Theresa May’s Conservatives gained more than 550 council seats and swept to shock victories in mayoralty contests in the West Midlands and Tees Valley in results that placed her party on track to secure a thumping majority in the general election.



The prime minister insisted she was not taking “anything for granted” but the Tories enjoyed a stunning day that was matched by a dramatic decline for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party, which lost more than 300 seats.

The Guardian view on the 2017 local elections: a clear and present warning | Editorial Read more

The results forced Labour to hand over control of a series of English councils including Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Northumberland, while in Scotland the party lost its grip on Glasgow for the first time in 40 years. Paul Nuttall’s Ukip was crushed as every single councillor facing election suffered defeat.



The results were turned into a projected national vote share of 38% for the Tories, 27% for Labour and 18% for the Lib Dems, with Ukip plunging to just 5%. Although that prediction is narrower than the polls, it projects that May would win a solid majority in June’s general election.



Despite the scale of the Conservative victory, May told reporters that she still believed Labour could win the general election. Speaking after a visit to a factory in Brentford, west London, where the Tories are hoping to overturn a Labour majority of just 465, the prime minister said: “The reality is that, despite the evident will of the British people, we have bureaucrats in Europe who are questioning our resolve to get the right deal. Only a general election vote for the Conservatives will strengthen my hand to get the best deal on Brexit.”

Her party is also preparing to launch its flagship health policies over the weekend, with the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, scheduled to appear on television on Sunday.

Corbyn issued a statement acknowledging some of the problems Labour faced: “The results were mixed. We lost seats but we are closing the gap on the Conservatives.” He insisted that Labour could still win the general election, though admitted it was an “challenge on an historic scale”.



He said he was “utterly determined” to use every hour of the next four weeks to get his message across. “We’ve now got five weeks to get a message out there.”

Labour’s consolation was two convincing victories in the north-west in which Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram were elected as metro mayors for Manchester and Liverpool.



In Scotland, the SNP made modest gains, although there was also a surge for the Conservatives. The Lib Dems lost dozens of seats in England but saw a boost in their overall vote share.



Labour had a mixed night in Wales losing some important councils, including Blaenau Gwent and Bridgend, where the prime minister recently visited to boost the chances of a Tory candidate becoming MP. But Labour held seven councils including Cardiff, Swansea and Newport.

May’s claim that the EU was meddling in British affairs, which propelled her on to the front page of every national newspaper on Thursday morning as voters headed to the polls, was believed to have contributed to her party’s success against Ukip.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Paul Nuttall’s Ukip lost every council seat it was defending. Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA

The results suggest Nuttall’s party could be wiped out after it won one new seat but lost every one it was defending, including being crushed in Brexit-supporting areas such as Essex and Lincolnshire, where the leader is fighting to become an MP.

Nuttall claimed that, if his party’s hammering was down to a Tory advance driven by May’s determination to leave the EU, then it was a price he was “prepared to pay”.

The former Ukip MP Douglas Carswell, who defected from the Conservatives, said it was “over” for a party that once soared to overall victory in European elections in 2014 and secured 4m votes in a general election under the stewardship of Nigel Farage.

What is a metro mayor? A metro mayor is the chair of a combined authority – made up of several local authorities – that has agreed on a devolution deal with central government.



Unlike city mayors, who head a single city council or local authority, metro mayors have powers to make decisions across the whole city region.



While city mayors are responsible for public service delivery (such as schools, recreational facilities and fire services), metro mayors will be responsible for setting out a strategy for economic growth in their region, and have certain powers over issues such as housing, transport and skills.



The exact function of the metro mayors will depend on the details of the devolution deal reached with central government. Greater Manchester, for example, will have more powers over criminal justice, and health and social care.



Metro mayors will work with the leaders of their local authorities to create a strategy for the wider area. They will also be able to lobby local MPs on policy matters that relate to their area.



They will chair a combined authority cabinet, made up of the leaders from each local authority, who can reject the metro mayor’s strategy with a two-thirds majority vote.



