Labour and Starmer win big on dire night for Sunak - the big moments

Sir Keir Starmer has struck a conciliatory tone with voters who have turned away from Labour over its stance on Gaza.

The Labour leader said he was determined to win back the trust of those who had snubbed his party in the local elections as a result of his approach to the ongoing conflict.

While the overall picture for Labour in the local polls was a positive one, it lost a smattering of council seats to independents and to George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain.

Speaking in Birmingham after the result, the Labour leader said: “I say directly to those who may have voted Labour in the past, but felt on this occasion they couldn’t, that across the West Midlands we are a proud and diverse community.

“I have heard you. I have listened. And I am determined to meet your concerns and to gain your respect and trust again in the future.”

The Liberal Democrats are increasingly confident that they will claim more than one Tory “big beast” at the coming general election, pointing to local election results putting them ahead in a series of true blue constituencies.

Ed Davey’s party has been criticised for failing to improve its polling performance in recent months, while its 17% projected vote share from last week’s local elections was down slightly on last year.

However, party officials believe the results have proved that their strategy of ruthlessly targeting Tory wards in the seats they want to win is working. They believe the results put them on course to challenge the chancellor Jeremy Hunt and the housing and communities secretary Michael Gove in Surrey, and the justice secretary Alex Chalk in Cheltenham, as well as George Osborne’s highly rated former chief of staff Rupert Harrison, running in Bicester.

Read the full report on the wider significance of these elections from the Guardian here

Defeated Conservative candidate for the West Midlands mayoralty Andy Street has warned the party not to drift to the right and that “winning from the centre ground is what happens”.

After his defeat was announced, Street told Sky News “it was my campaign, I ran it my way” and said he is “proud of how we’ve build this brand of conservatism here”.

He said: “The thing everyone should take from Birmingham and the West Midlands tonight is this brand of moderative, inclusive, tolerant conservatism, that gets on and delivered, has come within an ace of beating the Labour Party in what they considered to be their backyard – that’s the message from here tonight.”

Asked if he is worried the party is drifting to the right and over-emphasising the threat from Reform UK while “ignoring other voters”, he said: “I would definitely not advise that drift.

“The psychology here is really very straight forward isn’t it: this is the youngest, most diverse, one of the most urban places in Britain and we’ve done, many would say, extremely well over a consistent period.

“The message is clear: winning from that centre ground is what happens.”

The results of the local and Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England were supposed to follow a clear narrative – that Labour were on course for a massive Parliamentary majority in a general election and Rishi Sunak’s premiership would be on the rocks with rebel factions waiting to displace him.

The fact that this has not happened begs the question, “why not”? One of the major factors is the analysis of the results themselves.

Prof Michael Thrasher’s conclusion that, based on these results, Labour would be the biggest party in Parliament but well short of a Parliamentary majority creates a very different political environment.

Taking on a Labour Party with a nine-point lead and which has polled 10 per cent short of its own opinion poll ratings makes many Conservatives believe that the election is still all to play for.

Read former Tory minister Liam Fox's full analysis of the election results in the Independent here

Former West Midlands mayor Andy Street said it has been his “honour to serve and to lead this place for the last seven years”.

He said: “I hope I’ve done it with dignity and integrity.

“And I hope I’ve bequeathed to Richard a combined authority and indeed a role to which young aspiring leaders will want to aspire one day.

“In a sense, I can have done no more than that.

“It has been a great privilege. But tonight, I just wanted to say thank you, and good night.”

Here's a fairly damning visual picture of how bad it has been for Rishi Sunak over the past 48 hours.

Labour won 10 of the 11 mayoral races.

And while there is more blue on a map of the police and crime commissioner election results, they still represent a 10 point fall for the Conservatives.

Labour's new West Midlands mayor Richard Parker has said people “up and down the country” are calling for a general election.

He said: “People are looking for a fresh start; I hope the prime minister is watching as well, because if you haven’t heard Rishi Sunak, our people are calling for a general election.

“I will get this region’s future back, and a Labour mayor working with a Labour government will help get Britain’s future back.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Labour’s victory in the West Midlands mayoral election was a “phenomenal result” which was “beyond our expectations”.

