Labour’s Claire Ward elected first mayor of East MidlandsJessica MurrayLabour’s Claire Ward has been elected the first mayor of the East Midlands, beating the Conservative Ben Bradley.A Labour source described the region as “the beating heart of the general election battleground”, suggesting the party’s win there is one of the biggest signs yet it could be on track for national victory.The region encompasses a number of key bellwether areas, as well as many former “red wall” seats, including Bolsover and Bassetlaw.Labour’s candidate for the East Midlands mayor and current chair of the Sherwood Forest hospitals NHS trust Claire Ward. Photograph: Jacob King/PABradley had hoped his strong local connections and name recognition – as the MP for Mansfield and leader of Nottinghamshire county council – would help him buck the trend of declining Tory support.Polls were predicting a Labour win, and as votes were being counted he could be seen looking glum outside the venue. When asked by one reporter how he was feeling, he replied: “Meh”.ShareKey events3h agoDavey: Liberal Democrats general election campaign starts today3h agoLabour’s Claire Ward elected first mayor of East Midlands3h agoWhat’s the significance of the PNS figures?3h agoBBC says Labour on 34% projected national share, Tories 25% and Lib Dems 17%4h agoLabour take control of Adur council in West Sussex for first time in 50 years5h agoSummary of what’s happened so far5h agoSunak celebrates Houchen’s mayoral victory, saying he won despite Labour throwing ‘lot of mud’5h agoLabour wins York and North Yorkshire mayoral contest, covering Rishi Sunak’s constituency5h agoLabour’s Kim McGuiness elected North East mayor, seeing off challenge from former Labour mayor Jamie Driscoll6h agoLabour’s Emma Wools in south Wales become UK’s first black female police and crime commissioner6h agoDavid Cameron claims he showed as PM how Tories can recover from bad local elections to win general election7h agoLabour claims it has ‘comfortably’ won new East Midlands mayoralty7h agoLabour says swing in Tees Valley mayoral contest shows it’s ‘on track to win every seat in area’7h agoHouchen wins Tees Valley, but with 16.5 percentage point swing from Tories to Labour8h agoHouchen re-elected as Tory Tees Valley mayor8h agoSunak says Tory losses have been ‘disappointing’, but insists he is ‘focused completely’ on delivering for voters8h agoAndy Street expected to be re-elected as Tory West Midlands mayor, Labour source claims8h agoBen Houchen says he backs Rishi Sunak, but will work with any PM, including a Labour one, to help Tees Valley8h agoTory Ben Houchen on course for re-election as Tees Valley mayor after winning first 3 of 5 council areas to count9h agoTory chair Richard Holden claims election results ‘typical for government in midterm9h agoAlmost two thirds of Tory party members don’t think Sunak should resign, regardless of how bad results are, survey suggests10h agoElectoral Commission chief claims photo ID requirement for voting didn’t cause ‘any major problems’11h agoStarmer says ‘incredible’ Blackpool South byelection result show people ‘fed up with decline’ and want change11h agoReform UK’s Lee Anderson says he thinks his new party will overtake Tories in vote share11h agoTory MP Andrea Jenkyns, who in past called for Sunak to quit, says it’s ‘unlikely’ he will face no confidence vote12h agoLabour gain two police and crime commissioner posts as first 3 PCC results declared12h agoTory chair Richard Holden says results ‘not great’, but ‘there’s no doubt’ Sunak will lead party into general election13h agoLabour loses control of Oldham council14h agoHow Labour won Blackpool South with 26% swing from Tories – results in full14h agoWhy the mayoral elections in West Midlands and Tees Valley are so significant15h agoMain takeaways from election results so far15h agoKeir Starmer hails ‘seismic’ Blackpool South byelection win, pointing to ‘historic swing’15h agoNew Blackpool South MP says Sunak has ‘failed’ and demands a general election15h agoLabour regains Blackpool South in significant byelection blow to Rishi Sunak16h agoTories win first police and crime commissioner election to be declared16h agoJohn Curtice analysis: Early results won’t provide ‘solace to No 10’ but Labour wins are not comparable to ‘dramatic’ gains Blair made before 1997 general election landslide17h agoReform says it may have beaten Conservatives into second place in Blackpool South byelection17h agoLib Dems ‘hearing of gains in former Conservative heartlands’ – source17h agoLabour says taking Thurrock council means party is on course to win general election18h agoLabour officially gains Hartlepool council18h agoJohn Curtice: Size of swing is to look out for in Blackpool South byelection result18h agoLabour holds Sunderland city council – official result19h agoHow does the Guardian’s live results tracker call the election results?19h agoLabour takes control of Hartlepool – Sky News19h agoLabour holds Sunderland city council in first result of the night, according to partial count20h agoTory councillors predict poor result for party amid low turnout expectations21h agoConservatives expecting ‘difficult’ evening, transport secretary concedes21h agoConservatives ‘do not expect to hold Blackpool South seat’ – report21h agoElectoral Commission says majority of voters able to cast ballots despite stricter ID requirements22h agoWhat are some of the key results to look out for overnight?22h agoGeorge Osborne: It will be ‘Armageddon’ if Ben Houchen loses Tees Valley mayoral race22h agoPolls for council, mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections close in England and Wales22h agoTories brace for heavy losses in English council elections and mayoral contestsLabour won the mayoralties declared