The role of the metro mayor can also be merged with that of the police and crime commissioner, but the two positions can be kept separate.

Political analysts have argued that Ukip had become a “gateway drug” for voters in Labour heartlands to shift to the Tories, which could be hugely damaging for Corbyn’s party. Commentators highlighted dozens of Labour seats where the Ukip vote is larger than the party’s majority.

One of the biggest blows for Labour was to watch the former John Lewis boss Andy Street narrowly win the West Midlands mayoralty for the Conservatives, in a sign that May could be making inroads into traditional Labour strongholds. He claimed to have won by reaching out to new voters with a “moderate, tolerant, inclusive” local plan but added that the question of leadership had been a huge boost for the Tories.

Many Labour candidates said they were planning to run local campaigns without a focus on Corbyn, claiming he had been toxic on the doorstep. Stephen Kinnock, who is contesting the seat of Aberavon, said the results amounted to a “disastrous picture” and Corbyn’s leadership had come up as an issue on the doorstep.

Theresa May closing in on 100-seat majority, local elections suggest Read more

Siôn Simon, Labour’s losing candidate in the West Midlands, said: “We can’t duck the reality of what we heard in the places we won on the streets of cities and towns like Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton and Sandwell.

“Traditional working-class voters, who we were born to serve, quite simply want to hear a clearer, stronger message about traditional values like patriotism, hard work and a defence of decency, law and order.”

Alan Rhodes, who was the Labour leader of Nottinghamshire county council but is now leader of the opposition group, admitted that his party was “in a difficult place at the moment”. He made clear that he believed the national polls had resulted in his group losing control.

“This doesn’t reflect on our four years in office locally. It is more reflective of the national malaise that the party finds itself in. I’m proud of what we’ve delivered and achieved in our four-year term – Labour councillors should be proud of that,” he said.</s>MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Conservative Party of the United Kingdom has improved its positions in a series of local and mayoral elections held across the party, local media reported Friday.

On Thursday, local elections were held across the United Kingdom with a total of 4,851 council seats up for election.

The Liberal Democrats took 143 seats, the Greens obtained five, while the UK Independence Party (UKIP) had not won any seats at the moment, the news outlet added.

According to the broadcaster, the Conservative Party won control over 10 authorities, while the Labour Party received five.</s>Something is cooking in the Labour political pot. There have been several private and secret committees held at Plaine-Verte, Vallée-Pitot and Camp Yoloff by political activists and certain politicians on a new political strategy to urge new members of the Labour party to reflect upon whether or not there should be a drastic change in the Ramgoolam’s old guard Labour party. Certain political strategists in the Labour party want to bring forward a newborn Labour under a new leader.

 All the signs and symptoms of such political changing strategy about the formation or creation of a new Labour Party without Navin Ramgoolam and some of his old guards are on the cards as an indication to modernize the whole structure of the party.

 First we have the leader of the Labour Party, Navin Ramgoolam, who has stated in the press recently that as long as he is the leader, there won’t be a second Labour Party. Could this statement of Ramgoolam be a warning to Labour MP Shakeel Mohamed who has recently talked of his aspiration of becoming a political leader himself? Is this a challenge or a mere aspiration of Shakeel Mohamed for showing his political ambition, which is his lawful right as an individual? The Labour MP stated in a press interview on the 23rd April 2017: “Dans quelques années, si Dieu le veut et si j’ai le soutien de la population et du parti, pourquoi pas aspirer à être le numéro un.”

 Perhaps, Navin Ramgoolam does not like such a challenge coming from a member of his own party.

 Is the birth of a separate newborn Labour Party under way? This is the question on the lips of many political observers these days! It is said that some members of the Labour Party know fully well what is taking place but refuse to make comments as they prefer to keep such information close to their chest for fear of reprisal from their leader.</s>A devastating blow was struck against Labour in the local council elections with the historic victory of the Conservative party in Northumberland.

