Image source, PA

John McDonnell tells LBC everyone in Labour was "really disappointed" with its local election performance but people have to brush themselves down and "get on with it". 

Asked whether the Labour leader is a liability on the doorsteps, John McDonnell says no and that people need to see more of the "real Jeremy Corbyn" - who he insists is "honest, decent and principled".

In that vein, he says how frustrating it is that Theresa May has said no to taking part in TV leaders' debates.

"If they can have them in France, why can't we have it here?"

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell is on the Iain Dale show on LBC.

Asked whether the party needs a sharper PR operation, he says it is vital that Labour "gets its message across" before 8 June.

"We have got to be much more effective in cutting through. Over the next five weeks, that's our challenge."

He says the local election results were "terrible" but that the party has a history of "coming out fighting" and must do so now. 

Earlier we reported that the Greens are standing down their candidate in Oxford West and Abingdon in an effort to help the Lib Dems in their fight against the Conservatives.

Here's some reaction to this and the handful of other constituencies where the two parties are forming a "progressive alliance" to oppose the Tories.

Image source, PA

Norman Lamb, the Lib Dems' health spokesman, says he believes people would be willing to pay more in tax to fund health and social care due to the "great sense of solidarity" that surrounds the NHS.

The party is proposing that, if elected, everyone would pay an extra 1p in the pound in income tax that would be ring-fenced for health spending.

Mr Lamb told BBC Breakfast that people would "see the value" in paying extra to ensure that "loved ones get the care that they need in their hour of need, regardless of their ability to pay".

George Stoye, from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, says it would amount to an 0.6% increase in people's overall tax burden while the top 20% of earners would pay proportionately more.

He told BBC News that demographic pressures mean more money will have to be found for health in the future.

The former John Lewis boss Andy Street says he is going to get straight on with his new role, implementing plans for the West Midlands.

Mr Street, a Conservative, became the first "metro mayor" for the region in the local elections.

He told BBC Breakfast: 

You can find out about all six new "metro mayors" here.  

The Greens have to be "realistic" when it comes to their ambitions in next month's election, their co-leader has said.

Jonathan Bartley told BBC Breakfast the current first-past-the-post system discriminated against his party, claiming a "fairer" system would have enabled it to win 24 seats - not just one - in 2015.

The party's number one target is Bristol West, where it came second in 2015, and it is also hopeful of a strong performance on the Isle of Wight - where it won its first council seat on Friday. 

Asked about the party's pitch to voters, he says people "want a caring and confident country not defined by our nuclear arsenal but the opportunities we are giving our people".

Image source, Guardian

"May on course for landslide", says The Times, external front page, while The Guardian's, external main headline is "May crushes UKIP as Corbyn admits: 'We face historic challenge'".

The Daily Telegraph calls the outcome a "massive victory", external and the Sun says she "turned Britain blue"., external The i talks of a Tory "blue tide".

However, the Guardian looks at the maths and argues that Britain was, in fact, evenly divided, external. The Conservatives and UKIP, it says, took 43% of the votes - while Labour and the Liberal Democrats received 45%. The paper says "the country has not fallen in love with Mrs May".

With a headline proclaiming Theresa May as "the new Maggie", The Daily Express, external says "the public has warmed" to the PM. But it, and others, explain that Mrs May's triumph has resulted from the "collapse" of the UKIP vote, external.

Read more.

Image source, telegraph

Image source, EPA

The Green Party will not be fielding a candidate in the Lib Dem target seat of Oxford West and Abingdon, the party has revealed.

It will not contest the seat in the hope that it will help the Lib Dems' chances of defeating Conservative minister Nicola Blackwood, who won with a majority of more than 9,000 in 2015.

The Lib Dems, themselves, have said they will stand aside in Brighton Pavilion, where Green Party leader Caroline Lucas is facing a challenge from the Conservatives. 

The two parties are helping each other in a small number of seats as part of what has been dubbed as "progressive alliance" - although in the vast majority of constituencies they will still be taking each other on. 

Confirming the move, Sarah Wood, chairwoman of the Oxfordshire Green Party, said.

Image source, PA

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have raised concerns about housing, the NHS and poverty in a general election letter to Anglican churchgoers.

The three-page message urges voters to consider their Christian heritage and "obligations to future generations".

It also calls on politicians to "renew and re-imagine" the UK's shared values amid divisions of recent years.

There needs to be "serious solutions" to home-building and a "flourishing" health service, the letter says. Read more

A senior Welsh Labour figure says the party is "in touch with people's realities" in Wales

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Labour Party

More from Ian Lavery's interview on Today a short while ago. 

Labour's national campaign coordinator admitted the General Election would be "challenging" but that the party would be talking and listening to people.  

He said the party had suffered in the local elections due to the "total collapse of UKIP", because those voters had gone to the Conservatives. 

Asked about suggestions from some in the party that Jeremy Corbyn was a factor, he said it could be devastating to lose your council seat and some were looking for "something or someone" to blame. He added that there had also been positive reactions to the Labour leader on the doorsteps. 

James Gallagher
BBC News Website, Health Editor

Image source, PA

A Liberal Democrat government would raise income tax to help fund the NHS and social care, the party has pledged.

It said a penny-in-the-pound rise on all income tax bands and on dividends would raise around £6bn a year.

The Tories said 30 million people would be hit by the tax rises. Labour said its NHS plans would be in its manifesto.

The Lib Dem pledge is complicated by devolution, such as Scotland having its own tax-raising powers.

The NHS is facing one of its toughest-ever financial challenges as it struggles with a growing and ageing population.

In the UK, £140bn was spent on health last year and around £25bn on social care. Read more

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

Labour's national campaign coordinator Ian Lavery has insisted there is "no rift" between Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham, who yesterday won the race to be the mayor of Greater Manchester.  

Former Labour leadership hopeful Burnham did not appear alongside Mr Corbyn in a rally in Manchester after his victory yesterday. 

Mr Lavery told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was not sure why Mr Burnham was not there and insisted there was no rift between the two men.

If you are catching up on the politics news this morning, here is a re-cap. 

Theresa May and the Conservatives are playing down talk of a landslide general election victory after the Conservatives made major gains at local elections, taking 500 seats and control of 11 councils.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party faced a challenge on a "historic scale" to win back power, but insisted he could close the gap on the Tories.

It was the best local election performance by a governing party in 40 years, with the gains mostly coming at the expense of Labour and UKIP, which lost all of its 145 local authority seats.

The Lib Dems increased their share of the vote by 7% but lost more than 40 seats.

Labour was beaten into third place by the Conservatives in Scotland, where the SNP was comfortably the largest party despite failing to take control of target councils. The picture in Wales was mixed.

The Conservatives won four out of six new mayor posts.

Read more.  

Good morning and welcome to the General Election Live Page. We will be keeping you up to date with all the campaign news and bringing further reaction to the local election results.  

The party leaders are all out again on the campaign trail, after what was seen as a strong performance by the Conservatives in England. They gained 500 seats and took control of 11 councils

Read more.

We're going to wind up our live text coverage of the local elections now, so what were the big stories from today? 

• Conservatives have made the biggest gains by a governing party in a local election for more than 40 years.
• Labour came third in Scotland and the Lib Dems failed to make headway.
• UKIP lost all of its existing seats but gained one.
• Polling expert John Curtice has projected the Tories' national vote share at 38%, Labour 27%, Lib Dems 18% and UKIP 5%.
• The Conservatives have four out of six new mayors, with Labour winning Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region.

Explore the results in depth.