Local election results LIVE — Sadiq Khan wins as London’s Mayor… as Andy Street loses in West Midlands
LABOUR'S Sadiq Khan has won a third term as Mayor of London.
The Labour incumbent beat Tory rival Susan Hall by a whopping 275,828 votes - bagging more than one million votes.
It comes as Labour's Andy Burnham has been re-elected as Greater Manchester Mayor after winning 426,749 votes.
The Tories were able to hold onto Tees Valley in a crucial win, with Ben Houchen to remain Mayor in the area.
Meanwhile, Andy Street has failed to be re-elected as the West Midlands Mayor and was beat out by Labour's Richard Parker by 1,508 votes.
Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer keenly monitor key battlegrounds ahead of the upcoming General Election later this year.
Follow our live blog below for the latest local election updates...
Coventry City Council held by Labour
Labour has managed to hold onto Coventry City Council.
Labour won 37 seats, compared with 15 for the Conservatives.
Latest results
Conservatives have recently lost Brentwood to no overall control.
Conservatives also lost 12 councillors in Basildon with Labour gaining half and the others going independent.
Labour takes Milton Keynes
Labour has gained control of Milton Keynes City Council and has also retained Manchester City Council and Leeds.
It comes as the Conservatives have kept control of Solihull in the West Midlands.
Labour holds three more councils
Labour has held three more councils within the past few minutes.
They are Worthing, Barnsley and Wolverhampton.
More Labour wins confirmed
Several Labour wins have been confirmed in recent minutes including Adur and Calderdale.
This comes as Pendle Borough Council in Lancashire remains under no overall control
The Lib Dems have also held Three Rivers District Council in Hertfordshire.
Rishi sends message to Labour
Rishi Sunak has made a brief appearance speaking to supporters following Ben Houchen being re-elected as Teesside mayor.
The PM said: "I have a message to the Labour party - they know that they have to win here in order to win at the general elections - they assume that Tees Valley would stroll back to them but it didn't. People knew that they couldn't be taken for granted.
"They stuck with you in this election, and I know come the general election they ware going to stick with us too."
Key results so far
Blackpool South: Labour wins by-election seat from the Conservatives with a big swing
Hartlepool: Labour regains control of the council after suffering losses in 2021
Harlow: Tories defy a Labour onslaught to hang on to the council in victory described as “the greatest comeback since Lazarus
Oldham: Labour loses control of the council as pro-Gaza independents force hung authority
Redditch: Labour wins control of the council in this classic bellwether part of the country
54 councils have now been declared
Over half of the council results have now been declared. There are just 53 remaining.
Labour has held Rochdale Borough Council in Greater Manchester.
Labour wins York and North Yorkshire mayoral race
Labour has won the York and North Yorkshire mayoral race with David Skaith.
It comes as the Labour Party has claimed that Claire Ward has beaten the Conservative Ben Bradley.
Conservatives retain Walsall
The Conservatives have retained control of Walsall Council.
It comes as the Conservatives lost all eight of their seats on Castle Point in Essex.
The authority will now be filled with People’s Independent Party councillors.
Labour wins North East mayoralty
Labour's Kim McGuinness has won the North East mayoralty.
She has become the region's first ever mayor covering Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and County Durham.
Sheffield result
No party has won an outright majority at Sheffield City Council, in South Yorkshire.
It remains under no overall control.
Latest council results
By 2pm today Labour had gained 72 council seats while the Tories had lost 183.
Mr Sunak and Sir Keir's candidates are doing battle in hundreds of council, mayoral, and crime commissioner races across the country.
For millions of voters it is the final set of ballots ahead of the General Election at some point later this year.
Who is stadning for London Mayor?
The votes have been cast and Londoners are awaiting confirmation of who will be their next mayor.
Here are the names in the running:
- Femy Amin – Animal Welfare Party
- Count Binface
- Rob Blackie – Liberal Democrats
- Natalie Campbell – Independent
- Howard Cox – Reform UK
- Amy Gallagher – Social Democratic Party
- Zoë Garbett – Green Party
- Tarun Ghulati – Independent
- Susan Hall – Conservative Party
- Sadiq Khan – Labour Party
Labour source declares victory in East Midlands mayoral election
A Labour source has declared victory for the party in the East Midlands mayoral election, as per The Press Association.
A party source said Claire Ward had "comfortably" defeated Conservative Ben Bradley in what they described as "the beating heart of the general election battleground."
More Labour wins confirmed
Several Labour wins have been confirmed in recent minutes.
These include:
- Hyndburn
- Knowsley
- Swindon
The state of play this afternoon
Labour continues to see success as results come in this afternoon.
All is not well, however, with Conservative Ben Houchen retaining his place as Mayor of Tees Valley in a crucial win for the party.
Ben Houchen on 'really humbling' election win
Speaking following his mayoral election win, Ben Houchen said: "Let's keep pushing for a better Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool, let's deliver more jobs, more investment.
"And again I just want to thank everybody. It's a really humbling experience.
"This has been a very difficult few months, it has been a really hard campaign, there has been a lot of spotlight on this election which brings a level of intensity - but having Rachel as an absolute rock by my side, I absolutely could not do without her."
Credit: PA Wire Rishi hails Ben Houchen following Tees Valley win
Rishi Sunak has taken to Twitter to hail Ben Houchen following his Tees Valley win today.
He wrote: "Huge congratulations to my friend @BenHouchen. Tees Valley want us to stick with the plan that's working.
"Excited for Ben to keep delivering more jobs and opportunities for local people."
Labour holds on to Wakefield
Incoming results show Labour will retain control of Wakefield Borough Council.
Rishi Sunak responds to 'disappointing' local election results
Speaking at a military base in North Yorkshire, the Prime Minister told reporters: “Obviously it’s disappointing to lose good, hard-working Conservative councillors and I’m grateful to them for all their service in local government, keeping council tax low and delivering services for local people.
“But we have still got lots of results to come as well, and there are also things that I would point to, Harlow for example where Keir Starmer held a rally just on Wednesday saying that was a place that he had to win to be on track to win a general election."
Since making his comments, the Conservatives have retained Tees Valley in a crucial battleground win.
A key victory, but vote share is down
Tees Valley represents a key victory for the Conservative party, but Ben Houchen's vote share is down 19% compared to 2021.
He's taken 53.6% of the vote, compared to 72.8% last time.
Despite this, Houchen still came out with a clear majority, beating Labour's Chris McEwan by almost 20,000.
BREAKING: Ben Houchen wins Tees Valley
The Tories have held onto Tees Valley in a crucial boost for the party.
Incumbent Ben Houchen will remain Mayor with over 81,000 votes.
Labour source claims Tories retain Tees Valley
A Labour source has conceded the mayoral vote in Tees Valley to Conservative incumbent Ben Houchen, according to the PA News Agency.
The source claims Lord Houchen had won with a significantly reduced majority compared with 2021,
Labour sources are also claiming he had distanced himself from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, running his campaign as a "pseudo-independent."
Tory chairman calls on MPs to 'wait through the weekend'
Conservative chairman Richard Holden has called on MPs to wait till all the votes are in before reacting to the party's results.
He told Sky News: "Parliamentary colleagues need to look at this and see... and wait through the weekend as well."
It's been a bruising morning for the Torys so far, with the party losing over 100 councillors.