Tom Ingall
Journalist, BBC Look North

It's a big stage for a big event, as counting for West Yorkshire's first metro mayor takes place with a result expected later this afternoon.

The floor of the Leeds Arena is covered not with snaking cables, bleacher seats and speaker stacks, but instead with tables, chairs and counters.

It’s a quiet atmosphere. There’s no sound checking - in fact it’s more like a library.

The count began before midday and the task is well in hand.

Along with making their selection on their local council ballot paper, voters in West Yorkshire had a second voting slip to help decide West Yorkshire's first ever mayor.

The successful candidate will have powers over key sectors in the region including policing, adult education, housing and transport.

So who were the available choices?

• Waj Ali, Reform UK
• Tracy Brabin, Labour
• Bob Buxton, Yorkshire Party
• Andrew Cooper, Green Party
• Stewart Golton, Liberal Democrat
• Thérèse Hirst, English Democrats
• Matt Robinson, Conservative

Tom Airey
Reporter, BBC News Online

Results started emerging from the early hours of Saturday, with Rotherham the major story of the day - the Tories made huge gains there, jumping from zero councillors to 20. Labour dropped to 32 seats but retained overall control.

Most of the declarations were made in West Yorkshire, with Labour also retaining overall control of Wakefield Council but lost seven seats.

In Bradford there was a proud family moment as the son of a former Lord Mayor of the city won his late father's seat.

Abid Hussain, a Labour councillor in Keighley, died with Covid-19 in late December, with son Mohsin Hussain, 26, saying he wanted to carry on his father's legacy.

In neighbouring Calderdale, Labour retained seven of the eight seats they were defending and gained the Skircoat ward to see no change in their numbers.

Meanwhile in Leeds, the Conservatives and independents both made small gains but Labour continues to rule the roost in West Yorkshire's biggest city.

Despite modest Conservative gains in Kirklees, Labour continued to control a minority administration.

In East Yorkshire, Conservative Jonathan Evison won the role of Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) from Labour.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

The vote for West Yorkshire’s first ever mayoral election vote has taken place with the results expected later.

But what does it mean for residents and what does an elected mayor do?

Image source, PA Media

A mayor could give the region extra spending and decision-making powers, like in the Sheffield City Region in South Yorkshire.

As part of the devolution deal announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak last year, West Yorkshire is set to be given increased powers of governance, and an extra £38m a year to do this.

Despite covering Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Wakefield and Kirklees, the mayor will not replace the individual councils, but will rather have certain powers over region-wide strategic projects and spending.

An elected mayor also has the power to draw up a local transport plans and strategies, as well as bus franchising powers and rail decisions.

Voting members on the mayoral authority will include the elected mayor, five elected members, one appointed by each of the five constituent councils, as well as three elected members agreed by the constituent councils to reflect the balance of political parties across the combined authority area.

The committee will also include an elected member appointed by the city of York Council (which will remain as a non-constituent member of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority), as well as the chair of the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, which oversees large infrastructure projects in the region.

Mohsin Hussain, 26, said he wanted to carry on his father's legacy.

Leeds’s Labour leader said supporting people during the pandemic was key to keeping seats and control of the council in this week’s elections.

James Lewis said he believed people had recognised what the party had done in the city and put their faith in Labour despite losses elsewhere.

The party went into the election with 54 seats and came out with the same number.

They won two vacant Roundhay seats but lost Ardsley and Robin Hood plus Morley South to the Conservatives and Morley Borough Independents respectively.

The Conservatives have won the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner role.

Jonathan Evison was a last-minute replacement for the party after previous candidate Craig Ulliott stood down.

The PCC role had been won by Labour's Keith Hunter at the last election and who was contesting the 2021 vote.

The son of a former Lord Mayor of Bradford has won back his father's seat after his death.

Abid Hussain was a councillor in Keighley but died on Christmas Eve with Covid-19.

Image source, Bradford Council

Son Mohsin Hussain won one of two seats that were being contested in the Keighley Central ward.

His father had represented the ward since 2010 and was mayor from 2017-2018.

The Conservatives gained the other seat from the independent candidate.

Kevin Larkin
Political reporter, BBC Radio Leeds

Leeds will stay a Labour-run city.

Although the counting continues at the Leeds Arena, if Labour lost their remaining wards they would still have 50 seats - enough to give them a majority on the 99 seat council.

There were some changes and close results, with a nailbiting majority of just 12 votes for Labour’s Helen Hayden in the Temple Newsam ward.

The votes are being counted in three batches in order to keep things Covid-secure.

We’re on the final batch now but then we’re back tomorrow to see who’ll be West Yorkshire’s first ever elected mayor.