And astonishingly the party missed out on an overall majority of 34 seats after the last ward result was tied and had to be decided on a ‘straw draw’ which the Lib Dem candidate won.

The final result saw the Tories win 33 seats, Labour 24, Independents, seven and the Lib Dems three.

At the last election there in 2013, Labour was the biggest party there holding 32 of the 67 seats, while the Conservatives won 21.

However, after 12 gains this morning, the Conservatives became the largest party for the first time ever.</s>Polls are open across Britain today in local elections forecast to lead to devastating defeats for Labour.

Contests are being held in all Scottish and Welsh councils, more than 30 English councils and for six new regional mayors.

The results tomorrow will set the tone for the run into the general election on June 8 and Labour is braced for bruising defeats.

Jeremy Corbyn is expected to lose scores of seats to the Tories in results that will be seized upon as proof of how far he trails Theresa May.

And in Scotland the SNP is poised to complete its rout of Scottish Labour, potentially seizing the citadel of Glasgow, which Labour has run for decades.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon was pictured voting in the city today and her party is expected to pick up seats across Scotland and will hope to stabilise a difficult start to the general election campaign.

One bright spot for Labour is expected in Manchester where Andy Burnham should complete a straightforward victory in the race to be mayor.

But there is a too-close-to-call race in the West Midlands, where Tory Andy Street could pull off a surprise victory in Labour-dominated territory.

The patchwork of results will not directly reflect voters intentions on June 8 but will be pored over for evidence of what might happen.

A recent poll by Rob Hayward, a Conservative peer and pollster, suggested Labour is likely to lose control of Glasgow council – which it has held for 30 years - in its former heartland.

Elections expert Professor John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, said it would be 'very very surprising if Labour retains control of any council in Scotland'.

Nearly 5,000 seats are being contested in 88 councils across the country. According to one analysis, Labour could lose 75 seats in England and more than 100 in Wales.

There are also important mayoral elections in six new devolved super-regions.

Elections are also being held for new 'super-mayors' in six devolved English regions.

Labour's Steve Rotherham should also win in Liverpool, in a region with seven of its safest parliamentary seats.

The Tories will hope to take Cambridgeshire and the West of England mayoralty, which covers Bath, Bristol, North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

The victorious candidates will take powers over policing, planning policy and control significant funds from central government.

The mayoralties were created by George Osborne as part of his attempts to devolve powers to English regions and strengthen local government.

In recent weeks, senior Labour figures have played up the importance of the local elections , and challenged Labour's poll ratings.

Last week a senior source said polls were often wrong, as recent elections had shown and shouldn't be trusted.

The source also said the locals were 'very important' for Mr Corbyn and an 'interesting measure of how well things are going'.

'On the cycle these are seats which are not in the metropolitan areas where Labour is traditionally strong,' he told the BBC's Daily Politics.

'Therefore one would expect given that we did relatively well the last time these seats were up for grabs that we would see a decline in their numbers.'

Normally at this point in the electoral cycle, the governing party would expect to lose council elections, which are traditionally a protest vote against whoever is in No10.

But an analysis by Professors Colin Rawlings and Michael Thrasher, directors of the Elections Centre at Plymouth University, suggests the Tories will pick up 115 seats in England county council and unitary authority elections, while Labour will lose 75. Lib Dem gains could also reach three figures.

In Wales, the poll put Labour losses at 130, and Tory gains 90. Labour could lose control of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport councils.

They also warned Ukip faces the 'near annihilation' of its 2013 intake of councillors, with 100 or more losses.

Party analysts are watching closely the results in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire for signs of whether Theresa May can take seats from Labour in the Midlands.

At the weekend Mr Burnham warned there would be 'serious consequences' unless Labour reconnected with the North of England. He said there was 'too much Hampstead and not enough Hull' in today's Labour Party.

Conservative Party Chairman Patrick McLoughlin said: 'Every vote cast in the elections today really matters.

