Party leaders in England have been reacting to the election results that have been announced so far.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already acknowledged they've been been "tough" for the Conservatives. Meanwhile, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says he has been celebrating - although major gains have not been made outside London.

The Liberal Democrats gained the most seats of any party.

Here's a look at how some top politicians have responded.

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In London, Labour MP Stella Creasy has been speaking at an event about New Labour's electoral successes, 25 years on from their first win in 1997.

The leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in the Labour Party has become a real hot button issue among the British left, as no Labour leader before or since Tony Blair has ever been able to build the kind of electoral success he had. Blair's leadership of the party was seen as "New Labour", when the party reinvented itself and changed some of its traditional trade union connections.

But Creasy says it's important that the left doesn't "fetishise" the New Labour movement, as it was "a product of its time".

"In the 1990s, very few people were focused on a national minimum wage, or poverty," she says. But she argues that Labour was able to change the national conversation, to make sure the party stood for something different.

"There is a risk for the Labour party now, that New Labour becomes the equivalent of Friends on our TV," whereby it is "endlessly debated, dissected and discussed" but nothing new comes of it.

Every generation needs a "new vision" and "new leadership", she says.

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The Scottish National Party (SNP) has finished as the biggest party in the Scottish council elections, with Labour replacing the Conservatives as the second largest.

Speaking to the BBC, Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she is "thrilled" with her party's performance.

The SNP has gained 23 councillors while Labour has gained 19. The Conservatives have lost 62 councillors.

Sturgeon says Labour's gains have been down to a "collapse in the Tory vote" rather than "any genuine progress".

Meanwhile, she says says voters have been impressed with her government's handling of the pandemic and management of the health service.

"We've had a really good set of results today," Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tells the BBC.

"I've actually been with our teams today, celebrating the very great successes we've had in the local elections," he says.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has been just been speaking to reporters outside his party's HQ. Asked about the police investigation into an alleged lockdown breach, he says he was "working in the office" when the staff "stopped for something to eat" and there was "no party and no breach of the rules".

He says today he has been spending the day celebrating his wins in local elections in the UK for the Labour Party.

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The Conservatives have taken control of Harrow council in London, which was previously under Labour.

It's one of the few success stories for the Conservatives in the capital, after the party lost the boroughs of Wandsworth, Westminster and Barnet to Labour.

Westminster has been in the hands of the Tories since 1964, when the borough was formed. Both Westminster and Wandsworth are renowned for their low council tax.

Wandsworth Council was a favourite of former Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who came to power a year after the Conservatives took control of the borough.

There's still loads to come in these elections, and we're expecting results to keep coming in this evening and into Saturday.

We're nearly done with Scottish results, with only three more councils to declare. In England, there are 19 more councils to go and in Wales there are still 13 who have not announced their results yet.

The big story over the next few hours will be the Northern Ireland Assembly, of which 15 seats have been announced out of 90. Northern Ireland elections are run through the single transferable vote, with results therefore taking longer to come through.

Also hotly debated over the coming hours and days will be the position the Conservatives find themselves in, as English councils continue to declare results and the party facing losses of hundreds of seats.

Welsh councils began counting votes on Friday morning. The first results are in and should continue until the early evening.

Labour is ahead of Plaid Cymru and independents. There are council seats yet to be announced, however.

The Conservatives have suffered significant losses in Denbighshire, while the Liberal Democrats have had one of their best results in local government for years after they gained 10 seats in the rural mid-Wales county of Powys.

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Chris Page
BBC News Ireland correspondent

Since arriving here at the Titanic Exhibition Centre in Belfast, it’s been easy to spot which party is by far the happiest.

Every Alliance Party candidate, activist and supporter has been smiling.

The early tallies are now turning into positive results.

Alliance is on course to gain seats in areas where it hasn’t won before - and possibly pick up a second seat in some constituencies where it already has a Stormont representative.

The Sinn Féin mood has been lifted in particular by the result in Belfast North, where its two candidates were elected at the first stage - in spite of pre-election speculation at least one of them could lose out.

The Ulster Unionist Party and nationalist SDLP are decidedly downbeat - as they, so far, bear the brunt of the Alliance surge.

Members of the Democratic Unionist Party are not as subdued.