It's worth pointing out that the Conservative Party had been keen to point to the mayoral races as an indication of the party's progress.

And while the party retained the mayoral seat in Tees Valley, it was the only one secured by the Tories and the West Midlands defeat in particular will have hurt Downing Street.

In a written statement following the victory, Starmer said: “This phenomenal result was beyond our expectations. People across the country have had enough of Conservative chaos and decline and voted for change with Labour.

“Our fantastic new mayor Richard Parker stands ready to deliver a fresh start for the West Midlands.

“My changed Labour Party is back in the service of working people, and stands ready to govern. Labour will turn the page after 14 years of Tory decline and usher in a decade of national renewal. That change starts today.”

Here's a breakdown of the significant West Midlands result.

Labour’s Richard Parker defeated Conservative Andy Street by just 1,508 votes – 0.25%.

He secured 225,590 votes with Street on 224,082 and Akhmed Yakoob (Independent) on 69,621 (11.66%).

Elaine Williams (Reform) secured 34,471 votes (5.77%), while Siobhan Harper-Nunes (Green) was on 31,036 (5.20%) and Sunny Virk (Lib Dem) was last on 12,176 (2.04%) – with the turnout 29.57%.

Newly elected Mayor of the West Midlands Richard Parker thanked Conservative candidate Andy Street after his shock win.

Speaking after his election was announced, Labour’s Mr Parker said: “Thank you first and foremost, thank you.”

He thanked polling staff and added: “Thank you also to Andy (Street), you’ve led this region through a number of great challenges and you deserve a great credit for that.

“You deserve credit for building up the combined authority into the powerhouse that it is today, through the economic shocks, and leading this region when it came out of Covid.

“You’ve been out there representing our region, I absolutely believe that whilst our politics are different, Andy, we both have our best interests of the West Midlands at heart.”

Sadiq Khan has been re-elected for an historic third term, bagging the second-largest majority in the history of the London mayoralty in the process.

The Labour incumbent won 1,088,225 votes – a majority of 275,828 over his main rival, Tory candidate Susan Hall.

Only Mr Khan, in first becoming mayor in 2016, has won by a bigger total – and that was under a two-vote system, rather than the traditional first-past-the-post system used in the 2024 elections.

Mr Khan’s aides described it as a “landslide win” and said he had claimed 44 per cent of the vote – up on 40 per cent in 2021.

Read a full rundown of Sadiq Khan's historic election victory by the Evening Standard here

It's official. After a long wait caused by Tory requests for a recount, Labour candidate Richard Parker has been confirmed as the new mayor of West Midlands.

It's not been a good day for Rishi Sunak.

Hundreds of different contests were held across England and Wales on May 2, ranging from the election of local councillors to choosing high-profile mayors.

Now that almost all the counting is over, here are some of the key trends to emerge from the results – and the statistics behind them.

Read the full breakdown here

Polling expert Chris Curtis from Opinium Research has pointed at Sunak's "ridiculous decision to cut HS2 and throw the West Midlands under the bus has put his leadership in jeopardy".

Labour’s deputy national campaign co-ordinator and Lewisham MP Ellie Reeves has posted on X: “Congratulations @RichParkerLab.

“An incredible result and significant victory.Right across the country people have voted for change and the message is clear…

“It’s time for a general election and a Labour govt to get our country’s future back.”

A reminder that the result has yet to be officially confirmed.

Both the BBC and Sky News are reporting Labour sources saying they have secured victory in the West Midlands.

We have yet to get any official confirmation yet.

The Liberal Democrats have won more council seats than the Conservatives for the first time since 1996.

With 106 of 107 councils declared by Saturday night, the Lib Dems had 521 councillors in England, a gain of 104, compared to 513 for the Tories, a loss of 473 councillors.

The Lib Dems winning more councillors than the Tories has only happened once before, in 1996.

Read the full story on The Telegraph, including why it hasn't been an entirely successful campaign for the Lib Dems

Let me cut to the chase so no one wastes time overanalysing this: we must not change our leader. Changing leader now won’t work: the time to do so came and went. The hole to dig us out is the PM’s, and it’s time for him to start shovelling.

