Conservatives have gained control of Gloucestershire from no overall control after winning 27 of the 53 seats so far, with some divisions still to declare. 

The Labour leader of Merthyr Tydfil Council, Brendan Toomey, has lost his seat.

The former deputy leader of Monmouthshire council, Lib Dem Phyl Hobson, has lost his seat to the Conservatives.

Since 2012, the Tories with 19 seats ran the council with the Lib Dems, who had three seats.

Image source, PA

The Conservatives have retained control in Essex, winning 50 of the 75 seats with a few wards still to declare.

Pictured is Councillor Dick Madden, who celebrated retaining his seat.

The Conservatives have retained control of Hampshire, winning 42 of the 78 seats with some divisions still to declare.

Conservatives have gained control of Lincolnshire after winning 36 seats of the 70 on the council, with some divisions still to declare.

Political scientist Professor John Curtice says a very clear pattern is beginning to emerge in the early overnight declarations from the county council elections in England. 

For the most part the results are clearly confirming the message of the opinion polls, he says.

In summary:

• There is a very substantial swing from Labour to the Conservatives which is currently averaging some nine points. If this continues this will point towards a strong double-digit Conservative lead over Labour across the country as a whole
• The UKIP vote is collapsing heavily and so far is down on average by 15 points in wards they fought this time and last time
• The Lib Dem performance is very patchy but at the moment suggests that the party may not be doing significantly better than they did in 2013. There is little sign here of the much touted Lib Dem revival
• These voting patterns are clearly reflected in the pattern of gains and losses so far with Labour losing more than half the seats it's trying to defend - while the Conservatives have already made net gains
• The Lib Dems have lost six seats in England, while UKIP had lost every single one of the 9 seats it was trying to defend
• Meanwhile, the Conservatives have won control of Warwickshire and look likely to do so in Lincolnshire 

The Conservatives have gained control of Warwickshire after winning 29 out of the 46 seats so far, with some divisions still to declare. 

Labour is losing seats in the early declarations in England on a very substantial scale, political scientist Professor John Curtice says.

"So far the party has managed to defend just 19 of the 41 seats that it was trying to defend," he says. 

"If the party's losses were to continue on this scale we could be looking at overall Labour losses by the end of Friday afternoon of well over 200 seats simply in England alone."

Political scientist Professor John Curtice says on the basis of the key wards in so far - from Cumbria, Gloucestershire and Essex - there appears to be a very strong swing from Labour to the Conservatives, compared with 2013. 

"On average, it is currently running at 9%, a swing that is certainly in line with the claim of the opinion polls that the Conservatives enjoy a substantial double-digit lead over Labour in popularity across the UK as a whole," he says.

The chairman of the Labour group on Warwickshire County Council, who has lost his seat this morning, says people have told him that Jeremy Corbyn's style "has been putting them off voting Labour".

Phil Johnson, who is also standing as Labour's candidate in Nuneaton at the 8 June general election, says he believes the Labour group on the county council "will be significantly reduced".

He tells BBC Radio 4 that national issues "have swamped" the party's local campaign, adding: "I think while Jeremy Corbyn's policies are popular and can be quite well received by the public, his leadership style isn't.

"People have been saying to us that Jeremy Corbyn's style has been putting them off voting Labour.

"When the policies are explained they do receive a degree of support, but Jeremy Corbyn isn't coming across well with the public."

Shadow international secretary Barry Gardiner says reports that Labour could lose control of Merthyr Tydfil "would be a huge loss" to the party.

Keir Hardie, the founder of the Labour Party, was the town's MP in the early 1900s.

Mr Gardiner told BBC Radio 4 that four years' ago Labour achieved a "high watermark" in Wales, adding that "these things go in cycles and we were not expecting it to be as good as it was then".

But he added:

The Conservatives have already made four gains in Lincolnshire from UKIP which suggests the party is now on course to gain overall control of the council, political scientist Professor John Curtice says.

Some patterns are beginning to emerge in the handful of the BBC key wards that have declared so far, political scientist Professor John Curtice says.

In summary:

• The UKIP vote is falling away very heavily in places where the party was previously strong, and on average is down by some 15 percentage points
• The Conservatives are beginning to record some very substantial double-digit advances in their vote share on 2013, not least but not exclusively in wards where the UKIP vote has collapsed. These could prove to be the best local election results for the Conservatives for nearly 10 years
• The early signs for Labour are largely discouraging, apart from some substantial falls in some of the key wards. The party has also been losing ground in Wrexham, has lost support heavily in Cumbria, and has also lost an important ward in Warwickshire
• The Lib Dem vote is so far up on average by about four points on 2013 - a modest increase that is seemingly in line with its modest increase in support in recent opinion polls. However, as in recent local government by-elections, it looks as though its performance could prove to be very patchy
• Early results so far suggest that turnout may be up slightly on the record low of 30% recorded for county council elections four years ago.

Counting is under way to establish who will become the first West of England combined authority mayor, known as a metro mayor.

Elections have been held across Bristol City Council, Bath and North East Somerset Council and South Gloucestershire Council areas. 

Six candidates hope to become the first elected mayor for the authority, gaining new decision-making and spending powers. They are: Tim Bowles for the Conservative Party, Aaron Foot for UKIP, Darren Hall for the Green Party, Lesley Mansell for Labour, independent candidate John Savage and Stephen Williams for the Liberal Democrats. 

The West of England is one of six "super-regions" that will elect a metro mayor on 5 May, with other areas including the West Midlands and Greater Manchester. 

The West of England is expected to announce its metro mayor in the early morning, with the other regions expected to declare on Friday afternoon.

The Conservatives have gained two seats in Cumbria on large swings from Labour in a ward where the UKIP vote has fallen away heavily, political scientist Professor John Curtice says.

"It is beginning to look as though the Tory success in the Copeland by-election may be repeated more widely in the elections in Cumbria," he adds. 

This Week

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent