The Women's Equality Party is celebrating its first ever borough councillor, Stacy Hart, after she was elected to Basingstoke and Deane council.

"Today we celebrate, tomorrow, the hard work begins" the party posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Olivia Wilson
Oxfordshire political reporter, BBC News

The election count has finally begun at the town hall for Oxford City council. The first result could come in as soon as thirty minutes from now.

Four wards have started counting: Churchill, Lye Valley, Northfield Brook and Headington. There's been a relatively low turnout for Northfield Brook so the expectation is that will be the first ward we hear from.

There is a sense that the independents will be watched closely by Labour, as we will see how much international issues such as Gaza has played a part in people’s voting decisions, and how much local issues have taken priority.

West Oxfordshire District Council has remained as no overall control following Thursday's voting.

The Liberal Democrats have added three extra seats, taking their total to 21. The Conservatives lost five, with Labour and the Greens adding one apiece.

The Women’s Equality party has secured its first ever borough councillor with the election of Stacy Hart in Basingstoke and Deane.

Trainee guide dog Oscar is at Cherwell’s local election count.

He’s being trained by James Hartley - the Liberal Democrat candidate for Deddington.

Mr Hartley said he had taken Oscar to the election count get him used to being around people, and in different places, and "being bored".

He’ll be returning to Guide Dogs next month to continue his training.

Image source, LDRS

Leaders of all three main parties in the Wokingham Borough Council election have given their first impressions ahead of the results today.

The Liberal Democrats have controlled the council for two years – though without an overall majority.

They are hoping to win enough seats to take overall control today.

Stephen Conway, the Liberal Democrat Council leader, is cautiously optimistic.

He said: “It’s impossible to tell at this stage. My impression is that a lot of people came out to vote.

“All of the parties have fought a vigorous campaign and we’ve seen a high level of interest in this election. We’ll have to see how the votes fall.”

His main rival, Conservative leader Pauline Jorgensen, said: “We’ve worked very hard and we’ve got a good team of candidates.

"It’s down to democracy now, and it’s too difficult to call.”

Andy Croy, leader of the Labour Party group, said his party had a very warm reception where it campaigned.

He said: “It’s early yet and the sharp end is later this afternoon but I think it’s going to be a bad day for the Conservatives.”

The Liberal Democrats still do not have overall control of Portsmouth City Council but are the party with the most number of councillors, with 19.

Speaking to BBC Radio Solent's Alun Newman earlier, Steve Pitt, the Liberal Democrat leader of the council, said the result was very much a "success".

He said: "We were defending six seats last night - that's a big chunk of the 14 that were up and we held them all and gained one, so that's very much a success."

Before the results, the council was made up of 18 Liberal Democrat councillors, eight Conservatives, seven Labour members, and six from the Portsmouth Independent Party.

Now the makeup is 19 Lib Dem councillors, four Conservatives, eight Labour members, nine members of the Portsmouth Independent Party, one non-aligned Independent councillor, and one Independent councillor aligned with Labour.

Verification has begun at Oxford Town Hall.

Twenty four of the 48 seats on Oxford City Council are up for election - with the council currently under no overall control.

Election results for all Oxford City Council wards and Littlemore Parish Council will be announced throughout the afternoon.

Results for the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner will be announced on Saturday.

Noni Needs
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Suella Braverman MP called the campaign led by local Conservatives in Fareham a "positive" one.

This came after her party kept control of the borough council.

It was not a complete success for the Tories as the Liberal Democrats doubled their numbers in Fareham and Labour secured their first councillor in the area in 22 years.

Image source, LDRS

After 30 years, the Liberal Democrats remain in power in Eastleigh with a smooth win that allows them to retain all 35 seats.

A great night for Liberal Democrats saw them retain all seats they were defending across the borough from the Conservatives, Labour, Independents and the Green Party.

In the 12 wards up for grabs, the Lib Dems held 10, with one each going to the Conservatives and Independents.

Lib Dem leader Councillor Keith House said that despite holding a “pretty amazing record” after 30 years in office, they were “never complacent” about the results.

He said: “It was a great night for Liberal Democrats here in Eastleigh.

"We’ve won the council elections 30 years in a row and we have a pretty amazing record of holding every seat we were trying to defend."

