23 of 23 councils. Counting complete.
Reform UK takes control of Staffordshire County Council
It secured 49 out of the 62 seats, with Tories next best on 10 seats
Labour, Greens and Independents each take one seat
Council leader Alan White loses his Lichfield Rural East seat to Reform
The Conservatives had a strong majority before the election, holding 53 seats, while Reform held none
It's been a historic day in Staffordshire with the Conservatives losing control of the county council to Reform UK.
We'll bring you more reaction over the coming days as Reform councillors look to start running the authority.
Acting Conservative leader Philip White was among the handful of Tories to retain their seats, winning in Dove in East Staffordshire.
He believes his colleagues lost their seats because people were voting on national issues.
White said it had been "decided on national issues rather than our local performance".
He added: "What we’re proud of as Staffordshire Conservatives is that we will be handing over an extremely well-run council, which is financially stable, efficient and in a good place to serve the people of Staffordshire well for years to come."
Sean Bagguley, the new Reform councillor for Stone Rural North following his victory over veteran Conservative Ian Parry, has promised potholes would be a priority for his party.
He said: “The roads have been a disgrace for a long time, they need sorting out, as does adult and children’s social care.
"People have seen their council tax going up and they have had promises from people. I’m a great fan of going through the council and auditing them – we need an audit.”
Image source, LDRSAs well as Parry, Tory cabinet members to lose their seats included Mark Deaville, Jeremy Pert, Robert Pritchard, Mark Sutton and Jonathan Price.
Anna Whittaker
Political reporter, West Midlands
Nigel Farage, The Reform UK leader, has said his party’s performance in these elections are “a truly historic landmark” and “marks the end of two party politics as we’ve known it for over a century.”
Speaking to his newly elected councillors in County Durham, he urged them to “stick to our principles”, warning “anyone working at Durham County Council on climate change initiatives, or Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, or thinks they can go on working from home, I think you all better really be seeking alternative careers.”
“We want to give council taxpayers better value for money, reduce excessive expenditure, find out who long term contracts are with, reduce the scale of local government back to what it ought to be - providing social care, providing SEN needs for kids, mending potholes.”
Farage said voters wouldn’t get the change they wanted from Labour or Conservatives - “we are the agenda of change, we are the ones unafraid to stand up for our principles”.
Image source, PA MediaReform UK leader Nigel Farage congratulates new councillors in County Durham
The new leader of the Conservative group on Staffordshire County Council is Philip White and he said it has been "a really tough 24 hours" for his party.
Following their dramatic fall from power, he said they need to be a "good opposition" and hold the incoming Reform UK administration to account.
Mr White said that would be important, because "we've got a Reform group of councillors who have come in with no experience of local government".
He said Reform had run a "very clever election campaign," which had resulted in it claiming control of a number of local authorities.
But he added:"They need to run those councils for local people not just on national issues."
Image source, Staffordshire County CouncilAnna Whittaker
Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke
It has certainly been a historic day for Reform UK.
A party which didn’t hold a single seat on Staffordshire County Council just 24 hours ago is now gearing up to lead an authority with a budget of more than £700m.
They came into the contest hopeful but cautious – and they have left it elated. So what’s next?
Newly elected Martin Murray for Cannock Town – who is also the party’s county coordinator – said there are a busy few weeks ahead arranging their new cabinet and committee members.
He promised that vital services will continue as normal.
Murray described Staffordshire as the “forgotten county of England” – but what will they do to put it back on the map?
As well as their national pledges around immigration and net zero - leader Nigel Farage said Reform will bring in auditors to examine council spending and get rid of waste.
He also says he wants to end a culture of working from home in local government.
Their win marks an unprecedented moment in local politics and the exact details of what Reform UK will do in power remains yet to be seen.
Going into this election, the Conservatives had absolute control over Staffordshire County Council, but that has changed with Reform UK winning 49 of the 62 seats.
Here are some other highlights:
Image source, Getty ImagesIn a social media post earlier, the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: "These were always going to be a very difficult set of elections coming off the high of 2021, and our historic defeat last year - and so it's proving."
She also offered her "sincerest commiserations to those who have lost today".
But she added: "The renewal of our party has only just begun and I'm determined to win back the trust of the public and the seats we've lost, in the years to come."