I’ve lost count of the number of election counts I’ve attended over the decades. But I can’t recall one quite so dramatic as the one in Fareham this week. We shed tears of sadness because long-standing councillors were convinced we had lost, followed by tears of relief upon realising we had scraped through.

In my small part of the world Conservatives held on because of strong local leadership, low council tax and well-managed local finances combined with first-class local services. It pains me to say it, but I must be honest: it was with no thanks to the national Conservative “brand”. Fareham Tories bucked the trend despite the national government.

Read Suella Braverman's full piece in the Telegraph in which she says it's time for Sunak to dig the Conservatives out of a hole with bold offers for voters.

Labour MP Liam Byrne has posted this photo of him alongside Labour's West Midlands mayoral candidate Richard Parker...

MAke of it what you will

Sadiq Khan isn't the only one calling for a general election.

The Observer newspaper says: "Rishi Sunak’s government began last week by triumphantly announcing that a man whose asylum claim had been rejected had volunteered to take up to £3,000 cash in exchange for agreeing to take a commercial flight to Rwanda – plus the provision of housing, food and healthcare there for five years at a cost of £150,000 to the taxpayer. Sunak bookended it with some of the worst-ever English local election results for the Conservatives."

Read the Observer's full reasons for demanding a election here

The penultimate result in West Midlands is in.

Labour candidate Richard Parker got 32,704 votes in Coventry, with Tory hopeful Andy Street on 23,237 – leaving the incumbent West Midlands Mayor ahead by more than 11,400, with Sandwell the only council yet to declare.

In 2021, the then Labour candidate (Liam Byrne) won by a little more than 5,000 votes, which means the party will need to do significantly better this time around.

Andy Burnham has said he'll be "out and about" in Manchester tonight after his victory in the mayor election with his family.

He told Sky News: "Buy me a pint if you see me."

Earlier, Burnham said he would be turning his attention to housing and education, after local bus services were brought under public control last year with the launch of the Bee Network.

He said he wants to tackle the region’s “housing crisis” and provide young people from the age of 14 with the opportunity to pursue a work-related route to achieve high-quality technical qualifications.

Sadiq Khan, who was Saturday re-elected for a record third term as London mayor, rose from humble roots to spar with world leaders and bring consequential change to the British capital.

The 53-year-old Labour party politician — a former human rights lawyer brought up on a London public housing complex — comfortably defeated Conservative rival Susan Hall for a third stint at City Hall.

Read the full story from AFP.

Sadiq Khan has said “it’s time” for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to call a general election.

The London mayor said in his victory speech at City Hall: “I pledge to have a constant focus on all the other issues that Londoners also care about: the rising cost of living, crime on our streets, homelessness, affordable housing.

“For the last eight years, London has been swimming against the tide of a Tory government, and now, with a Labour Party that’s ready to govern again under Keir Starmer, it’s time for Rishi Sunak to give the public a choice.

“A general election will not just pave the path to a new direction for our country, but it will make bold action Londoners want to see a reality.”

Here's a breakdown of the mayoral results over the past couple of days, which have pretty positive for Labour.

The one speck of blue saw Lord Ben Houchen secure Tees Valley with a reduced majority - otherwise it's a sea of red.

The West Midlands vote is currently being recounted, suggesting it is a close night. Were Conservative incumbent Andy Street to lose, it would probably be regarded as the biggest shock of the past 48 hours - and would likely pile more pressure on Rishi Sunak.

The result is due this evening.

Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt and Suella Braverman are among the Tory “big beasts” who risk losing their seats, an analysis of the local election results has found.

Both the Levelling Up Secretary and the Chancellor’s constituencies in Surrey are under threat at the next general election, according to research by the Liberal Democrats.

Read the full story from The Telegraph.

In what is a Labour city, amid a highly anti-Conservative political environment, it would have been difficult for any Tory candidate to win the London mayoralty. But not impossible, writes Jack Kessler for the Evening Standard.

The party's best opportunity was to turn this contest into a referendum on Sadiq Khan, focusing on his biggest weakness (crime), his most divisive policy (Ulez extension) and his generally vibes-based mayoralty. Instead, by nominating a candidate as flawed as Susan Hall, the Tories allowed the election to become a choice.

