Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

On the basis of the results in so far it looks as if this might be a mildly encouraging night for the Lib Dems.

Their vote is on average up by four points in the wards that have declared. So far the party has made three net gains, including some spectacular gains in some individual wards in Sunderland.

It "clearly isn't" going to be a great night for UKIP, says the party's former deputy chair Suzanne Evans.

Referring to its internal turmoil over the past year, before the election of Gerard Batten as interim leader in February, she said: "You can't start a local election campaign and expect to pick up seats in just six weeks."

Labour has lost control of Nuneaton, with the Conservatives taking nine seats. Labour previously had 25 seats to the Tories' seven but now leads by just one.

Senior Labour and Conservative sources in Dudley, where either party could take control, say it's too close to call. Labour sources say it could come down to results in just two of the 24 wards being contested.

Richard Moss
Political Editor, BBC Look North

It's all over in Sunderland.

Overall Labour make a net loss of four seats.

The Conservatives were up two, Lib Dems up three, Independents lose their only seat.

The new council make up:

• Labour 61
• Conservatives 8
• Lib Dems 6

That's Labour's worst tally of seats here since 2012.

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

If you have insomnia, tonight is the night for you - a rich trickle of political intrigue that will either engage you until the sun rises, or cure your sleeplessness in one go.

There is a parliamentary by-election in West Tyrone in Northern Ireland. But beyond that, these elections are taking the political temperature primarily in urban England: in all 32 London boroughs, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle among others. These were places where council contests last took place in 2014. The Prime Minister was David Cameron, the man who hoped to replace him a year later, Ed Miliband. How politics has changed since.

The night is young - and the first results from individual wards are beginning to come in. But cometh this hour on election night and cometh the speculation, and little else. You'll need to burn more than just midnight oil before we have something more substantial to say.

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

With 45 key wards now declared it looks as though outside of London there is not going to be much of a swing since 2014 in either the Conservatives' or Labour's direction. The one big change that clearly is happening is that the UKIP vote is collapsing virtually everywhere and where it does it is usually the Conservatives who appear to benefit most.

Although there does not appear to be any overall swing from Conservative to Labour or vice-versa, there is already a pattern emerging whereby the Tories are advancing most in areas that voted Leave, while Labour is performing somewhat better in Remain-voting areas.

If this persists then while Labour may not be advancing outside of London, it may well make gains in the capital.

In the run-up to the election many people had assumed Labour would take the lead in Barnet, where the Conservatives are the largest party by just one seat. However, BBC London's political editor Tim Donovan says Labour officials did not sound optimistic as counting got under way.

"The code is that they think the row over anti-Semitism might have had an impact," he says, pointing out the large local Jewish population.

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says that if predictions are correct we can expect Labour to make advances in London, while the Conservatives may "nibble away" at Labour seats in towns around England.

Both will be looking for changes in the dynamic from last year's general election, she says, adding that the Tories want to prove they've not on the slide while Labour wants to show it's "on the march".

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

A second declaration in Swindon has witnessed nearly a 5% increase in turnout, again suggesting that the voter ID pilot in the borough may not have significantly impacted on turnout. Meanwhile, in this ward too there is virtually no swing from Conservative to Labour or vice-versa.

It looks as though it could be the case that the Tories' hope of winning Basildon will not be fulfilled. The wards that were held by UKIP seem to be reverting to whichever of Conservative or Labour won the ward before 2014, but in one instance a previously Conservative ward has instead been captured by an independent. If this pattern persists, the Tories are likely to be short of the four gains that they require to win overall control.

"UKIP are hopeful tonight in Swindon but yet to see any results," reports Gina Clarke, from a bustling basketball court.

The Conservatives have recorded their first gain from Labour in one of the key wards being analysed by the BBC. In the Barnes ward of Sunderland there was a 6% swing from Labour. UKIP had won 18% of the vote there in 2014.

"Does Reading have the most appropriately named ward for an electoral contest?" wonders the BBC's Paul Brown. We take it he doesn't mean Caversham.

Here are some of the earliest expected council result times tonight:

Halton, Swinton - 00:00 BST

Tameside, Harlow, Sunderland, Basildon, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Broxbourne - 00:30 BST

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

A second Basildon result where the UKIP vote is down by 25 points has seen Labour manage to pick up the ward, thanks to an increase in its vote that almost matches that of the Conservatives. It may be the case that the Conservatives are not always the main beneficiary of a drop in UKIP support, and particularly in places that were once Labour territory but were grabbed by UKIP in 2014.

The third Sunderland key ward, in which UKIP won 25% of the vote in 2014, has again repeated the pattern of a substantial increase in Conservative support, while Labour's vote has actually fallen back slightly. We may have signs here that Labour's performance is not going to be particularly strong in places that voted heavily for Leave in 2016.

Away from the town hall counts, David Leakey, who served as Black Rod in Parliament until 2017, has told the BBC's Newsnight that House of Commons Speaker John Bercow could be "intimidating, unreasonable and disproportionate".

Mr Leakey said that, on one occasion, Mr Bercow apologised after he "suddenly erupted in a rage, banging the table, shouting, and being extremely and personally rude to me, including calling me an anti-Semite".

Mr Bercow has denied allegations of bullying House of Commons staff. A spokesman for his office said he and Mr Leakey "had fundamental disagreements" in 2011 and 2012, but had "interacted adequately" after that.