Local elections: the results

It was a big day for the Tories yesterday, with hundreds of new council seats won across the country, particularly in the Labour heartlands of Wales. While votes are still being counted, it already looks like the Tories can expect gains in Scotland too, thanks to the impressive leadership of Ruth Davidson. The Tories have also won the first mayoral race to be declared – Tim Bowles is to become Mayor of West England.

For the other parties, the local elections yesterday were a disappointment, ranging from the damply discouraging to the downright depressing. The Lib Dems failed to capitalise on their momentum as the anti-Brexit party and lost seats across the board. UKIP appears utterly irrelevant, with no seats anywhere at the current time. And as for Labour, Jeremy Corbyn’s party has suffered spectacular losses, especially in Wales. Former Labour MP Stephen Kinnock has called the results “pretty disastrous” – which they are, especially considering Labour has just lost Glasgow council, which it has held since 1980. Party die-hards, however, remain in denial, and seem hopeful their future will look brighter when more results are in. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the outcome was not the “wipe-out that many commentators were forecasting” and blamed the media for distorting Jeremy Corbyn’s image. Corbyn himself is yet to comment.

Here are the results so far:

ENGLAND

Conservatives
Councils: 27 (+10)
Seats: 1439 (+319)

Labour
Councils: 2 (-1)
Seats: 418 (-142)

Liberal Democrats
Councils: 0
Seats: 312 (-28)

UKIP
Councils: 1
Seats: 0 (-143)

WALES

Conservatives
Councils: 1 (+1)
Seats: 184 (+80)

Labour
Councils: 7 (-3)
Seats: 472 (-107)

Liberal Democrats
Councils: 0
Seats: 62 (-11)

UKIP
Councils: 0
Seats: 0 (-2)

SCOTLAND

SNP
Councils: 0
Seats: 431 (-7)

Conservatives
Councils: 0
Seats: 276 (+164)

Labour
Councils: 0 (-3)
Seats: 262 (-133)

Liberal Democrats
Councils: 0
Seats: 67 (-3)