Looking at the political map of the county now it is a sea of Reform-turquoise.
But there are a couple of areas where the Conservatives clung on and notably they held on to three of the six seats in Lichfield.
They also held on to three in East Staffordshire, with their other councillors scattered around the county.
Reform have won a big majority on Staffordshire County Council, but while their share of the vote is also impressive, the gap between them and the Conservatives is not quite as big.
They were the clear winners with 41%, but the Conservatives, in second, won 27% of the vote and Labour came third with 16%.
If seats had been allocated by vote share, rather than the first-past-the-post system, there would have been 25 Reform councillors, 17 Conservatives and 10 Labour councillors, with other parties taking the remaining seats.
Josh Newbury, the Labour MP for Cannock Chase, has said he believes people voted for Reform UK because they were "impatient for change".
But now Reform have control of Staffordshire County Council, he said: "I think it's going to give us that opportunity now to look beyond the headlines and policies on leaflets and see how Reform would actually run a council.
"They've made a lot of promises to people about the things they're going to deliver like cutting millions of pounds from the budget without impacting front-line services."
He also accepted it had been disappointing for Labour not to have picked up any seats on the local authority, but said it was "quite unusual for a governing party to make gains at a local election".
Chloe Hughes
BBC News
Let’s take a look at what the county council does.
It is responsible for services like social care, education, road maintenance, public libraries and long-term strategic planning.
Other public services in the county council area are controlled by the more local district councils.
We've just had the final results announced in the Staffordshire County Council elections.
Reform UK were the clear winners with 49 councillors, followed by the Conservatives with 10.
Labour, the Green Party and Independents won one seat each.
More now from Reform UK's coordinator for Staffordshire, Martin Murray.
He expects a busy weekend with lots of meetings as his party gets ready to take over the running of the county council.
"We will deliver continuity. Nothing will change at first," he said.
Speaking about the services the council provides, he went on to tell voters: "What you get now you will always have."
He also said people would "hopefully get more" in future.
Jack Rose, the new Green Party member on Staffordshire County Council says he hopes the new Reform UK regime will be "open to listening to new ideas".
He is the first Green councillor on the authority and said he hoped members of minority parties would get a greater chance to put forward proposals.
But he said: "Usually when you get majority control you don't get much democracy in terms of listening to other points of view."
The Reform win could be viewed in two ways, he said.
On one hand, there would be concern about a lack of experience in cabinet roles, but on the other new councillors could be open to new ideas.
While Simon Tagg had a good night personally, holding on to his Westlands, Thistleberry and Keele seat by 850 votes, his Conservative colleagues have had a bad election.
"Longstanding councillors are losing their seats, not only across this county but across the area," he said.
"I think it shows the dissatisfaction with the two parties - Labour and Conservatives."
He also noted his party had been unpopular in its final years in national government, and believed people were looking for a change or a protest vote.
A lot of Conservative councillors have lost their seats, but the party's deputy leader, Phillip White, has held on to his.
He finished ahead of Reform UK's Paul Allen by more than 300 votes in the Dove ward.
The leader, Alan White, was not so fortunate though and was among the high profile losses for the Conservatives, losing his Lichfield Rural East seat to Reform UK.
Reform UK are now up to 41 seats on Staffordshire Borough Council.
Remember, they had none going into this election and the Conservatives held 53.
As things stand, the Conservatives only have nine seats, but there are more results to come.
It wasn't just Conservatives who lost their seats to Reform UK, a number of Independents have gone too.
But Independent councillor Jill Hood held on to Stone Urban, beating her Reform UK challenger by more than 300 votes.
She first won the ward eight years ago and said she believed returning under a new regime would be more of a continuation than a new start.
Ms Hood said she had been watching the Reform wins piling up and admitted she "never imagined it would be easy".
But she said she "worked quietly to get things done" and added: "I like people and I like Stone people in particular."
Sean Bagguley, Reform UK's new councillor for Stone Rural North, has said he had been looking to get involved in politics for a long time.
"There is a message being sent to the two main parties that change is needed," he said.
Mr Bagguley said his fellow Reform councillors would bring in "a lot of skills from outside" and many came from business backgrounds, where they were used to "making a profit".
Mr Bagguley said a priority for his party would be looking for where it could make savings and spend "wasted" money elsewhere.