Jess Warren
London

The Green Party's leader has congratulated Zoë Garbett after she became the party's first directly elected mayor, with 47.2% of the vote share.

Speaking in Hackney, Zack Polanski said: “It is time for change and this is an historic moment.

“I know [Garbett] will work tirelessly every single day to make Hackney a place that everyone affords to live in.

“Years ago, Hackney would have been a Labour stronghold,” Polanski said. “Zoe didn’t just win by a little bit. Labour was so decisively rejected."

Wendy Hurrell
At the Southwark count

Claire Sheppard, Green Party candidate for Nunhead and Queen’s Road in Southwark, said she had “never seen momentum like this for the Greens before”.

"We're tired, but we're happy. We've been working so hard over weeks.

"This is my eighth election in eight years. I'm so proud of the team that's come together and how hard they've worked.

"They're still counting in the ward where I ran, so hopefully we'll have success.”

Harrison Galliven
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, Harrison Galliven

Earlier this morning the Liberal Democrats swept to a commanding victory in Sutton, all but eliminating the Conservatives as the main opposition after winning 51 of the council’s 55 seats.

The landslide means the Lib Dems continue their nearly 40-year dominance of the council, after first taking power in 1990.

The Lib Dem victory, which saw them gain 22 seats, came at the expense of the Conservatives, who had previously served as the main opposition. The party lost all 20 of its seats in a defeat that also unseated several long-serving councillors.

Reform UK replaced the Conservatives as the main opposition on the council after its first two councillors were elected in the St Helier West ward.

The new council composition will be 51 Liberal Democrats, two Reform UK councillors, one Labour councillor and one independent. Voter turnout in Sutton was 46.78%, up from 2022.

Wendy Hurrell
Reporting from the Southwark count

Here at the Southwark count, the Lib Dem press officer, who is an experienced campaigner, describes it as a “weird election”.

He’s used to the vote being a two-horse race but this one is so fractured and they haven’t so far got the wave of votes they expected - it’ll come down to voter turnout.

He throws up his hands in exasperation, saying “I feel like I don’t understand politics anymore.”

Leyla Hayes
Reporting from the Newham count

We are in Newham where the ballot papers are yet to be looked at yet.

The count for the mayoral election won’t start until 14:00 BST so we might not see results until around 16:00.

The council votes will be much later with a result probably in the evening.

Tony Grew
BBC London

Image source, Getty Images

There was speculation that the Green Party would do well in the race for Hackney mayor - and their candidate Zoë Garbett exceeded expectations.

She won 35,720 votes in this first past the post election, with her Labour rival Caroline Woodley far behind on 26,865.

Garbett becomes the first directly-elected Green mayor, and the role has significant powers over the council.

The sheer size of her victory must put in question whether the Labour Party will still control the council itself after its votes are counted later today.

Garbett's election is a watershed for the Greens in London - nothing less than a political earthquake. The era of multi-party politics has begun in the capital.

Image source, PA Media

Zoë Garbett, the Green party’s first mayor, says in a speech following her election win: “Today we start the fight back. In this election, over and over, people kept telling me that they felt let down.

“Council services are failing those who need them most, and people are struggling to make ends meet.

“To everyone who voted for me, I truly thank you for putting your trust in me today.

“Across London and the country, people have made it clear that they are desperate for an alternative to this failing Labour government.”

Matt Graveling
In Waltham Forest

In Waltham Forest, Chingford Green Ward saw a huge voter turnout of 51.4%.

A big cheer went up in Walthamstow Assembly Hall as the returning offer announced the turnout.

"That’s the highest I’ve ever heard," says one of the council press officers.

Chingford Green is one of the 20 wards competing for a total of 60 seats, in a borough currently controlled by Labour.

Results were originally expected here at 12:30 BST, we have now been told it won’t be before 14:00. While we haven’t been given a reason for the delay, high voter turnout could have contributed.

Zoë Garbett, from the Green Party, beats Labour's Caroline Woodley to be named Hackney mayor.

Tom Edwards
Transport Correspondent, BBC London

Greens look jubilant here in Hackney as it looks like they have taken the Hackney mayoralty.

That would be the first Green Party mayor in London.

We will not have long to wait to find out - the announcement of the result is imminent.

Tony Grew
BBC London

The Reform UK MP for Romford has questioned whether London needs a mayor.

Andrew Rosindell was speaking after his party took control of Romford Council, the first Reform-controlled council in London.

He said: "Check every penny we give to the mayor of London. You know, a quarter of our council tax goes to the mayor of London, nearly. Now, where does that money go?

"I don't really understand what we get for that money that we pay millions of pounds to the mayor of London.

"Do we need a mayor of London? Isn't that a layer of bureaucracy we could get rid of?"

Rosindell - who defected from the Tories to Reform UK last year - added: "The country's bankrupt, our borough is bankrupt. In fact, Havering is borrowing money from the government just to stay afloat.

"We have to get back to sound money principles again. We have to reduce the size of the state."

Katherine Gray
Local Democracy Reporting Service

The Conservatives have taken back control of Westminster Council. A “knife-edge” result leaves the Tories with 32 seats on the council, while Labour has 22.

Westminster has historically been a Tory stronghold, before changing to Labour control in 2022.

Conservative Westminster group leader, Paul Swaddle, described the result as “fantastic”.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "Neither Greens nor Reform made any inroads, and both of them threw quite a lot at it. So as far as that’s concerned, here in Westminster, I’m very pleased with the result."

A cabinet member for enforcement will be appointed tomorrow, he added.

Swaddle also said he would be setting up a legal fund to challenge the mayor on Oxford Street’s pedestrianisation.

The Labour Party is the opposition group on the council. No representatives were available to give a comment to LDRS following the loss this morning.