Read the full story from the Evening Standard.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was met with boos as he took to the stage after his re-election was announced.

Speaking at City Hall, Khan said: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank you London.”

At that point, a man walked onto the stage and chanted “Khan killed London”.

The crowd was warned that security would remove people who disrupt the speeches.

Labour’s Simon Foster was returned as the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, brushing aside the challenge of Conservative Tom Byrne in a two-candidate poll.

Mr Foster received 327,000 votes across the region – a winning margin of more than 86,000.

Speaking after the result declaration in Birmingham, Mr Foster, who won a legal battle to fight Government efforts to scrap his PCC post, said: “The role of the PCC is as important as that of the (regional) mayor.

“That’s why the West Midlands needs a democratically-elected and directly accountable PCC with their own democratic mandate. This is an election the Conservative government and its mayor did not want.”

With nine of the 14 London Assembly results in, Labour has won eight and the Liberal Democrats have gained South West from the Conservatives.

Labour’s vote share was 43.91%, down by 0.98% on 2021 – when this election was last held, and the Conservatives down 5.15% on 21.73%, with the Liberal Democrats on 14.79%, up 0.54%, the Greens on 14.79, up 0.54%, and Reform UK on 6.26%, up 3.85%.

A full recount of votes has been ordered at the Coventry count for the West Midlands mayoral election.

Electoral officials at the Birmingham count estimated that the Coventry recount would take around two hours to complete.

Paul Dennett, who was re-elected as Salford City Mayor with 61.5% of the vote, said holding the position was the “most rewarding and humbling experience” of his life.

He said the “Westminster and Whitehall model” of governing was “clearly broken and detached from ordinary people’s lives”.

In a speech after the declaration, he said: “The Tories have been roundly rejected by the people in this country, losing nearly 500 council seats across 107 councils in these elections.

“Both locally and nationally it is clear that the Tories have fundamentally lost their way and it is clearly now time for a general election and for this government to step aside and make way for a Labour government.”

This graphic from PA shows the full results of the London mayoral election.

Boris Johnson has said he tried to use a magazine about politics as voter ID when he turned up to the polls this week.

Mr Johnson had been trying to cast his vote in the local elections in South Oxfordshire on Thursday but fell foul of legislation he introduced himself as prime minister.

Read the full story from The Independent.

A partial “bundle” recount has been ordered in Birmingham for the election of the West Midlands mayor.

As piles of ballot papers were moved onto desks nearer the stage at the International Convention Centre, an official announcement said a bundle check would take place.

The announcer told party activists to ensure counting agents were available to supervise and observe the checks.

Andy Burnham has said Britain “desperately needs a new government and a fresh start” after he was re-elected as Greater Manchester Mayor.

He said: “Britain desperately needs a new government and a fresh start and from here, we will work hard to bring that change about.”

Burnham said the “Westminster one size fits all approach” has not worked for parents in Harpurhey, “trapped in debt because of the pernicious combination of the housing and the benefit system” or for communities “suffering the after effects of youth violence and struggling to make sense of it”.

He added: “And the truth is this. If you have an education system overly focused on the university route, you will leave some young people growing up without hope. If you have a benefit system overly focused on sanctions rather than support, you will end up with a growing mental health crisis.

“And if housing policy is exclusively focused on promoting homeownership, you will leave millions trapped in a housing crisis. Greater Manchester is ready to break out of this. Devolution in England is working and these elections show voters are buying into it, but it is time now to go much further.

“My new mission will be to give everyone growing up here an equal alternative to the university route. So all our young people have a path in life and hope in their heart. And my new plea to Westminster is to give us the powers to free ourselves from the grip of the housing crisis and let us build a benefit system that helps people move forward rather than holds them back.”

Labour’s Sadiq Khan has secured a third term as Mayor of London beating Conservative Susan Hall.

Sadiq Khan has won in Barnet and Camden, looking set for victory with 11 of 14 constituencies now declared. The Conservatives have won in three of the 11 constituencies already declared.

