Nigel Farage has hailed a “big historic night” in local elections as early results show Reform UK making major gains across England.
Reform UK has gained over 300 seats across the country, as well as taking hold of two councils so far.
Meanwhile Labour has lost control of eight councils but held its grip elsewhere, including in the hotly contested London borough of Merton.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party is also expected to lose in Wales after 27 years in power.
Contests have taken place in 136 local authorities across England, including some of the largest cities and the whole of London. A mix of urban authorities and rural districts also held elections, along with several county councils.
The majority of counts have yet to begin, including results from Scotland and Wales.
Check back here or refresh the page for live updates as results are announced
Headlines from overnight counts in England show Labour has lost control of eight councils as Reform UK gain more than 300 councillors.
Mr Farage’s party has won control of Havering, giving the party its first London council.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives have gained Westminster City Council from Labour and made gains in Wandsworth, taking the council to no overall control.
The Tories have also become the biggest party in Wandsworth, which has moved to no overall control.
But Labour’s grip on the city has held firm in other places. Sir Keir Starmer’s party has held on to Hammersmith and Fulham, Ealing, and pulled off a narrow win in Merton, which pollsters had suggested could go Liberal Democrat.
The Liberal Democrats so far appear on course to record an eighth consecutive year of council gains, putting on 30 seats, taking control of Stockport and Portsmouth, and becoming the only party on Richmond upon Thames Council, but they lost their slender majority in Hull.
The Green Party made modest gains in the early hours, but they expect to improve significantly over the course of Friday as the party’s target councils in London declare their results.
It is the largest set of local elections in the country for three years, and marks a key test for all political parties, especially Labour, as Sir Keir Starmer faces growing questions over his leadership of the party. But the prime minister insisted he would not “walk away and plunge the country into chaos”.
Elections have also been held in Scotland for the Scottish parliament and in Wales for members of the Senedd. Results for these are expected later in the day on Friday.
Most of these seats were last up for election in 2022, at a time when the then-Conservative government, led by former prime minister Boris Johnson, was trailing Labour in the opinion polls and was losing support in the wake of the Partygate scandal.
This was reflected in the results of the 2022 local elections, which saw Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Greens all make gains at the Tories’ expense.
Reform UK contested only a small number of council seats in 2022 and won just two.
It was a very different picture at last year’s local elections, when Mr Farage’s party picked up 677 seats to bring its total councillor count at the time to 804. The Conservatives were the biggest losers of the night, dropping 674 seats, while Labour lost 187.
Mr Farage will be hoping for similar success at this year’s contests, as polling suggest that both the ‘big two’ parties are set to suffer massive losses once again.
More than half of the seats up for grabs this year are being defended by Labour, reflecting the party’s current strength in London and in Metropolitan boroughs, while just over a quarter are Conservative defences.
This marks a change from the 2025 elections, when the Tories were defending the greatest number of council seats with most of those contests being for county councils where the party was dominant.
Of the 5,013 English council seats being contested this year, Labour is defending 2,557, the Conservatives 1,362, the Liberal Democrats 684 and other parties 410 (including independents).
In Scotland, a total of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament were up for grabs, with voters electing 73 constituency representatives and a further 56 MSPs via eight regional lists.
Meanwhile, the Senedd elections will see 96 members elected to the Welsh Parliament. Announcements of results for both of these contests are expected to begin on Friday afternoon.
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