'There is a clear choice – the competence of strong Conservative councils and elected mayors who will keep local taxes down with quality local services, versus the disarray of the rest.

'Conservative councils and mayors deliver more for less, improving local services and standing up for local people.'</s>Labour's ongoing implosion as a political party is reflected through the local election results, according to Tim Farron.

The Liberal Democrat leader said his was the only major political party other than the Conservatives with anything to "smile about" from Thursday's results - evidence it is becoming the "main opposition party".

Mr Farron predicted that the Lib Dems might be able to double their number of MPs at the June 8 General Election based on its latest performance.

""Let's not pretend that the story isn't about the implosion of the Labour Party," he said.

"They're ceasing to be the main opposition party in this country and all the indications are that on June 8 we're heading for a Conservative landslide."

Mr Farron added: "The Liberal Democrats are now your best route to prevent our country and our communities being taken for granted by a Conservative landslide."</s>The Conservative party has made significant gains and Labour has suffered in the local elections for England and Wales, with Ukip facing a near total wipeout in the councils vote.

With just five weeks to go before a general election, Jeremy Corbyn’s party blamed “unique circumstances” for what it predicted would be a challenging set of results in local contests.

The numbers so far are ominous for Labour at the general election, with the Conservatives benefiting from the huge decline in support for Ukip. By 6am, the Conservatives had gained more than 100 seats in England, while Labour had lost 45.

Theresa May’s party gained control of at least four councils - Warwickshire, Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire, and the Isle of Wight - swung from no overall control to the Conservatives, and the party also became the largest on Cumbria council in the north-west.

In Wales, Tory gains were more modest at 25 seats and independents took another 41, while Labour lost 67 but remained by far the most dominant party. The Tories gained one council, Monmouthshire, while Labour lost control of Blaneau Gwent and Bridgend.

Many results are yet to be declared, including Scottish councils and mayorals, but there is likely to be some cheer for Labour when the party wins new metro mayors in Greater Manchester, Liverpool and potentially the tightly fought battle in the West Midlands. The first mayoralty to be announced was the West of England metro areas including Bristol, Bath, northeast Somerset and south Gloucestershire,

which went to the Conservative candidate Tim Bowles.

After polls closed, Corbyn’s team played down expectations of their party’s performance, accepting that Labour could be set to lose hundreds of council seats.

Labour said that when these council seats were last contested, there was a strong performance for the party, then led by Ed Miliband.

“These elections are a challenging set of contests held in unique circumstances,” a Labour spokesman said. “They’re individual contests being fought in very differing situations, from local council-level, issue-driven campaigns up to large mayoral fights with some well-known politicians.

“Nonetheless, Labour has been making the case up and down the country that Labour representatives, both locally and nationally, will stand up for the many whilst the Conservative party stands up only for the few. That’s what we’ll be doing all the way through to 8 June and we are confident that will start to resonate as we get closer to that date.”

In total, 35 English council elections – most of them county councils – and every seat in Scotland and Wales were up for grabs.

Turnout generally had been “slow but steady,” John Turner, chief executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators, told the Local Government Chronicle.

As the counts began in Wales, the shadow Welsh secretary, Christina Rees, thanked Welsh Labour candidates and hinted at a difficult night ahead, saying: “It always inspires me that even when times seem tough for Labour, they never fail to rise to the challenge with a passion and energy that no other party can match.”

Strategists from all the major parties will be scrutinising the results closely for signs that May’s relentless message of providing “strong and stable leadership” has persuaded habitual Labour voters to defect to the Conservatives.

The local elections will also provide the first real test of the hypothesis that Ukip’s vote is collapsing in the Tories’ favour, as May pledges to deliver Brexit.

Labour sources suggested the overall picture was complex and only the national vote share would be an indication of what may be to come in the general election.

But losses in traditionally Labour areas where the local MP has a small majority will inevitably raise fears that the party is on course for a heavy defeat next month.

