LIVE: Latest updates from across Yorkshire and beyond as local election results roll in

Pat McFadden, Labour’s National Campaign Coordinator, sounds positive. In a statement released minutes ago he said “we expect to see Labour gains that show we’re making progress in the places we need to win the next general election”.

McFadden commented: “We are proud of the positive campaign we have run, focused on turning the page after fourteen years of decline under the Conservative Party.

“These elections have been about offering change. We have set out our plan to get Britain building again, take back our streets, and bring opportunity to every corner of the country, while the Conservatives have once again stayed silent on the issues that matter.

“The most important election of the night is the historic by-election in Blackpool, caused by yet more Tory chaos and scandal. It’s the only election today where voters have had the opportunity to directly reject Rishi Sunak’s party in Westminster.

“It’s going to be a long night and the full picture of results from local elections may not be clear until over the weekend, but we expect to see Labour gains that show we’re making progress in the places we need to win the next general election.”

Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London, does not sound confident. Whenever someone throws in a “no matter the result”, it’s not promising.

She said: “Thank you to everyone who voted today and all who came out and helped, I’m forever grateful. No matter the result, I’ll never stop listening to you and fighting for a better London for all of us.”

Remember we won’t find out the London mayoralty until Saturday afternoon.

South Tyneside, in the North East, is one of a number of councils that will declare the result tonight (most are tomorrow). My colleague Ryan Smith says the boxes have started arriving, we’re expecting to know the seats by around 2am. It already has a Labour majority, and it is unlikely to change hands.

With reporters across the country, NationalWorld’s local insight is unrivalled - so make sure you stay with us. The saying goes all politics is local, and that appears to be the case in South Tyneside. Despite Labour polling well nationally, the leader and deputy leader are under pressure due to a long-running bin strike.

My colleague Ryan Smith writes in to say: “The first ballot boxes are just starting to arrive here at Temple Park Leisure Centre, in South Shields, on what promises to be an exciting local election night with both the leader of South Tyneside Council, Cllr Tracey Dixon, and the deputy leader, Cllr Audrey Huntley, bidding to defend their seats.

“Tonight's election comes against a backdrop of an ongoing industrial dispute between South Tyneside Council and its refuse staff, which has caused disruption to bin collections in the borough since around September 2023.

“It is an issue that undoubtedly will have been in the forefront of voter's minds as they headed to the polls today and it will be interesting to see if it impacts the outcome of this election.

“Away from South Tyneside and looking at the North East region as a whole, it is an historic election as the public have had their say on who will be the first North East Mayor as the brand new devolution deal comes into effect; however, that result will not come until some time on Friday, 3 May.”

You can follow Ryan on X (Twitter) here.

The Electoral Commission has said “most voters” were able to cast their ballots despite the ID requirements.

“Our initial assessment of the elections is that they were well-run, and millions of voters were able to exercise their democratic rights,” a spokesman said.

“This is a testament to the efforts of electoral administrators, who work tirelessly to ensure the smooth delivery and integrity of polls.

“A number of new measures from the Elections Act were in force at these elections, including voter ID for the first time in Wales and parts of England. The electoral community has been working hard to prepare voters for these changes. Most voters who wanted to vote were able to do so.

“We will now begin to collect evidence from voters, electoral administrators, partner organisations, and campaigners to understand their experiences of the elections and identify any potential obstacles to participation.”

Britain Elects, the UK’s largest poll aggregator run by Ben Walker and Lily Summers, predicts the Tories will lose around half the seats they were defending. Remember the Conservatives won almost 1,000 seats at the local elections in 2021, yet Britain Elects forecasts them to lose 478. It expects Labour to gain 273 seats, the Lib Dems 129 and the Greens 52.

Speaking of the Greens, they’re hoping to win an outright majority in Bristol - where all 70 seats are up for election. I visited their campaign launch in the South West city almost a month ago, I found an organised party whose activists had swelled with former Jeremy Corbyn supporters.

New member Colin Gillie told me why he ditched Labour and joined the Greens in January. He said the response to the war in Gaza, the U-turn on the child benefit cap and the references to Thatcher all put him off Sir Keir Starmer.

“We need some ambition,” he told me. Rebecca Bentley-Price, 25, also joined the party in January. She said she got into politics because of Jeremy Corbyn, but couldn’t stick with Labour after its slow calls for a ceasefire in Gaza. “I’ve got to go with my principles,” she explained

You can read the full piece below.

I reported earlier that Labour messaged London activists shortly before the polls closed warning them that the mayoral race was “so close”. Sadiq Khan has now put out a statement, and he does sound a bit cagey.

He said his campaign and Labour activists “sent out a message of fairness, of equality and of hope”. He added: “Whatever the results this weekend might bring, I am so proud of that."

Labour’s Pat McFadden says the most important election today has been the Blackpool South by-election. That was called after former Tory MP Scott Benton was caught in a sting, offering to lobby and leak documents to gambling investors. He was suspended from the House of Commons and eventually resigned in ignominy.

In the neighbouring Fylde constituency, fellow Tory Mark Menzies will stand down at the next election after allegations claimed he called his former campaign manager in the middle to the night, demanding she send him £5,000 to pay “bad people”.

It was no surprise then that when I visited Blackpool last week, voters were beset with apathy. Martin Jones, who owns Jackie’s Shop, accused politicians of “pocketing money”, before adding the familiar refrain “they are all the same”. He said: “I voted before, but I’m not voting this time.”

Robert Price, 58, repeated the maxim with similar anger. “They are all much of a muchness,” he said about the political parties, adding: “They never do anything.”

Chris Webb is the Labour trying to drum up support. I met him in a cafe on his birthday, while he was looking after his newborn son Cillian. He was effusive about his links to Blackpool, clearly proud of his hometown. “My Dad was a postie,” he said. “My Mum moved to Blackpool to be a Redcoat in Butlins, where she met my Dad and two years later I popped along.” Chris told me their lives were transformed by Tony Blair’s government in 1997, and he believes Keir Starmer can do something similar in 2024.

Tory candidate David Jones has pledged to reopen Blackpool Airport for commercial aviation “to restore flights to Belfast and Douglas to grow key markets in the island of Ireland and the Isle of Man”.

Reform UK’s candidate is well known local charity founder Mark Butcher (not the former England test cricketer). He founded the Amazing Grace charity which supports homeless people, and says he will passionately campaign for Blackpool with his focus set on creating a film studio - to rival Pinewood Studios.

He told the Gazette: “If elected, I will be banging on the door of the culture secretary for a slice of £40bn funding to make this a reality - and I will not leave it alone. We need a £1.5m slice.”

This has been a theme as I’ve been out on the campaign trail ahead of the votes today. Local Tories have been almost trying to portray themselves as independents, in particular Andy Street in the West Midlands.

My colleague Toby Paine, who is reporting from Portsmouth, says the Conservative group leader in the south coast city blames losses on the “national picture”. “It’s going to be a tough evening,” councillor Simon Bosher told him. “A lot of it is probably not due to the work of councillors, it's more to do with conflating it with the national picture".