today in East Midlands, North East and North Yorkshire, but the Conservatives are pointing to Ben Houchen bucking the trend with his victory in Tees Valley.In our round-up of those results, it is noted that in his acceptance speech, Houchen made no reference to the Conservatives nor to prime minister Rishi Sunak. “To be re-elected for a third term in my home, in my community, is absolutely the greatest honour,” he said. He thanked voters for buying into his vision for the next four years, adding: “There is a still long way to go.”Here is a video clip of Sunak earlier describing the results as disappointing, but pointing to a Labour failure to take control of Harlow as a reason for optimism for the Conservatives.Rishi Sunak admits local election results are ‘disappointing’ – videoShareThe Mirror’s Mikey Smith notes that Michael Gove’s election agent, Steve Dorsett, has lost his seat on Woking council. You can insert your own “woke” punchline there.Michael Gove’s election agent, Steve Dorsett …has lost his seat on Woking council.He was standing for Pyrford ward and lost it to the Lib Dems.— Mikey Smith (@mikeysmith) May 3, 2024

Labour’s Chris Bryant, meanwhile, is suggesting that the figures for Conservative losses are approaching “their worst expectation management”.ShareJessica MurrayCaroline Henry, the Conservative police and crime commissioner for Nottinghamshire who was banned from driving for six month after being caught speeding five times, has lost her role to Labour.Labour’s Gary Godden received 119,355 votes, while Henry got 77,148.Over in Dudley in the West Midlands, it is currently a dead heat between Labour and the Conservatives, with each holding 34 seats on the council.A recount is underway for votes from one ward which looks like it could be the deciding vote between the two parties.Labour launched their local election campaign in Dudley in March as it was a key area where they were hoping to reverse the Tory tide and win back seats they lost in 2019 and 2021. With all 72 seats up for grabs after a ward boundary review, Labour were hoping to win an outright majority here.ShareVoter turnout for the mayoral and assembly election in London is 40.5%, which is down 1.5% on 2021. We don’t get the results until tomorrow.ShareI just want to circle back to Kiran Stacey’s piece for a second, as there is a little bit swirling around that the turnout figures released in London are suggesting that possibly mayor Sadiq Khan may be in more trouble than polling leads suggested.My colleague Kiran wrote:
Party campaigners in London said Gaza had driven voters in the inner city away from the party, while the controversy over the clean air ultra-low emissions zone had cost it in outer boroughs. A shock Conservative win in London would dominate the political agenda for days, renew questions over Labour’s environmental policies and provoke anger from the left of the party. One senior Labour source said: “Losing London would be devastating, but most of the country is fine and this won’t affect the general election.”
The raw turnout figures are here, and Stephen Bush of the FT has a thread on social media running through them here …ShareWe’ve published a few round-ups of the day’s election news in the last few minutes. First up, Rowena Mason, our Whitehall editor, reports that under the leadership of Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives face their worst local election results in 40 years. She writes:
The spread of the Conservative losses led one former minister to claim there was “no such thing really as a safe Tory seat any more”, but the prime minister appeared committed to cling on until polling day, with rebels in his own party lacking the support to oust him.
Our political correspondent Kiran Stacey writes that Labour is celebrating victory but has lost ground in urban and heavily Muslim areas. He says:
Below the euphoria of wins in places like Blackpool, Hartlepool and Thurrock, however, lay a nervousness about the party’s performance in urban areas, with campaigners warning it had lost ground in both London and Birmingham.
Also, if you missed it earlier, John Crace has sketched the day …ShareLabour has gained Tamworth council, taking nine seats from the Conservatives (six) and independents (three). The party won the parliamentary seat in a byelection in October.SharePA Media point out that as the Liberal Democrats held Cheltenham council, the Conservatives lost all of their five seats. It points out that the town’s MP is Conservative justice secretary Alex Chalk, who has a majority of 981 from the last general election.ShareBoth Yvette Cooper and Wes Streeting, speaking separately to BBC outlets, have addressed the suggestion that Labour’s position on Israel’s response in Gaza to the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel had cost them votes in Thursday’s elections.Shadow health secretary Streeting told BBC Radio 5 Live that “We are obviously calling for a ceasefire now and even more importantly … urging Israel not to invade Rafah, which would be an absolute catastrophe. I don’t deny that there are people out there who are feeling let down and I want them to know that we’ve heard. We will take that on the chin, and we’ll work hard to win people’s trust back at future elections.”PA Media reports shadow home secretary Cooper told BBC News:
We do strongly recognise there are areas where we have had independent candidates who have been particularly strongly campaigning on Gaza and where there is really strong feeling about this issue, because tens of thousands of people have been killed.
It is just devastating to see what is happening, which is why we need an immediate ceasefire and for hostages to be released and why we hope some progress will be made in the negotiations.
