The leader of the Liberal Democrats has been handing out free coffees to people in Guildford, Surrey, this afternoon.

The party has picked up four seats on the new West Surrey Council in the Guildford division so far.

Sir Ed Davey says: "We're really excited by the successes. I think that we have done incredibly well here in Surrey, where we look like we're going to have fantastic results, whether it's West Surrey or East Surrey."

He was giving out the coffees to Lib Dem members and residents as a "thank you for their hard work throughout the campaign", he says.

Conservatives also have two seats in the Guildford borough, in Shalford.

The Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey says that his party is "on a record winning streak", adding: “In places like Surrey, we’re replacing the Conservatives.”

Speaking to reporters in Guildford, Sir Ed says, “we’re the only party who’s actually held off Reform”, pointing to results in Stockport and Portsmouth.

Asked how Lib Dem could increase support in areas where they have not traditionally been strong, he says that "multi-party politics" brought a "real chance to show what we’re about".

He adds that he thought the Lib Dems had a "moral responsibility" given how "utterly failed Labour and the Conservatives are".

"I think people are looking for a party that is true to British values of decency, tolerance, respect of the rule of law, and real practical plans, and only the Liberal Democrats offer those", he says.

If you're just tuning in, here is what has been happening.

Counts are under way after people in Surrey, Sussex, and Tunbridge Wells, in Kent, went to the polls on Thursday.

In Surrey, they voted for councillors on the county's new east and west councils, which will replace the county, district and borough councils from April 2027.

In Sussex, there were elections for the two county councils. There were also district and borough council elections in Crawley, Hastings, Adur and Worthing. Brighton & Hove City Council was not included.

And just Tunbridge Wells Borough Council took part for Kent.

Early results are starting to come in, and sticking with the national trend, Reform UK is picking up seats.

The bulk of results across the region are expected to be announced between now and 18:00 BST, so stay with us.

The leader of the Conservative Group on East Sussex County Council, Carl Maynard, has lost his seat to Reform UK.

The authority's Tory council leader Keith Glazier stood down ahead of the elections.

Reform UK’s West Sussex County Council mayoral candidate Paul Linehan has lost his seat.

The Green Party has gained Bramber Castle, with Victoria Finnegan elected with 1,788 votes.

Linehan was elected as a Conservative in 2021 but has since defected to Reform.

Oliver Whitfield-Miocic
BBC South East, in Bexhill

Reform UK has gained all four divisional Bexhill seats on East Sussex County Council, flipping Bexhill North and Bexhill East from Independent councillors, while Bexhill South and Bexhill West have swung from the Conservatives.

Reform UK's representatives at the count inside De La Warr Pavilion are looking very happy and are predicting more turquoise victories to come. The Conservatives are looking much more glum.

Labour candidates are getting less than 10% of the vote in some cases, mirroring the drop in support for the party seen nationwide.

Donald Walmsley has taken Bexhill North with 1,056 votes, Martin Kenward wins Bexhill East with 1,267 votes, Victoria Carson takes Bexhill South with 1,333 votes and Pete Morley wins Bexhill West with 1,647.

The Lib Dems and Green are also securing seats in the region.

Young people in Farnham in Surrey say the environment, cost of living, homelessness and the impact of AI are among their concerns ahead of the local elections.

We will soon know which councillors voters have chosen to represent them on two new unitary councils in West and East Surrey.

The authorities, which are being created as part of plans to reform local government in England, will replace Surrey County Council and 11 borough and district councils.

Ahead of polling day, the BBC spoke to some students at the University for the Creative Arts.

Image source, West Sussex County Council

The Conservative leader of West Sussex County Council, Paul Marshall, has kept his seat in Storrington.

Marshall won 1,716 votes. Reform UK's Joanna Wileman came second with 1,552 votes and John Loney for the Green Party third with 1,520.

Alex Beveridge, Lib Dem, had 415 votes. Paul Summers, Labour, had 158.

Helen Catt
South East political editor

It’s not quite as simple as just tipping out all the votes and counting them up.

First, there is a process known as verification. It involves counting up the total number of ballot papers in each ballot box.

That’s then compared with the number that the polling staff have said are in there to make sure they match up and that every ballot paper has made it to the count.

Once that’s all done, the votes are counted up for each candidate. If a result is very close, there could also be a recount.

Lucinda Adam
Sussex political reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Firstly, these councils collectively spend billions of pounds of money collected from our taxes to deliver our most vital services.

