At the Town Hall today we'll have two elections taking place.

In the Ipswich area, the last time the councillors were elected to Suffolk County Council, in 2021, six were Conservative and four were Labour.

It will be really interesting to see if Labour can hold these seats as it is the area where they have the most success.

Elsewhere we will also have the elections for Ipswich Borough Council. It's only a third of the seats (16) getting counted today.

Labour has been in charge at Ipswich, but with the way the national picture is looking at the moment we could have a few surprises here.

Even though we can't see a change of political control at the borough council today, we could still see some surprises with high profile councillors like the leader of the council Neil MacDonald and Stefan Long, the Mayor of Ipswich, standing again.

Vikki Irwin
at the count in Debenham

Here at one of the Suffolk County Council count sites, the Greens have been feeling quietly confident.

They say it's very close though between them and Reform UK in many wards.

The results are coming in thick and fast now across Suffolk.

The county council does have its own handy tracker of all the results which you can access here., external

Another seat for Reform UK has been declared for Haverhill South in the Suffolk County Council election.

In 2021, the ward was won by the Conservatives.

These were the votes:

• Paul Littman (Reform): 990
• Graham Cone (Con): 657
• Mark Ereira (Green): 543
• David Smith (Labour): 353

Vikki Irwin
BBC Radio Suffolk political reporter

Image source, Vikki Irwin

The council has been run by the Conservatives for the last 20 years. They had 55 councillors elected in 2021, when these latest elections were announced it had gone down to 44.

The official opposition has been The Green Party, who had nine councillors in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, who had five, and three Independents.

Reform UK had six councilors, four of those came through defections from the Conservatives, and two seats were won in by-elections in Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds in the last 12 months.

Labour had five seats before Thursday's vote.

Matt Precey
at the count in Bury St Edmunds

We have just seen a win for Reform UK in the Suffolk County Council election, this time for the Newmarket and Red Lodge ward.

This was won by the Conservatives in 2021.

The winning Reform candidate, Adrian Whittle, is not actually at the count and his agent tells us he is leading a motorcycle rally in Wales that he had organised prior to becoming a candidate.

The votes were:

• Adrian Whittle (Reform): 1,272
• Andy Drummond (Con): 963
• Doug Taylor (Green): 564
• Keith Holland (Labour): 421
• Katrina Keep (Lib Dem): 265

Vikki Irwin
at the count in Debenham

Image source, Louise Parker/BBC

Chris Hudson has won the Brook division (Belstead, Sproughton, Wherstead area) for Reform UK in the Suffolk County Council elections.

He is the group leader for Reform here in Suffolk and says it is an "optimistic day" for his party.

Asked if he thinks he might be the next leader of the county council, he says: "I am optimistic about that as well, because we need experience.

"We need a man with a plan and I'm putting myself forward in that role, but we'll have a vote again [for party leader]."

Ben Parker
at the count in Lowestoft

Image source, Ben Parker/BBC

June Mummery, who has won the county council ward of Carlton Colville for Reform UK, tells me she is "passionate" and "wants good things" for the Lowestoft area.

Asked what her priorities would be, she says: "We need to get in and start looking at the cost of things.

"There'll be a lot to do. We're in debit in the council at the moment.

"The unitary [changes] - that's a big thing to look at as well because Suffolk's been going for 1,000 years, why are we breaking it all up?

"If we win today, and I'm sure we will, we're going to get together and do what's right.

"I really think Suffolk's got a bright future."

Image source, Suffolk County Council

Chris Chambers, the Conservative candidate who was Suffolk County Council's cabinet member for transport strategy, has lost his Gipping Valley seat to Reform UK.

The votes were:

• Asa Downing (Reform): 1,308
• Chris Chambers (Con): 1,063
• Chris Goodchild (Green): 742
• Mark Pearson (Lib Dem): 351
• Hazel Stonya (Labour): 178

The Conservatives have held their first seat in this year's Suffolk County Council elections.

Elaine Bryce has won in the Carlford ward (the Earl Soham, Grundisburgh and Witnesham area).

The votes were:

• Elaine Bryce (Con): 1,909
• Georgia Howell (Reform UK): 1,196
• Stephen Munson (Green): 1,143
• Hugo Mason (Lib Dem): 257
• Belinda Randall (Labour): 252

Alice Cunningham
BBC News, Suffolk

Image source, Alice Cunningham/BBC

These elections will see all of Suffolk County Council's seats being decided on, as well as a third of Ipswich Borough Council's seats.