We do recognise the strength of feeling that there is and of course we will continue to work just as we do in every area across the country to earn votes back in future.
ShareEleni Courea and Kiran Stacey write that the Conservatives find reasons to be cheerful despite election bloodbath:They were on track to lose up to 500 council seats and Labour made gains across traditional Tory territory in the south. But Downing Street insiders were keen to point to the fact that Labour failed to win control of Harlow council, a top target that Keir Starmer had visited on the eve of polling day. The Conservatives held it by one seat. Ben Houchen also won a third term as Conservative Tees Valley mayor, despite a 16.7 point swing to Labour, and Andy Street was predicted to hold on to the West Midlands mayoralty on Saturday.Loyal Conservative MPs sent messages to the Tory MPs’ WhatsApp group on Friday claiming to celebrate the early results. “I’m genuinely reading into this that the Labour lead is soft and we need to work our seats,” one Tory MP told the Guardian. No 10 aides insisted they could see off any attempt to unseat Rishi Sunak. One said the “Armageddon narrative [is] not quite coming to fruition”.“People said we were going to get absolutely spanked and we haven’t been absolutely spanked,” a senior Conservative source said. “The big positives are Labour not winning Harlow, which they really wanted to, and Reform not coming second in South Blackpool. The big one to watch is London. We won’t win there but I don’t think Labour are going to win by 20 points like the polls said they would.”Read more from Eleni Courea and Kiran Stacey here: Tories find reasons to be cheerful despite election bloodbathShareLabour have held Rotherham and Trafford councils, the Liberal Democrats have held Cheltenham, and Oxford stays at no overall control.ShareJonathan Freedland’s column in reaction the results is up, and he argues that while Starmer already seems like the prime minister, his troubles may have just really begun:Keir Starmer’s aim has been to turn Labour into the acceptable vessel of national discontent with the party that has governed Britain for 14 years. Voter fury, at first Boris Johnson and the partygate revelations and next Liz Truss’s sabotaging of the UK economy, saw trust in the Tories plunge – but it was never automatic that that would translate into support for Labour. Starmer’s central objective has been to remove every obstacle that could stand in the way of a disaffected Conservative contemplating a move towards the main party of opposition.He has set about that goal methodically, even ruthlessly – seeking to reassure potential Tory switchers that Labour is just as patriotic, just as strong on defence and crime, just as prudent with the public finances and just as competent as they once believed the Conservatives to be. That approach has turned off, even repelled, some of the Labour core, but this latest round of results – and its large swings, direct from Tory to Labour – suggests it’s working.But strategic caution carries risks. Playing safe, saying nothing that could frighten the floating voter, might bring victory – but it doesn’t deliver a mandate. Starmer is right to ensure he rides the anti-Tory wave, and if these local results were repeated it would carry him into Downing Street. But once there, it helps if you can claim the electorate’s backing for your planned programme in government. As things stand, Labour could not quite do that.You can read more of Jonathan Freedland’s column here: Triumphant Starmer already seems like the prime minister. Now his troubles really beginShareLabour has won the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) role in Lancashire.Clive Grunshaw beat incumbent Andrew Snowdon (Conservative), to win back a role he had held between 2012 and 2021.Labour has also held the councils in Bradford and Crawley. The party gained five council seats in the latter.Cannock Chase has been a Labour gain. It was formerly no overall control.All the results are being collated here …ShareSammy GecsoylerIn Wokingham, the picture remains unclear. The Liberal Democrats, who were expected to take control of the council, said a stronger than expected Labour showing in the district may stop them winning key target seats and deprive them of a majority.The council, where veteran Tory MP John Redwood and former prime minister Theresa May hold their parliamentary seats, has long been a Conservative stronghold. The Tories lost control of the council in 2022 after strong Lib Dems victories, having held it for 20 years.Pauline Jorgensen, the leader of the Wokingham Conservative group said the result “looks really close” so far. She said: “It’s not a landslide in any direction. It’s very difficult to call right now. A lot of these things are down to handful of votes.”Reform UK did not field any candidates in the district. The feeling among the Liberal Democrats is that the centre-left vote may end up being split between themselves, Labour and the Greens, while the Conservatives were left as the only major right-wing option on the ballot.54 seats are up election in Wokingham. So far, the Lib Dems have won six seats, the Conservatives are on three and Labour have won two. A full result is expected by 7pm.ShareKeir Starmer said Labour’s victory in the York and North Yorkshire mayoral election was “a very, very special moment”.PA Media reports that appearing at Northallerton Town Football Club with the new mayor, David Skaith, Starmer said:
It’s an amazing moment in history, to have a Labour victory here. We have had really good results across the country all day long, but this is a very, very special moment, David, to become the mayor here.”
Through the villages and the towns of North Yorkshire, people are voting for change. They voted for Labour, a changed Labour party able to earn the trust and the respect of voters in York and North Yorkshire.
He told voters “Thank you for putting your trust in Labour, we will not let you down.”Labour Party leader Keir Starmer (centre) and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, celebrate with David Skaith at Northallerton Town Football Club, North Yorkshire. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PAShare



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