Anthony Wells of pollsters YouGov pointed out that the Labour party was just three percentage points behind Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives in the 1983 local elections, but trailed by 16 points in the general election that followed just a month

later.

Wells said: “Don’t just assume that the projected overall shares of the vote at this week’s votes are going to be repeated in next month’s election. People vote differently for different reasons at different sorts of election.”

That picture – of voters backing Labour locally but peeling away in a general election – was acknowledged by Susan Woodward, the leader of the Labour group on Staffordshire county council, where elections were held on Thursday.

Woodward said she felt positive, but admitted that some voters had promised to back the party in local elections but not on 8 June. “I’m hoping that having good, strong community leaders overrides any national swings – that is what I’m hoping for me and my Labour colleagues,” she said.

“If people are saying, ‘I will vote Labour in locals but not in general’ – and we’ve had a sprinkling of those – the leadership have to listen and redouble their efforts. They need to show they are focusing on Labour voters’ priorities rather than their own

priorities.”</s>Labour in denial: 'Not the wipeout people expected'

Conservatives: 'Not in the bag'

Liberal Democrats: Not as bad as Labour

UK Prime Minister Theresa May's party made significant gains in England and Wales, just five weeks before the country goes to the polls for the June 8 general election.The Conservatives appeared to benefit from the collapse of UKIP, now that the Tories have captured the pro-Brexit demographic.Thousands of voters across England, Wales, and Scotland went to the polls on Thursday to decide the fate of almost 5,000 council seats and to elect six new metro mayors.With full results declared by 17 of the 88 councils holding elections, the Tories had control of nine authorities, including five gains.May's party had 429 councilors, a net gain of 109, while Labour had 231, a net loss of 58. UKIP failed to win a single seat - a loss of 30.Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell acknowledged Labour had suffered a "tough" night as it struggled with some of its Welsh heartlands and failed to resist Tory advances in England.He told ITV's Good Morning Britain the results were not "the wipeout that people expected" and insisted it is still "all to play for" in the general election in just five weeks' time.Before the results came in, Labour played down expectations of the party's performance, accepting that Labour could be set to lose hundreds of council seats, particularly in Scotland and Wales."These elections are a challenging set of contests held in unique circumstances," a Labour spokesperson told the Guardian."They're individual contests being fought in very differing situations, from local council-level issue-driven campaigns up to large mayoral fights with some well-known politicians."Nonetheless, Labour has been making the case up and down the country that Labour representatives, both locally and nationally, will stand up for the many whilst the Conservative party stands up only for the few. That's what we'll be doing all the way through to June 8 and we are confident that will start to resonate as we get closer to that date."Labour is playing down its sweeping local election losses, with MPs advised to call the results a "mixed picture" and to stress Tory gains in Wales have "failed to materialize," the party's leaked election script reveals.The party is down more than 100 seats so far, has lost majorities on three Welsh councils and has been replaced by the Conservatives as the largest party on Cumbria County Council. Labour has lost overall control of its traditional stronghold of Glasgow City Council for the first time in nearly 40 years.Despite the apparently dismal showing, Labour MPs have been advised to say the results are merely "disappointing" and that the party has done "better than people were predicting.""Some of the predictions of doom and gloom across the board aren't quite panning out as some thought," the script said."There are some disappointing results, but there are good ones too such as holding on to the councils in Neath Port Talbot and Newport."One success the party will be stressing is retaining Welsh seats in Swansea, Cardiff and Newport councils, the latter of which the party will say was a Tory target. Candidates are also being told to suggest the Tory surge is down to the UKIP collapse, and say the results are being judged against a high point for the party in 2012.Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell remains staunchly behind Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn."It has been tough, there's no doubt about that, but it hasn't been the wipeout that some people predicted or the polls predicted ... In areas it's quite mixed," he told Radio 4's Today program."I'm not underestimating the challenge that we face right the way across the country. But what I'm saying is, to try to be as objective as I possibly can, it isn't the wipeout that many predicted. It is much better."Speaking to Sky News, Labour MP Diane Abbott said the defection of UKIP supporters to the Tories was "one of the pivotal factors" in Thursday's vote.She conceded that "some of those UKIP voters that are going to the Tories are former Labour voters," and said that in a general election "we have to turn them out and get them to vote Labour."Abbott said overall the morning's results had been "disappointing" but stressed "you cannot extrapolate from local elections to the general."She added the results "certainly don't mean that the general election [of June 8] is done and dusted for Theresa May."Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon, was a dissenting voice, however, going against the party line. He criticized the party's performance and the impact of Corbyn's leadership, saying the results painted a "disastrous picture.""It's simply not good enough for a party that's been in opposition for seven years, that's heading towards a general election in five weeks, to not be picking up seats and not be making forward progress," he said, according to the Mirror."What we need to do is recognize that we have got a mountain to climb over the next five weeks and it's about time we started climbing it."I think we can't just put a spin on this - the fact of the matter is that Jeremy's leadership does come up on the doorstep on a very regular basis. What we have to do is make this election about more than leadership, we've got to make it about the future of our country."UKIP faces being wiped out at the ballot box after failing to hold onto a single seat at the local elections. Paul Nuttall's party lost all its seats in Lincolnshire, Hampshire, and Essex - all key battlegrounds for UKIP at next month's general election.As a sign of how bad a night it endured, "UKIP 0" was trending on Twitter on Friday, as others said "RIP" to the party.Curtice said UKIP "has lost everything they've been trying to defend."Lisa Duffy, a former contender for UKIP's leadership, insisted the results are not a "disaster" but acknowledged they were "very disappointing.""I won't use the word disaster," she told the BBC. "I'll use the word 'challenging.' We knew it was going to be a difficult night."The Conservatives appeared to benefit from a collapse in UKIP's vote in England and Wales, a trend which will likely boost May's chances of strengthening her grip on power in the general election.Curtice said the Tories had so far put forward their best election performance since at least 2008, with an average swing of seven points from Labour to the Tories since 2013.Tory Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said the outcome is "very encouraging," but denied the general election is in the bag. Tory minister Brandon Lewis said May would take the early results as "encouraging" but that "there are still a lot of councils to declare.""We can't assume that what happens in local elections will be automatically replicated in general elections," he told the BBC."There's a long way to go, there's a lot of work to do, we have got to work for every vote out there to make sure that we return Theresa May with a clear mandate on June 8."The Liberal Democrats have managed to cling onto more seats than Labour in England.The party managed to increase its vote share and hold on to many of its seats. It is still suffering at the hands of the Tories and may struggle to get a substantial number of seats in next month's election.On Friday morning, the Lib Dems had 111 councilors, a net loss of nine.Sir Vince Cable, former Lib Dem business secretary, called the night "neutral," telling the Independent his party's overall vote share had increased significantly."We're in a relatively encouraging position, though there hasn't been a spectacular breakthrough," he said.</s>The latest results for Falkirk Council local elections are in and there will a Conservative councillor in Denny and Banknock.

Paul Garner (SNP) and Jim Blackwood (Labour) retained their seats, while Nigel Harris (Conservative), the husband of MSP Alison Harris, and Fiona Collie (SNP) also earned the right to sit on Falkirk Council.

In ward 2 Grangemouth David Balfour (SNP), Allyson Black (Labour) and Robert Spears all retained their places in Falkirk Council.

Earlier today SNP candidate Ann Ritche captured the most votes in Ward 1 to retain her seat, with David Aitchison (Labour) and Lynn Munro (Conservative) also gaining enough votes to be elected to the council.</s>Labour's Brendan Toomey loses his seat as council leader in Merthyr.

Labour has lost its council leader in Merthyr Tydfil in the local elections.

The Labour party also lost control of Blaenau Gwent.

Mr Toomey told BBC Radio 4 Labour was "having a very disappointing evening to say the least".
Results from yesterday's elections show significant swings towards the Conservative Party and away from the Labour Party.