Anna Murphy
Reporting from Hackney

We've just arrived at Hackney and counting has started for the directly elected mayor.

The first news is turnout is high, about 41%.

Labour could be under pressure from the Greens on two fronts: the council election and the directly elected mayor.

We're expecting a result at about midday on the mayoral vote.

Caroline Woodley is the Labour incumbent and she's being challenged by Zoë Garbett.

Gem O'Reilly
At Romford Market

I’m just stood at the start of Romford Market where all the stall owners are setting up. It’s a quiet start to the day and many of the high street shops are either not open yet or closed.

Kim and Lenny have lived in Romford for more than 40 years. They say it’s massively changed and the high street and market are suffering from rising rents and people having less in their pockets.

They both say they are pleased with Reform UK’s win here.

“We are very happy. It’s not been good lately and the town has deteriorated really badly," says Kim.

“It’s sad to see the decline in the shops and the market used to be really bustling - that’s how we’d like to see it back again.”

Both Lenny and Kim say they also want Havering to move back to Essex.

Lenny says: “We want it back as it was.”

Kim adds: “We don’t like being called Greater London.”

Tony Grew
BBC London

They are still counting votes in Bexley, but the Conservatives have already won enough seats to control the council.

The borough was a target for Reform UK but as things stand the party is still in single figures in the number of councillors elected.

We should know the final results from Bexley within the next hour.

Image source, Reuters

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is now speaking to reporters in Havering.

He's warmly greeted by Reform UK supporters, as he says early results in England show a "truly historic shift".

Farage says Havering Town Hall is now "under new management" - Reform has just surpassed the 28-seat majority needed to take control of the council.

Image source, PA Media

Sir Keir Starmer has been speaking at Kingsdown Methodist Church Hall in the borough of Ealing, which the party held earlier.

He tells Labour Party members gathered there he will carry on as prime minister despite Labour suffering numerous local election losses across the UK.

"The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugar coating it," he says.

"We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country, these are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party.

"And that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility.”

Jonathan Josephs
Reporting from Havering

Reform UK has taken control of a London borough council for the first time.

In the last few minutes the party has passed the threshold of 28 seats for victory.

But it's a rather strange atmosphere here at the City Pavilion, which is an events venue that is technically just outside the borough of Havering.

And that's because a lot of the local Reform leaders have dashed down the road to the town hall, which is about 10 minutes away.

That is where party leader Nigel Farage is cheering this historic victory which has seen support fall away from the Conservatives and also from the Havering Residents' Association, which had been running the council as a minority administration.

Whoever won was always going to face huge challenges given the dire state of the council's finances - the borough has borrowed more than £230m from the central government in recent years.

One Reform candidate who was still here caused some ire in the room when he heckled a winning Residents' Association candidate who vowed to hold Reform to account over the pledges to improve the borough.

Reform have 30 of the 43 seats to have been declared, there are 12 still to go.

Tony Grew
BBC London

The Conservatives have comfortably retained control of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

The result came as no surprise - the Tories have run the council since it was created in 1965.

The Conservatives won 36 seats, the Labour Party won seven, the Lib Dems two and the Green Party one.

Four independent candidates were also elected.

The Conservatives have a majority of 22.

Tony Grew
BBC London

Image source, Reuters

We are hearing that Reform UK have won enough seats to take control of Havering Council.

If correct it means the party led by Nigel Farage would be in charge of a London borough for the first time.

In January Andrew Rosindell, the MP for Romford which is in the borough, defected from the Conservatives to Reform.

Havering is on the eastern border of Greater London and some people there identify more closely with neighbouring Essex than with the capital.

As a reminder so far we have had final results from:

• Ealing - Labour hold
• Hammersmith and Fulham - Labour hold
• Merton - Labour hold
• Richmond-upon-Thames - Lib Dem hold
• Sutton - Lib Dem hold
• Wandsworth - Labour loss to no overall control
• Westminster - Conservatives win from Labour

The other boroughs which have been counting overnight, meaning we should have results in the next hour or so, are:

• Bexley

• Havering
• Kensington and Chelsea

All other boroughs will begin counting from 09:00 BST so will declare results later, except in Croydon, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets which will have council results tomorrow.

BBC London political editor Karl Mercer and elections expert Prof Tony Travers, from the London School of Economics, discuss what has been happening so far in the capital with seven councils having declared results.

Jonathan Josephs
Reporting from Havering

Things are looking good for Reform with a third of the 55 seats declared.

The Harold Wood Hill Park Residents' Association has retained its three seats and Labour has held on to two in the Beam Park heartland.

However, the other five wards have all gone to Reform and they are now on 13 seats. They need 28 to take control of a London borough for the first time.

So far we've seen them take seats from both the Conservatives and the Havering Residents' Association (HRA) - some of them have been quite close and the Green Party has taken votes away from the HRA which has been running the council as a minority administration.

Issues including immigration, benefits, the state of the streets and the council's dire finances have been top of voters' minds and Reform seems to have been most successful in turning those concerns into councillors.

One victorious Reform candidate said taking control of the council is when the hard work begins.

Sarah Morris
Reporting from Wandsworth

Aled Richards-Jones, leader of the Conservatives on Wandsworth council, tells me they will form the administration to run the council.

The party won 29 seats to Labour's 28, meaning the council is now in no overall control.

"This was a thoroughly local verdict on four years of a failing Labour council," he says.

"One that said it would freeze council tax but actually increased it, one that said it would cut crime but actually increased it, one that promised to build more houses and built fewer houses, and one that was actually called out by the UK Statistics Authority for misleading residents and its corporate communications."

Richard-Jones says the big issues in the campaign were the council's finances, public safety and housing.

Harry Low
Reporting from Merton

As day breaks in south-west London, Labour has increased its number of seats by one to control 32 in Merton.

And despite losing a share of the vote, the party will continue to control a council it has run since 1990, apart from eight years between 2006 and 2014.

Despite their best ever performance in Merton, winning a total of 19 seats, the Lib Dems’ bid to run four London councils simultaneously for the first time ever has ended.

It was the worst ever performance for the Conservatives who lost their leader and have just four seats left. The Residents Association walks away with two seats, as usual.

Jennifer McKiernan
Reporting from Havering

We're about a third of the way through results here in Havering and Reform is doing very well - from a start of three councillors they now have 18.

Reform needs 28 out of the 55 total number of councillors here to take control of the council.

Insiders tell me they're projecting 34 councillors in total.

Tony Grew
BBC London

The Tories have won back Westminster City Council, taking 32 seats to Labour's 22.

The city council had been under Tory control from its creation in 1965 until 2022 when Labour won it.

Now the Tories have got it back, while the Greens, Reform UK and the Lib Dems did not take any seats.

The council, covering Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, was symbolic for the Tories and the very centre of London had been under the party's control since London's current local government structure was created more than 60 years ago.

Remember as this morning's declarations come in we have a visualised BBC Radio London election special.

Presented by Eddie Nestor, it includes reports from counts across London, as well as the latest political reaction and analysis.

Watch it by clicking the play button above.