All 82 seats at Dorset Council are up for election, as well as 150 seats for town and parish councils.

The Dorset Council votes are being verified this morning and counted this afternoon, with results expected through this evening.

The majority of vote counting is taking place at Weymouth’s Redlands Sports Centre.

The team of officials will be counting the papers in two halls, firstly verifying and then separating the voting papers, before the process of counting begins around lunchtime.

The authority said town and parish council votes would be counted and announced tomorrow.

The leader of the Conservatives in Southampton's council, Daniel Fitzhenry, said his party had "a great result" in the city.

This comes after Robert Stead secured the ward of Woolston for the Conservatives.

Mr Fitzhenry said: "We've won a ward that we only won in 1976 for the first time, then we won in 2021 and now we've won it again.

"It was described as a difficult picture for the Conservatives nationally, so a great result."

He added: "We've won a seat and we were marginally so close in many more."

He believes that for Labour in Southampton "at their best times, this is not a great result".

Following the count in Gosport, an "over the moon" Lib Dem leader Peter Chegwyn spoke to Hampshire & Isle of Wight political reporter, Emily Hudson:

"Nationally, it was not a great night," said new Conservative Councillor for the ward of Woolston in Southampton, Robert Stead.

He added he felt he had campaigned on local issues and got his message across.

He referenced problems that some residents in the city had faced with bin collections, which was one of the main issues he campaigned on.

Mr Stead said his win was a reflection of the council "not being able to get the basics right".

It has already been a busy morning...

Here's how things stand so far:

• Eastleigh - Liberal Democrat hold
• Fareham - Conservative hold
• Gosport - Liberal Democrat hold
• Hart - No party majority
• Portsmouth - No party majority
• Reading - Labour hold
• Rushmoor - Labour gain from Conservative
• Southampton - Labour hold
• Winchester - Liberal Democrat hold

And, there's plenty more to come:

All of the seats on Wokingham Borough Council are up for election.

Half of the seats on Oxford City Council are up for election, along with a third of those on Cherwell and West Oxfordshire district councils.

Results for Oxfordshire are expected this afternoon.

All 82 seats on Dorset Council, currently under the Conservative administration, are up for election. Results are expected from Dorset this evening.

Hart council had 12 of its 33 council seats up for election.

The Liberal Democrats gained one seat which means they are still the biggest party in the area, with 12 councillors.

But they are closely followed by the Residents' Association, which now has a total of 11 councillors after gaining one seat overnight.

The Conservative Party lost two councillors but still sits close to the other parties in the split local authority with nine councillors overall.

Patrick O'Hagan
BBC Berkshire political reporter

Labour were never going to be toppled from the borough council, the numbers were too much in their favour.

They did though claim one important seat with Daya Pal Singh taking Emmer Green, a part of Reading borough so far to the north of the town centre that it's practically in another county - Oxfordshire.

The men and women with red rosettes did lose another seat elsewhere though so overall they ended the morning back where they’d started the night before, on 32 seats.

The Greens took one more seat than they already had and they now have eight councillors meaning they’re still comfortably the second biggest party on the council, with the Conservatives losing one councillor, leaving them with just four.

Did much really change? No. Did the fact Labour took a seat from the Tories that a few years ago they could only have dreamt of mean they went home smiling? Yes.

One of the town’s two MPs is Labour’s Matt Rodda. He thinks what happened in Emmer Green shows that even people who many think have blue blood coursing through their veins have had enough of the current Conservative government.

Time will tell.

Counting is complete in Eastleigh where there were 12 out of 39 seats up for election.

The Liberal Democrat's secured 10 seats with one each for the Independents and others, and Conservatives.

Conservative Councillor Gareth Lyon said his party had "relentlessly run on local issues".

Despite the party's local push, Rushmoor council has been taken over by the Labour party - in a first for the authority.

Image source, Getty Images

Former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson was turned away from his local polling station after forgetting to bring acceptable photo ID.

As first reported by Sky News, he returned later with the necessary ID and was able to vote.

He cast his ballot in South Oxfordshire, where voters are choosing a police and crime commissioner.

New rules requiring photo ID to vote were introduced by Mr Johnson's government in the Elections Act 2022.

The change was rolled out last year, with local elections in May 2023 the first time voters needed to show ID.