Reform councillor Alan Mendoza lost his seat. He represented the Abbey Road ward as a Conservative councillor, before defecting in November 2025.

Former council leader Adam Hug held on to his seat in Westbourne.

Image source, LDRS

Now that the results are in from the 10 boroughs which were counting overnight, in terms if councils today we are waiting for declarations from:

• Barking and Dagenham
• Barnet
• Brent
• Bromley
• Camden
• Enfield
• Greenwich
• Hackney
• Harrow
• Haringey
• Hillingdon
• Hounslow
• Islington
• Kingston-upon-Thames
• Lambeth
• Newham
• Redbridge
• Southwark
• Waltham Forest

We will also have results for mayoral elections in:

• Croydon
• Hackney
• Lewisham
• Newham
• Tower Hamlets

Then finally on Saturday we will have declarations in the council elections for:

• Croydon
• Lewisham
• Tower Hamlets

Tony Grew
London

The directly elected mayors in Croydon, Hackney, Lewisham, Newham and Tower Hamlets are the political leaders of the council.

All 32 of London' s boroughs have a mayor, but in most cases their duties are ceremonial. They wear a chain and municipal robes - the position is largely honorary and they have little power.

An elected mayor by contrast has significant powers in their borough.

The mayor is the political leader of the council and they appoint a cabinet made up of elected councillors who are given specific portfolios such as finance, community safety and children's services.

They control local services such as housing, including local regeneration schemes and affordable housing targets, planning and waste collection.

Mayors are elected on their own manifesto and may be a member of a political party or an independent candidate.

The vote for the mayor and the council are held at the same time.

There is a separate mayor of London, currently Sir Sadiq Khan, responsible for police, fire and rescue, Transport for London and strategic matters that affect all 32 London boroughs.

Susana Mendonca
BBC Radio London political reporter in Bexley

While Bexley won't declare the final result until this evening, we do know that the Tories have held the borough.

The area had been a target for Reform UK and the party's chair in Bexley, Eamonn Delaney, earlier told me the party was "building from the ground up" as it challenged the Conservatives on Bexley Council.

He added: "We made enormous inroads and we've come from a zero start to an enormous position where we are today, so yes there has been some areas that are very strong Tory areas but we hope to go for them in the future."

Tony Grew
BBC London

After a string of results from overnight counts across the capital, we now have a pause as more councils began counting votes from 09:00 BST.

What is the story so far? We have had 10 results, and the Labour Party will be relieved that they managed to retain control of Merton despite a Lib Dem push to take the council.

They also narrowly lost Wandsworth to no overall control with the Tories once again as the biggest party.

Despite the Merton setback, the Lib Dems will be happy with their performance so far. They won every seat on Richmond-upon-Thames and retained control of Sutton.

And the Tories won back control of Westminster, which they lost to Labour in 2022.

Reform UK have been leading the pack across the country, and they too had a success, taking control of Havering, so they will run a council in London for the first time.

But Nigel Farage’s party failed to take Bexley, which was a target for them.

So as we wait for 19 other London councils to count their votes, there is something positive for all parties, and good results are predicted for the Greens later today in some inner London boroughs.

By this evening, we should also know who has won the five mayoral elections taking place in Croydon, Lewisham, Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets.

Susana Mendonca
BBC Radio London Political Reporter in Bexley

All but one of the wards in Bexley has been counted.

The final award, Slade Green and Northend, will be counted this evening after 17:00 BST.

Because there were recounts, it was too close to call, so the returning officer decided that everyone was too tired to carry on.

They’re going go home and start counting again at 17:00 at the council building.

Whatever the results from that ward, the Conservatives have won the election on Bexley. As things stand they have 29 councillors, Labour have seven and Reform UK - which targeted the borough - have seven.

Philip James Lynch
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, LDRS

Labour has retained control of Ealing Council and begins a historic fifth consecutive term of governance for Labour.

The Liberal Democrats saw a surge in their seats on the council, up by seven to 13 councillors.

The Green Party also had much to celebrate, gaining five new councillors.

The Conservatives saw no change overall from 2022.

Labour candidates, councillors and activists were seen in tears on the night, with some saying they were “shocked” and “this isn’t working”.

Gareth Shaw (chief whip) and Polly Knewstub (cabinet member for healthy equal lives) both lost their seats.

The Greens won all three seats in Hanwell Broadway, and the Conservatives shocked the room when they won all three seats in North Greenford from Labour.

The longest serving councillor, Anthony Young, lost his election, bringing an end to his 48-year councillorship for the Conservatives.

This year saw the largest number of candidates to ever stand in the borough, and the largest of any London borough this year with a total of 367 candidates standing across 24 wards.

Gem O'Reilly
At Romford Market

At Romford Market, I've been speaking to people about the new Reform UK council.

David, who has lived in the area all his life, owns Wokabout stall which sells Asian foods. He tells me he feels good about Reform.

“I just hope they spend money on the town, we are always promised money for the market but nothing comes to the table," he says.

"They’re letting it slip and haven’t spent money on it for 20 years.

“There’s no incentive to come to Romford and no signs to indicate how to get to the market.”

David also says he’d rather Havering be out of London and back to Essex.

It’s been a difficult time for Havering as one of seven London boroughs that have needed Exceptional Financial Support from the government.

In 2024 the council had to borrow £88m to balance its books and local people say the borough needs environmental improvements, more investment into the high street and social housing.

Jennifer McKiernan
Reporting from Havering

That is it, all 20 wards in Havering have now been declared and it's a landslide victory for Reform, who now have 39 of the 55 councillors in Havering.

The Conservatives have been wiped out, from having 14 councillors before the election to none.

Labour has held on to two of four seats and there are three independents.

The Havering Residents' Association has been pushed into second place as the official opposition with 11 councillors.