Rotherham is one of the stories of these elections in Yorkshire.

Radio Sheffield political reporter Liz Roberts has tweeted the final results from the count.

But how does that compare to the last election in the town in 2016?

Well there were 48 Labour councillors, 14 from UKIP and a single independent.

Talk about change...

James Vincent
Political Editor BBC Look North

Pretty incredible. I've never seen a party come from zero councillors to 20 in the space of one election.

The Conservative vote in Rotherham is one of the big stories of this election.

A couple of caveats. This wasn't a normal election. Yes, we know that, but in Rotherham it was different again.

The boundaries have been changed - there are now fewer councillors; 59 instead of 63.

But, there are more wards. So this was like a fresh election, which makes comparison hard.

The opposition before was mainly made up by the Rotherham Democratic Party. That's changed now.

Labour has fewer councillors than they did - but they still retain control.

The Conservatives now have a much stronger voice as the main opposition in the town hall.

Marc Jones retains his role as Lincolnshire's Police and Crime Commissioner.

In a weekend of shocks and upsets, it's sometimes nice to report on somewhere that's a bit steadier.

If that's your bag, then Kirklees is the place for you.

In this morning's session only one seat changed hands with a Conservative gain in Lindley from the Liberal Democrats.

In the early afternoon session, it looks like there was no change in the eight seats available.

Council leader Labour's Shabir Pandor held onto his Batley West seat easily and West Yorkshire mayoral candidate Andrew Cooper also secured his Newsome seat again.

There is one more session of results to be declared later this afternoon.

More counting is taking place in East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire in the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner election.

None of the candidates reached the magic 50% of first preference votes.

It now appears Conservative Jonathan Evison, who joined the campaign at short notice, and Labour's Keith Hunter, who was the PCC before the election, will face second choice votes to decide who wins.

Here's what we know so far:

Conservative Marc Jones has been re-elected as Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner with big increase in his majority.

Image source, LDRS

Mr Jones, a former Lincoln councillor, won from the first round of counting with 102,813 votes from a 31% turnout.

The Conservative vote increased by just under 25% from Mr Jones' election in 2016.

He was more than 60,000 votes ahead of second placed Rosanne Kirk of Labour, who polled 34,310 votes.

The PCC, who will be in position for three years, oversees the strategy and finances of the force, and also hires and fires chief constables.

The full results were:

Marc Jones (Conservative) 102,813

Rosanne Kirk (Labour) 34,310

Ross Pepper (Liberal Democrats) 10,172

David Williams (Lincolnshire Independent) 18,375

Peter Escreet (Reform UK) 6,101

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, LDRS

A flurry of results for Kirklees Council has seen just one seat change hands so far.

The Conservatives have gained Lindley from the Liberal Democrats while keeping power in Almondbury.

Labour have held onto Crosland Moor & Netherton, Dewsbury South, Greenhead and Ashbrow with the Lib Dems retaining victory in Cleckheaton.

Counting started at Cathedral House in Huddersfield this morning with the second session due to get under way shortly.

Twenty five seats are up for election with 23 wards being contested across the borough.

The current composition of the council is Labour with 32, Conservative 16 and Liberal Democrats with 10 seats.

Sarah Sanderson
Political Reporter East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

Counting has started at the Bridlington Spa for the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner election, with the result expected later this afternoon.

Turnout is 22.92% overall, ranging from 21.3% in East Riding of Yorkshire to 25.15% in North East Lincolnshire.

The election was originally meant to take place in May 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic.

You can read about the candidates here.

James Vincent
Political Editor BBC Look North

Plenty of eyes on Calderdale today, it's always one of Yorkshire’s closest races.

You need 26 seats for a majority there - Labour currently has 28.

If they lose three that’s their control of the council gone.

With the sorts of Labour losses we’ve seen in Sheffield and Wakefield, there will be some Labour politicians nervously attaching their red rosettes on their way to the count.

The party now has 43 of Wakefield Council's 63 seats, with their majority cut to 11.

James Vincent
Political Editor BBC Look North

Pretty incredible stuff coming out of Rotherham.

Before yesterday there were no Conservative councillors in the town.

There’s 15 of them today and they’ve not finished counting.

14 wards out of 25 were declared yesterday, the rest will be announced today.

Labour has 18 councillors so far.

I’m not sure the Conservatives will be able to take control of the council because there are some strong Labour areas to come in like Maltby and Swinton.

The town elected its first ever Rother Valley Conservative MP in 2019 - that trend seems to be continuing.

It’s going to be fascinating to see how the wards around the steelworks vote especially with the uncertain future there - plus those that used to be pit villages. Some have already declared, more to come.