For our county councils that’s education, our social care, roads, infrastructure, waste management, economic growth, public protection and libraries.

For our borough and districts, it’s housing and planning, town centre regeneration, rubbish collections and managing taxes and benefits.

Secondly, political upheaval is possible. The Conservatives are defending their long-term leadership of both East and West Sussex county councils.

Labour is defending their control of Crawley, Worthing and Adur – and the Greens are defending their minority leadership of Hastings Borough Council.

The Liberal Democrats and Reform UK are both hoping for opportunities.

Finally, all of these councils will be abolished in two years and replaced by a mayor and new unitary authorities.

The winners of these elections will be in charge of shaping that future in Sussex.

Sam Dixon-French
in Uckfield

Reform UK has won seven of the eight results that have been announced so far in Wealden, East Sussex.

There has been a solitary gain for the Liberal Democrats – as they pinched Uckfield North from the Conservatives by just 31 votes.

There has also been a surprise in the Polegate and Watermill ward, as Daniel Dak Yan Shing, who won the last election by nearly 1,000 votes, has been beaten by Reform’s Mickey Caira by 46 votes.

Other winners so far include Reform’s Stephen Potts, who is the new representative of Wealden East, and Roger David Lincoln, who will represent Pevensey and Stone Cross for Reform.

All eyes are now on the remaining seven seats in the Wealden area of East Sussex, which are due to be announced at about 18:00 BST.

Helen Catt
South East political editor

Image source, Getty Images

Of course, all of the political parties are aiming to get as many councillors as they can.

On each council, though, there is a magic number which they particularly want to hit: half the seats + 1.

That would give them majority control, which means they have enough councillors to outvote all the others.

In East Sussex, they’ll be aiming to win at least 26 seats. In West Sussex, it’s 36. A party would need to win 37 seats to take control of East Surrey and 46 for West Surrey.

It’s a bit harder to track in Hastings, Crawley, Adur and Worthing, as only some of the seats are up for election.

That means how many councillors a party already has, who are not up for election this year, determines how many more they need to win to hit that magic total of half + 1.

On Thursday, residents in Brighton and Hove may have been at the beach, a local park or perhaps enjoying an afternoon down the pub.

But they were certainly not at a polling station. Lucinda Adam explains why.

Helen Catt
South East political editor

The Liberal Democrats are already unofficially claiming victory of West Surrey Council, despite results not being expected until 18:00 BST.

Traditionally a ‘true blue’ territory and the home of Tory heavyweights like Jeremy Hunt, the Lib Dems would take control of the new unitary authority of West Surrey.

A Lib Dem source said: “West Surrey is set to go Lib Dem gold.

"Even in Jeremy Hunt’s backyard people are fed up with Kemi chasing Reform’s tail.

“Despite their best Ken Baker impression, the Conservative Party is simply having a dreadful day.”

Kent has taken a back seat in 2026, after landslide elections last year saw Reform UK take control of the county council.

One set of elections did take place this year though, with a third of the seats on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council up for grabs. Borough councils elect a third of their councillors each time.

Tunbridge Wells is currently controlled by the Liberal Democrats. We'll let you know the results as we have them.

Interestingly, residents in Tunbridge Wells had the option to begin voting on Saturday - five days earlier than almost every other part of the country.

The town was one of four areas of the country chosen to take part in an early-voting trial, designed to get more people involved in democracy.

You can read more about that here.

Oliver Whitfield-Miocic
South East

Image source, bbc

Turnout has increased compared with the last East Sussex County Council elections in 2021, according to data being released at the count in Rother.

In Rother North West, turnout is up by 13%, with 51% of voters casting their ballots this year compared with 38.4% in 2021.

Meanwhile, voting is up 10% in Bexhill East, with a turnout of 42% compared with 31.67% five years ago.

Bexhill West is up 9% from 44.14% to 53%, while Battle and Crowhurst has seen a 7% increase, from 41.83% to 49%.

Bexhill North and Bexhill South are also both up 7%.

Helen Catt
South East political editor

One of the features of these elections has been a genuine level of uncertainty among local politicians about who could win overall.

Our county councils have broadly been seen as a three-way fight between the Liberal Democrats, Reform UK and the Conservatives.

Either Reform or the Lib Dems have so far been expected to end up as the largest party.

But higher-than-usual turnout is being reported in areas across the three counties and that will add to the uncertainty.

If people are voting in these elections who don’t usually, it’s trickier to predict where their votes will go.