But what the two councils are in charge of differs.

The county council is in charge of services such as adult social care, children's services (including looked-after youngsters, education, special educational needs and disabilities), highways, transport, waste disposal, libraries, public health, fire and rescue services, and rights of way.

The borough council looks after collecting residents' bins, housing, local planning, parks, leisure services, environmental health and leisure services.

We now have our first win for the Greens in the Bungay ward of Suffolk County Council which was previously won by the Conservatives back in 2021.

The votes were:

• Peter Aiano (Green): 1,681
• Herbie Crossman (Reform UK): 1,180
• Victoria Drew-Batty (Con): 629
• John Awty (Lib Dem): 207
• Tim Mobbs (Labour): 140
• Eddie Henderson (Official Monster Raving Loony Party): 25

Reform UK have taken a fourth win so far on Suffolk County Council - in the Blyth Estuary ward.

The seat was won by the Conservatives in 2021.

The 2026 votes are:

• John Matthews (Reform): 1,108
• John Cooper (Con): 877
• Andrew Turner (Lib Dem): 866
• Rachel Kellet (Green): 778
• Michael Rowan-Robinson (Labour): 484

A third Reform UK seat win has just been declared for the Aldeburgh and Leiston ward.

The Conservatives won the seat in 2021.

Today's votes were:

• Rachael Tecklenberg (Reform): 1,156
• Tom Faulkner (Con): 943
• Sarah Whitelock (Green): 931
• Eva Turner (Labour): 322
• Bradley Clements (Lib Dem): 203

Image source, Joao Santos/Local Democracy Reporting Service

Counting at Ipswich has started at the Corn Exchange in the Town Hall complex. We are expecting the first results at about 10:45.

Reform UK have taken another Suffolk County Council seat in the Carlton and Whitton division.

Richard Read has won the seat which was previously held by the Conservatives who won it back in 2021.

The votes were:

• Richard Read (Reform): 1,384
• Jenny Ceresa (Con): 677
• Rosemary Brambley (Green): 373
• Lewis Weller (Labour): 341
• Dave O'Neill (Lib Dem): 171

Matt Precey
at the West Suffolk count

Image source, Matt Precey/BBC

Counting for Suffolk County Council is taking place at four sites across the county - Ipswich, Debenham, Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds.

Here in the Bury, party activists are watching the count closely and manually tallying the votes.

We have the first result in for the Suffolk County Council seat in the Carlton Colville ward.

June Mummery for Reform UK has taken the seat from the Conservatives who had won in back in 2021.

The votes were:

• June Mummery (Reform) : 1,346
• Letitia Smith (Con): 447
• Alan Barnes (Green): 411
• Chris Thomas (Lib Dem): 220
• Marilyn Sayer (Labour): 211

Vikki Irwin
BBC Suffolk political reporter

Image source, Ben Parker/BBC

Ipswich Borough Council has 48 seats across 16 wards and elects in thirds. This means it has elections for three years in a row of 16 seats each time, then has a year off. The borough has been voting like this for decades.

The council is run by Labour, which holds 38 seats. The Conservatives have seven and the Liberal Democrats have three.

Out of the 16 seats which were up for grabs on Thursday, 13 of them were Labour, two were Conservative and one was Liberal Democrat.

Even if Labour lose all 13 of their seats, they would still have enough councillors to keep control of the council.

The Conservatives are defending two seats and Liberal Democrats one.

There are some high profile Labour candidates defending their seats, like the leader of the council Neil McDonald.

Vikki Irwin
BBC Suffolk political reporter

Image source, Wayne Bavin/BBC

This election feels like it will be very close, with three parties having the potential to run Suffolk County Council. Turnout, and who was able to get "their" voters out on Thursday could make all the difference.

The Conservatives have run the council for 20 years with a big majority, but it is against a backdrop of dwindling support for the party in Suffolk. If they lose the council today they will not run any councils in the county.

Eating into their vote over the last six year has been the Greens. They control one council (Mid Suffolk District Council since 2023) and have controlling stakes, but with no party in overall control, in two more - all at the expense of the Conservatives. They will want to continue their success but how well they perform under their new national party leader Zack Polanski could determine who runs Suffolk.

Reform UK are also be hoping to take advantage of the Conservative's decline in popularity. They have won the last two by-elections for the county council and are doing well in national polling.

If this election is as unpredictable as it feels, then every vote will really count.