Conservatives in the West Midlands have apparently asked for a bundle check, the BBC reports, which is when the approximate number of votes in a bundle are checked.

The Liberal Democrats have won more council seats overall than the Conservatives in the local elections, expert Sir John Curtice said.

The elections expert told the BBC: “The Liberal Democrats now have 520 councillors, and the Conservatives have 508. It is now clear to us with just the one council to go that the Liberal Democrats will end up having won more council seats than the Conservatives in these local elections.

“This is a simple headline way of underlining the way in which the results of those local elections have indeed been extremely disappointing for the Conservatives.”

However, Curtice pointed out that this “probably says more about the problems that the Conservative Party faces rather than the Liberal Democrats having done particularly well”.

Andy Burnham has been re-elected as Greater Manchester's mayor with a huge majority. Here are the results in full:

• Labour - 420,749

• Conservative - 68,946

• Independent - 50,304

• Reform - 49,532

• Green - 45,905

• Liberal Democrat - 28,195

Labour’s Tracy Brabin has been re-elected as Mayor of West Yorkshire with 275,430 votes.

Traditional Tory stronghold Solihull was the first of seven council areas to declare its results for the West Midlands Mayor election, with Andy Street polling well ahead of Labour’s Richard Parker.

Parker received 11,728 votes, well behind Mr Street on 35,289.

Green Party candidate Siobhan Harper-Nunes received the third highest vote in the borough (3,582).

Solihull has the smallest number of registered voters of the seven boroughs in the region, with 162,529 of an electorate of more than two million.

Labour has declared victory in London as it expects candidate Sadiq Khan to be re-elected as the Mayor of London.

The full results are not yet in but Khan has won four out of fourteen of the wards in the capital. The Tory candidate Susan Hall is expected to come second.

Murmurs on Friday evening suggested the result may be closer than initially thought, as Khan’s majority was expected to be hit by dissatisfaction with the Ulez scheme and the Labour party’s stance on Gaza.

Read the full story from The Independent.

The turnout figure for the West Midlands Mayor poll was issued as 29.8 per cent, while the region’s police and crime commissioner (PCC) vote registered a turnout of 29.4%.

Initial West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner voting figures for Wolverhampton and Solihull have been declared.

In Wolverhampton, Labour’s PCC candidate Simon Foster won 31,972 votes, with the Conservative candidate Thomas Byrne attracting 20,863 votes.

In Solihull Mr Byrne received 33,159 votes compared to Mr Foster’s 21,184, with five other council areas in the region yet to declare PCC vote results.

Meanwhile, an announcement at the Birmingham count said officials were “finalising” the city’s figures for both votes.

Sadiq Khan won 77,011 votes in South West, with Susan Hall on 68,858. With five of the 14 constituencies in, Khan had over 427,000 votes with Ms Hall just over 234,000.

Merton and Wandsworth was the first London Assembly result to be declared, with Labour’s Leonie Cooper re-elected with 77,235 votes (43.23%) ahead of Conservative Ellie Cox with 49,812 (27.88%) and Lib Dem Sue Wixley 24,418 (13.67).

The Labour majority was 27,423, there was a 3.67% swing Conservative to Labour and the turnout was 46.71%.

Labour sources appear confident of a victory for Sadiq Khan in London.

Just four of 14 constituencies have declared their results for the capital’s mayoral contest.

Khan is so far leading with 350,453 votes to Tory challenger Susan Hall’s 165,301.

The total turnout in the election is 2,495,621, with less than half of the results yet to be declared

Khan needs to win a simple majority of ballots cast, as the rules for the mayoral race were changed to a first-past-the-post voting system.

Labour’s Sadiq Khan won 54,481 votes in West Central, with Conservative Susan Hall on 43,405. Mr Khan won 127,455 votes in North East, with Ms Hall on 34,099.

The Conservatives do not deserve to be in power “for a moment longer”, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said in a fresh challenge to Rishi Sunak following his party’s local election defeats.

The Labour leader also said he was confident Sadiq Khan could win a third term as Labour mayor of London, amid suggestions the contest with Tory challenger Susan Hall could be closer than expected.

Read the full story from PA.