Simon Gilbert
Political Reporter

Despite a number of seats being won by Reform in the north of the county, no overall control is still the most likely outcome.

We expected Reform to do well in the north and it’s likely the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats will win in the south and start to balance out the numbers.

But the Conservatives could be almost completely wiped out.

A huge cheer erupts in the Nuneaton sports hall as Keith Kondakor wins for the Greens in Weddington, securing the only non-Reform seat in Nuneaton and Bedworth.

We’ve just heard from the newly-elected Reform councillor for Bedworth Central, George Finch.

Despite being 18, he is not phased by his youth.

“People want change, they want that fresh, young, innovative pathway and that’s what we’ve got.

"Politics needs a shake-up and that starts today", he adds

Neil Garland wins in Bedworth North, along with Chris Morris in Bedworth West and Luke Francis Shingler in Galley Common.

Rob Howard from Reform shouts “get in” and punches the air with glee as he is announced as the winner in Attleborough.

The campaigning seems to have paid off for the party after their leader, Nigel Farage visited Bedworth on Tuesday.

A total of 29 seats have so far been declared - three for the Tories, two for Labour, four the Lib Dems and 20 for Reform.

Election Results, external

Simon Gilbert
Political Reporter, Coventry & Warwickshire

Whatever the outcome of today's count, the new Warwickshire County Council will look very different to the old one.

This is not about the prospect of devolution, which could see the larger county-wide authority swallow up the smaller districts and boroughs from North Warwickshire to Stratford.

The changes will be down to the number of new councillors, with 20 of the 57 sitting councillors stepping down.

Read more about Warwickshire's changing political landscape.

Before the elections were held the BBC talked to people about what matters to them when voting.

“University responsibilities” means voting falls to the bottom of his priorities, Nathaniel Gate, 21, a marketing and strategy student, in Leamington Spa says.

But Kane Shinn, 19, from Bedworth, thinks it’s important for the next council to set out a plan to reduce litter and Amro Maraqa, 18, an international student at Warwick University, says he’s been affected by bus fare increases and is concerned about the cost of living.

The BBC’s James Bovill has been speaking to the Labour MP for Warwick and Leamington Spa, Matt Western, at the count in Stoneleigh.

Western says the atmosphere feels “a bit like 2016” referring to the Brexit vote and the surge we are seeing today with Reform UK.

He adds that the biggest threat to Labour in Warwickshire will be in areas like Nuneaton and Bedworth.

18-year-old George Finch from Reform has taken the seat in Bedworth Central with 1563 votes.

Meanwhile, Stanley Carvell has taken Bedworth East and Dale Kirk Bridgewater has got the seat for Camp Hill. Both represent Reform UK.

Chloe Hughes
BBC News

We had a lot of Your Voice Your Vote submissions from voters, telling us that they wanted their local councils to “stop the boats” or tackle illegal immigration.

However, county councillors do not have control over these issues.

Immigration Enforcement, external (IE) and Border Force, external are areas of the Home Office that deal with different parts of immigration.

Sometimes, there is confusion between those who enter the UK illegally, refugees, and asylum seekers – they are different.

Refugees are people forced to flee their own country, external and seek safety in another country.

Asylum seekers, external are those seeking international protection, their request for refugee status has yet to be processed or they may not have applied yet.

The majority of people who come to live in the UK from abroad (excluding tourists) are here under work or study visas, external.

If they are destitute, the government has a legal obligation, external to house asylum seekers and offer them basic living standards while their claim is being considered.

Local councils play a key role in supporting asylum seekers, resettlement, and unaccompanied children.

For example, all children living in the UK have a right to access a school in England, irrespective of their nationality – school places are allocated via local authorities.

Some people told us they believed that more support was offered to asylum seekers than to those in their counties that were homeless. Local councils have an obligation to help people who are homeless, external or at risk of homelessness.

Our reporter Jack Woolf says the atmosphere is heating up in the Nuneaton sports hall.

It's more tense than it was earlier this morning, with some candidates watching each ballot “like a hawk”, Jack adds.

Michael Bannister wins for Reform in Nuneaton Abbey with 654 votes.

And Wayne Briggs from the party won in Arbury with 1118 votes.

We've just had our first result of the day.

Nigel Golby from Reform has been elected in Stockingford, Nuneaton.

He stormed to victory with 1036 votes, while the Labour Party received the second highest, trailing behind with 366 votes.

Our reporter Dan Sambell is at the count at Stoneleigh Park.

Green Party candidate, Jonathan Chilvers, sprung over to the media desk with excitement saying he’s “cautiously optimistic”, Dan says.

Prior to Thursday's election, the Party held three seats.

Dan adds that Chilvers has been energetically making his way around the room.

A sea of reform badges have been spotted by our reporter Jack Woolf, who says the atmosphere is heating up in the Nuneaton sports hall where one of the county council's two counts is taking place.

Local authorities are elected on a four-year cycle with different councils, or parts of councils, elected each year.

For some councils - like Warwickshire's neighbour Coventry - this year is not their turn.

Some of yesterday's planned county council elections elsewhere in the country were postponed while authorities draw up plans to merge counties and districts into unitary authorities which carry out the function of both tiers of local government.

Our reporter Jack Woolf is at the Nuneaton campus of North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, where one of today's two counts is taking place to find out the results of Thursday's election.

Jack says they are still waiting for some of the ballot boxes to arrive.

Meanwhile, counting for certain areas of the county, such as Bedworth Central, has begun.

Other counters are waiting patiently with their snacks at hand, Jack says.

There is a sense of excitement in the air at Stoneleigh Park, where counting has been in progress since just before 10:15 BST.

There was an apology for the slight delay but counters are in high spirits.

Alex Macdonald and Christine Wilson have been helping out at elections since 2016 and love to see “democracy in progress”.

The pair think “we might be in for a surprise” when the results are declared.

Ahead of the vote more than two thirds of the 57 seats were held by the Tories.

Ahead of yesterday's votes, the Conservatives counted Warwickshire as a stronghold with more than two-thirds of the authority's 57 seats.

Labour were a distant second on six seats with the Liberal Democrats on five, the Greens on three and two Independents.

Charlotte Benton

Hello and welcome to our coverage of the Warwickshire County Council election.

You will hear the latest from our reporters at today's counts and the winners and losers as nearly 60 individual races are declared across the county.

Although it is the county authority which is being elected, the elections are organised by each of the five borough and district councils which make up the area.

It might be the last time that happens, with the government pushing authorities to move to unitary councils - where counties and districts merge into a single layer.