Kaleigh Watterson
Reporting from Widnes

Here at the Runcorn and Helsby count in Widnes, the returning officer has called over the candidates and agents again - he said there’s a couple of doubtful votes they want to verify.

Still no estimate on the declaration time here.

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

A second council has now declared in the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral contest (South Holland).

Once again, Andrea Jenkyns, with 48% of the vote, is well ahead of her Conservative rival on 29%.

Sharon Edwards
Reporting from Grimsby

In the past few minutes, Boston has been the first area to declare its result in the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral race, with a resounding win for Reform UK’s Andrea Jenkyns.

She got 7,285 votes, beating Rob Waltham of the Conservatives into second place on 2,695.

Marianne Overton of the Lincolnshire Independents came third with 1,193 and Labour’s Jason Stockwood got 897.

The Green Party candidate got 774 and the Liberal Democrats 513.

Reform UK’s Richard Tice won the Parliamentary seat of Boston and Skegness in last year’s general election, sweeping aside a Conservative majority of 25,000.

Image source, PA Media

Damian Grammaticas
Reporting from Widnes

Here at the Runcorn and Helsby count, all the candidates have just been called to one end of the hall by the returning officer. That meeting just ended.

Now piles of ballot papers are being put back in front of the teams doing the counting. It's definitely a re-check of bundles at the very least.

Meanwhile camera crews all gathered at the door to the building in case Nigel Farage turns up with his candidate.

Lots of speculation, no clarity.

Sharon Edwards
Reporting from Grimsby

Voters in some parts of Greater Lincolnshire, where there's a mayoral race, are also voting for their Lincolnshire County Council members.

Some of those ballots are being counted overnight, some tomorrow.

One Conservative has texted me to say “it looks like a bloodbath” and an “annihilation for Conservatives” on the council.

Currently the Tories hold the authority with a comfortable majority of more than 50 seats out of 70.

Kaleigh Watterson
Reporting from Widnes

Here in Widnes, where the count for the Runcorn and Helsby by-election is taking place, the returning officer has just called all candidates and agents over.

Are we nearly there?

But we don’t have the Labour and Reform candidates here yet…

Kaleigh Watterson
Reporting from Widnes

Image source, BBC / Kaleigh Watterson

We’re hearing Reform leader Nigel Farage may be on his way, so much of the press pack has moved to the front entrance, while the rest of us wait near the declaration stage.

It doesn’t look like there’s much counting going on at the moment.

Still no sign of either the Labour or Reform candidates.

Sharon Edwards
Reporting from Grimsby

Reform UK candidate for Greater Lincolnshire mayor Andrea Jenkyns has arrived at Grimsby Town Hall.

Dressed in a pale blue sparkly jumpsuit she hugged her election agent - who is also her sister - and walked around the room.

When asked how she felt, Jenkyns - a former Tory minister - just smiled.

She is laughing and looks relaxed after the strain of recent weeks, which has seen a challenge to her right to stand following allegations that she does not live in the area. That challenge was dismissed.

Labour candidate Jason Stockwood is also present - he says he is “happy” and “has really enjoyed the campaign”.

Hannah Miller
Reporting from Bristol

With probably about an hour of counting to go, it remains too close to call in the West of England mayoral race.

Four years ago, a Labour mayor was elected. On his watch, the combined authority ended up in special measures for a year. Many voters tell us they don’t think having a mayor has made any difference to their lives.

So Labour knew they’d have to work hard for their new candidate Helen Godwin to win. Her supporters here look nervous.

It’s not exactly a surprise to see votes piling up for the Greens in Bristol itself. They run the council and the city centre elected a Green MP. But do they have enough support in Bath and South Gloucestershire to win?

Perhaps not, we’ll see. One supporter just suggested they wished they’d had the resources to campaign harder.

But what is especially notable here is the stacks of votes for Reform. Their candidate, Arron Banks, thinks the final result could be between him and the Greens.

Whatever happens, the count is definitely showing evidence of some support for him in Bristol, and he’s perhaps more likely to pick up votes in the surrounding areas.

This seems now to be a three-way race - perfectly illustrating the challenge for Labour, as voters look in both directions for an alternative.

Image source, BBC / Hannah Miller

Kaleigh Watterson
Reporting from Widnes

We’re being told that a result may be not too far off in the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby.

The media are waiting. We’ve no steer yet - and Labour sources are not commenting on their feelings.

But looking at the piles, it looks very close between Labour and Reform.

Reform UK party staff here are suddenly active.

Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice tells the BBC the party's candidate in the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral race, Andrea Jenkyns, has won "by a considerable margin".

As a reminder, we are still waiting for the official result - we could get it within the hour.

You can watch Tice now on our results page - press watch live at the top of the page.

More detail now on the result in North Tyneside, where Labour has managed to narrowly fend off the challenge from Reform in the mayoral contest.

While Labour have avoided defeat, this is further evidence of Reform’s ability to perform well in Labour areas as well as in Conservative ones.

At just over 30%, Labour's vote is down 23 points on 2021, when the party won 53% of the vote.

Meanwhile the Conservatives, on 21%, are down by 11 points. In winning 29% of the vote, Reform UK have inflicted damage on both parties.

Image source, Helen Richardson / BBC

Labour's Karen Clark has won the mayoral race in North Tyneside.

The majority was just 444.

Votes for six of Hertfordshire County Council's 78 seats were counted overnight by Broxbourne Borough Council.

Conservatives won four, and Reform UK the other two, on a turnout of 27.6%.

Most parts of Hertfordshire won't count until later - with the full results expected on Friday afternoon.

Candidates and agents are now being shown the provisional result in the North Tyneside mayoral race, meaning the official result is expected very soon, the Local Democracy Reporting Service's Austen Shakespeare reports.

Lucy Ashton
Reporting from Doncaster

The count is official under way for the mayoral election in Doncaster, but it is looking like it will be at least 04:00 before the winner is announced.

Turnout is 32.27% - slightly higher than in previous elections where it has hovered just below 30%.

Helen Richardson
Reporting from North Shields

A nervous Conservative candidate and his team await the results of the North Tyneside mayoral contest.

We understand it could be a close result, unlike previous contests where Labour have won a clear majority. Reform are predicted to have an impact.

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

We now have the results from nine wards where boundaries are the same as in 2021.

In these wards the Conservative vote is down 23 points, while Labour's vote is down 10 points.

We are beginning to see the anticipated pattern of significant losses by both parties, but with the Conservatives falling more heavily than Labour.

The Conservative leader of Staffordshire County Council, Alan White, has lost his seat, coming second to Reform candidate Tracey Dougherty.

Lucy Ashton
Reporting from Doncaster

Here in Doncaster, things are running quite late tonight in the mayoral race - the verifying process has been going for three hours now and they still haven't officially started the count.

The counters have been given little lunchboxes with muffins, crisps and fruit and are taking a little breather, and it's hoped actual counting will begin very soon.