Thank you for joining our live coverage of the local election results.

Here's what happened:

• A re-elected Conservative councillor has been suspended from the party after it emerged he had recently pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman.
• Labour and the Liberal Democrats have seized control of the two new Cumbria councils due to come into place in April next year.
• A coalition will remain in control of Hartlepool Council after no one party made major gains in the election.
• Labour has retained control of Sunderland City Council.

Have a good weekend.

More than a third of eligible voters took part in the election for the new Cumberland Council.

Labour won 30 of the 46 seats meaning they will control the new unitary authority covering Copeland, Allerdale and Carlisle when it comes into force on 1 April 2023.

The turnout was 36.1%, external with some 76,000 of the almost 211,000 eligible voters going to the ballot boxes.

The first result declared was a win for independent Stephen Stoddart in the Moss Bay and Moorclose at 00:50 BST. The last was Labour's Andrew Semple in Cockermouth South at 02:40.

Two of Sunderland's Labour MPs have responded to the local election result.

Julie Elliott, who represents Sunderland South, said: "I think the Prime Minister is in serious difficulty, this is disastrous for the Tories across the country.

"And what we are doing is rebuilding, 2019 was the worst election result for Labour since 1935, we have got a long way to go but we are building solidly."

Image source, Labour Party

The shadow education secretary and Houghton and Sunderland South MP, Bridget Philippson, described it as a good night for the party.

"There is a feeling on what we now can achieve," she said.

"If you think back to where as a party we were in 2019, if you said to me then that we'd be in this position I would have been absolutely delighted."

The Liberal Democrats are celebrating winning four of the 46 seats on the new Cumberland Council.

They won Corby and Hayton, Dalston and Burgh, Longtown and Stanwix Urban.

The latter was a particular coup as it had been a Conservative stronghold, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Brian Wernham, who won the seat with 1,472 votes over the Conservative candidate Elizabeth Mallinson's 559, said: "After 49 years of being a Conservative ward, Stanwix urban has now gone to the Lib Dems, I will now do my best to represent the people of Stanwix.

"It's a very sizeable majority, the people definitely voted for modernisation and a new approach."

A Carlisle Conservative leader blames issues such as "partygate" for failing to secure power.

Prof Sir John Curtice says the Conservatives have suffered losses, but Labour has not made the gains it wanted:

Gordon Cranney retains his seat on Hartlepool Council a week after he pleaded guilty to assault.

David MacMillan
BBC Tees political correspondent

This time last year we were waking up to the news that Conservatives had won the Hartlepool by-election, their first MP in the town since the 1960s, with Hartlepool making national headlines.

Today it's rather less dramatic as the local authority remains in no overall control.

The Conservatives though have strengthened their place with 15 of the council's 36 seats, while Labour went in to the election with 11 seats and came out with 11.

My colleague Lee Johnson was at the count and he is reporting that the Conservative-independent coalition that runs the local authority will continue to do so.

Image source, Getty Images

We had the strange sight of Conservative candidates effectively pleading with voters not to punish them for the shenanigans going on in Downing Street and it seems like their pleas have been heard.

One of the senses from last year's by-election campaign was that much of the stuff making national headlines - back then it was rows over Downing Street redecorations rather than parties - wasn't having a big impact with voters in the town.

The fact the Conservatives have held seats and gained seats suggests that's still true.

Labour went in to the election defending seven of the 13 seats being contested so it was always unlikely they would make significant gains. But, given the drubbing they got in the by-election last year, stability may be seen as a decent result.

Sir Keir Starmer is congratulating Labour activists in Carlisle after their victory in taking control of the new Cumberland unitary authority.

Counting is under way for the second of two new councils covering Cumbria.

Westmorland and Furness will cover Eden, South Lakeland and Barrow and have 65 councillors.

The county's first new unitary authority Cumberland was won by Labour who secured 30 of its 46 seats.

The result for Westmorland and Furness is hoped to be declared after 14:00 today.

The two new unitary authorities will replace Cumbria County Council and six district councils and will come into force on 1 April 2023, with the newly elected councillors serving on two shadow authorities until then.

Image source, Cumbria County Council

Seats were also up for grabs in Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Gateshead.

Labour has held on to its comfortable majority on Gateshead Council.

With 22 of the authority's 66 seats up for grabs, the party lost one to the Lib Dems but held 21, and now has a total of 51 councillors.

Council leader Martin Gannon said: "Our majority is maintained, we've won the seats we expected to win."

He added: "We're not complacent, we know there's a lot of rebuilding to do in the Labour Party, we've got to earn people's trust if we're going to succeed and win in government.

"But it's a good, solid start."

One of the Noth East's so-called "red wall" Conservative MPs has been dismissive of Labour's gains.

Richard Holden, who won the North West Durham seat from Labour in 2019, said the party was not making the moves it needed.

"These elections are mirrored in 2014, which saw Labour gain over 400 seats and 2018 which saw them gain almost 100," he said.

"It looks we aren't going to see anything like that this time, nowhere near what you'd expect for a party that's been in government for quite a while and also come under a load of pressure given the big issues around the cost of living.

"Labour really aren't making the progress they need... and in some [areas] Conservatives are continuing to make gains.

"They need to go much further than the way they've been going - it's hardly really punching through is it?"

History was made in North Tyneside, which gained its first black councillor in 48 years.

Josephine Mudzingwa, who was elected to the Benton ward, said: "I'm really glad I won it.

"I want to make every woman, every child, feel they are included and can have a seat at any table.

"For me to open the door to every other person, to all the other races that are in England, to me that is amazing.

"I'm really proud for myself, and of everybody who supported me to get into this journey."

Labour has held on to Gateshead Council.

With 22 of its 66 seats up for grabs, the party maintained its large majority.

Counting is still under way, but after securing seats it cannot lose control.

The result in Sunderland shows that the Labour Party is "on the way up", one of the area's MPs has said.

Sharon Hodgson, who represents Washington and Sunderland West, said: "The Conservatives threw everything at this.

"We had Boris Johnson up here on Bank Holiday Monday, we've had Rishi Sunak, we've had so many members of the cabinet, local Tories, and they couldn't land a glove on us here.

"So I think this shows that the Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, is back on the up - and bring on the general election as far as I'm concerned."

The leader of Hartlepool Council said he hopes to stay on in the role for at least another year although his wife may have other ideas.

No one party won an overall majority on the council after 13 of its 36 seats were contested, and the BBC understands a Conservative and independent coalition will continue to control it.

Image source, Hartlepool Council

Independent council leader Shane Moore, who retained his Headland and Harbour seat, said he hopes to stay on in the top job for at least another year when the council holds its annual general meeting later in May.

"Going past that I'll need to speak to my wife because she may have some other ideas," he told BBC Radio Tees.

Labour continues to hold a healthy majority on Newcastle City Council, with 51 of its 78 seats.

Leader Nick Kemp described it as "incredibly positive news".

He said: "I think our manifesto is quite clear in its approach [and] I think we're seeing an increase in majority in wards that we've held previously.

"It's a positive endorsement of the Labour Party in Newcastle."

However the Lib Dems now have 21 seats and the party's leader Nick Cott said it was "going in the right direction".

"We are in business, we will take control of this council," he said.

"We are putting measures in place so that we can get there in the next few years."