lower than Reform's, is their best ever in a local election.

Noor Nanji
Reporting from Camden

Going into this election, the Greens and the Lib Dems were looking to make gains in Camden Council.

And both of them did - but in the end, Labour has managed to hold on here, reaching 28 seats. That’s the threshold needed for a majority.

This is Keir Starmer’s backyard of course - it is where the Prime Minister has his constituency seat.

Symbolically, he’ll be relieved they managed to hold onto the council.

But the mood here isn’t of celebration for Labour, considering they started in a dominant position.

In the last local elections, in 2022, they had 47 seats.

The incumbent labour leader of the council, also lost his seat.

And then more broadly, it again shows how much the Labour vote is splintering to other parties on the left.

In Scotland, there are just three constituencies left to declare.

Those are Uddingston and Bellshill, Inverness and Nairn, and Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.

All three were held by the SNP. Once those are in, we'll have all of the results for the 73 constituencies.

After that, all eyes will be on the regional results, where 56 more MSPs will be elected across eight regions.

• For context: The Scottish Parliament is made up of 129 MSPs. Of that total, 73 represent local areas known as constituencies. The rest of the MSPs are drawn from eight regions which together cover the whole of Scotland. Each region elects seven MSPs

Over the past hour, we've seen more gains and losses in England's local elections, with 27 council declarations still to go.

Here's the latest:

Reform gains:

• Barnsley, from Labour
• Gateshead, from Labour
• St Helens, from Labour
• South Tyneside, from no overall control

Green gains:

• Hastings, from no overall control
• Waltham Forest, from Labour

Labour and Conservatives losses:

• Labour loses Leeds, Swindon and Milton Keynes to no overall control
• The Conservatives lose control of West Sussex and Solihull

There have been some holds too, with the Conservatives holding onto Bromley and Labour holding onto Islington, Greenwich, Trafford and Camden.

Cabinet ministers rally around Starmerpublished at 19:04 BST 8 May

19:04 BST 8 May

David Cornock
Political correspondent

Image source, EPA

Cabinet ministers are rallying around the prime minister with a series of posts on social media after calls for him to quit.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Defence Secretary John Healey and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander have all shared supportive messages on X.

Their posts follow calls from Labour MPs for Keir Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure from Downing Street - he said earlier that would leave the country in chaos.

• Alexander posted: “The last thing we need is to descend into a vanity leadership contest.”
• Rachel Reeves posted: "These are tough election results for Labour and I’m sorry to all of those colleagues who have lost their seats. Keir Starmer won a mandate to change our country. We must get on with delivering that mandate - and show how politics can improve people’s lives for the better."
• Healey said: "Not the results we wanted. And not the results that good Labour councillors and candidates deserved. But we should not turn inward."
• Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: "As the prime minister says, it is clear the public are impatient for change and we must rise to meet this moment and deliver change on the scale that people need and have asked for."
• Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens posted: "The prime minister has said that more needs to be done to deliver the change that people voted for under two years ago. I agree. Keir is the right person to deliver that change."

The posts echo similarly supportive messages sent in February after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called on Starmer to stand down.

Katy Austin
Political correspondent

During these elections there were six mayoral contests in England, mostly in London.

These mayors are like council leaders, but directly elected. They have significant power in their areas over a range of services, for example housing and bin collections.

The Greens found success in two of them, where they'd had high hopes: Hackney and Lewisham. Both were formerly Labour. The Greens now have their first ever directly-elected mayors.

But in Newham, the party came in third, behind winners Labour, and Newham Independents.

The other mayoral contests resulted in no change to the incumbent party: the Conservatives held Croydon, Lutfhar Rahman of Aspire was re-elected in Tower Hamlets, and the Lib Dems held Watford.

Labour's share of the vote was down in all of them, while the Green vote was up.

In Watford, the Lib Dems' competition was notably more fragmented than last time. Reform and the Greens ate up a large proportion of what had previously been Labour and Tory votes.

Reform picked up votes in each contest - outperforming the Tories, Labour and Greens respectively in Watford - but wasn't close to winning any mayoral posts this year.