Gavin Bevis
BBC News

Ashfield Independents enjoyed a hugely successful night, securing 30 out of 35 seats at Ashfield District Council.

Leader Jason Zadrozny told BBC Radio Nottingham: "Politics has been a bit of a mess in Ashfield for the last few years but this is a vindication of what we've done over the last year.

"We've worked damn hard to show that we can make a difference to all our towns and Ashfield Independents have done that in spectacular style tonight."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Rob Ford - professor of politics from the University of Manchester - tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "it is very much a plague on all your houses regarding the big two parties".

"Their vote has gone to everybody who is available," he says.

"The Liberal Democrats are the biggest winners of the smaller parties but both the Greens and independent candidates have also done well.

"Where UKIP are still standing they are also up on their performance on last year - but down on what was a strong performance in 2015."

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

There have been some remarkably good figures for the Greens, who on average are running at 11% of the vote in the wards that they are fighting, up five points on their performance in last year's local elections.

So far the Greens have made net gains of nearly 20 seats.

Meanwhile the Lib Dems are also advancing, with their vote up on average not only by eight points as compared with 2015 but also by two points as compared with last year - performances that are good enough to enable the party to make net gains of over 200 seats.

The party seems to be advancing most strongly in wards where it was previously in second place.

Finally, although UKIP look as though they may not perform as well as the party did in 2015 when it won 13% of the vote in the General Election, but is still scoring more strongly than it did in 2018.

A further key feature of this election may well be a tendency for voters to swing away from whichever party was strong locally.

Even independent candidate have made gains of 170 seats where they appeared capable of mounting a strong challenge locally.

So far both the Conservatives and the Labour Party have been losing votes most heavily in those wards where they were strongest prior to today. It may be that one of the consequences of the Brexit impasse is to say "a plague on all incumbents".

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

There is a whole panoply of local issues that affected how people voted but Brexit is the elephant stalking every town hall this morning.

It is an emerging picture but when you step back both Conservatives and Labour have taken a bit of kicking.

The reaction from local leaders of the main parties is that the whole issue of Brexit has played big, particularly the lack of clarity from both parties and where they stand.

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

It looks as though the key message from the voters to the Conservatives and Labour is "a plague on both of your houses", as both of them find themselves losing both votes and seats on an extensive basis.

Even though the Labour Party is defending a relatively poor result in 2015, the party is not doing even as well as it did then.

So far the party has made a net loss of nearly 80 seats, while its vote is down on average by one point compared with 2015 in a collection of wards where the BBC has been collecting the detailed results, and by seven points as compared with last year's local election results.

The party lost control of Bolsover, Wirral, and Hartlepool... with only the capture of Trafford in compensation.

Meanwhile, although the results for the Conservatives so far are perhaps not as bad as they might have feared, their vote is down on average by six points compared with 2015.

As a result, the party is now also suffering net loss of nearly 300 seats, though the party seems unlikely - on the figures so far - to suffer the very heavy losses that some anticipated.

The Conservatives are also down by six points on average as compared with last year's local election results.

Although the party gained control of North East Lincolnshire and Walsall, they lost control of as many as a dozen councils including Peterborough where a by-election is due next month.

BBC News Channel

As BBC One's special election programme winds up the guests are asked for their final thoughts.

The Green Party's Sian Berry says: "We've made a lot of gains and I'm really looking forward to the European elections."

Labour's Nia Griffith says it is "notable that the Tories have lost seats in places you wouldn't expect them to".

Conservative Marcus Jones says his party has made "some very good inroads in the North into Labour territory".