But it’s not difficult to pick up a certain nervousness from their corner, as it becomes clear Sinn Féin may well replace them as the largest party at Stormont.

A key deciding factor may be how many transfers go to the DUP from other unionist parties - including the Traditional Unionist Voice.

The TUV has only ever had its leader Jim Allister elected to Stormont - but its vote share has rocketed in a number of constituencies.

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Alliance Party leader Naomi Long says the party's "positive message" has been well-received by voters tired of Northern Ireland's "orange and green politics".

Long, who was elected in East Belfast earlier on the first count, told the BBC voters are fed up of a "constant binary division in our society".

Her party has sought to style itself as the centre ground of Northern Ireland politics.

She says voters have been most concerned with the cost of living and how the health service is run.

Long told media earlier that this had been "an emotional election campaign" for her following the death of her father-in-law, whose funeral she attended yesterday.

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Labour's shadow international trade secretary says the results of the local elections have given party members "great hope".

Emily Thornberry reminds BBC News "how everybody felt the morning after the election in 2019", when Labour lost "appallingly".

She says: "Some people were saying it was the end of the Labour Party, we weren't going to get anywhere, that was it. And we are turning things around."

Thornberry claims this set of results shows her party could win back seats like Workington and Hartlepool in the so-called Red Wall.

"We are not saying we would win the general election tomorrow," she adds. "What we are saying is we are on our way."

The shadow minister was also asked about so-called "beergate" after Durham Police confirmed they were investigating an event during lockdown where Sir Keir Starmer was pictured drinking.

But Thornberry says Labour is "absolutely confident that there is nothing to answer here".

Tobias Ellwood has called on fellow Conservative MPs to assess whether Boris Johnson is still fit to be leader of the party.

The former defence minister told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme that "it's for other colleagues to take a stock check, not just for these elections, but also in the next couple of weeks.

"We know there's more evidence to come out, the Sue Gray report as well."

He said "trust has been breached with the British people and it is the duty of every single Conservative MP to make that assessment and then act accordingly".

Asked about fellow Tories downplaying the party's losses, he said: "We are haemorrhaging support in parts of the country, there's some serious issues going on".

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The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has been elected in Lagan Valley with 12,626 votes - well above the quota of 8,506.

The vote count is continuing across three centres in Northern Ireland. The DUP and Sinn Féin are vying for top spot at Stormont, which comes with the entitlement to nominate the next first minister.

Donaldson said the DUP "is very much in the game at the moment - I have made it clear we need the government to take decisive action on the protocol".

The DUP previously said it is staying out of the Stormont Executive unless the Brexit trade border with the rest of the UK - the Northern Ireland Protocol - is scrapped.

“One of the key messages for me is that unionism simply can’t afford the divisions that exist," Donaldson added.

This year, the DUP has been regarded as playing it safe, running 30 candidates, while Sinn Féin has run 34.

So far, Sinn Féin has increased its share of the vote in Belfast North by 6.1 percentage points in that constituency.

SNP on course for another election victory in Scotlandpublished at 16:00 British Summer Time 6 May 2022

16:00 BST 6 May 2022

Glenn Campbell
BBC Scotland Political Editor

We’ve got used to the SNP winning elections in Scotland. In this contest they continue to resist electoral gravity. The party is gaining seats and on course for an 11th successive national victory.

They are not the only party with something to celebrate. After years of decline, Labour is also making gains including taking overall control of West Dunbartonshire council.

While we still have results to come in, it does looks like Labour has regained second place from the Conservatives who are suffering significant losses and seem to be taking a bigger hit in Scotland than England. Some Scottish Tories are blaming Boris Johnson and partygate, with others highlighting Scottish party leader Douglas Ross’s flip-flop over whether the PM should resign.

The Liberal Democrats have also picked up seats as have the Scottish Greens who seem to have benefited from their power-sharing deal with the SNP in the Scottish government.

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Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey tells the BBC his party will seize Conservative constituencies at the next general election.

The Lib Dems have gained over 500 council seats in England and Scotland.

Speaking in front of party activists in Wimbledon Common, Sir Ed says: "I’m excited about all those seats across the Blue Wall which, frankly, we haven’t been players in for a long time.”

He describes the results as an "historic moment" for the party and says the "tectonic plates of British politics are shifting".

The Lib Dems also took control of Hull City Council from Labour.

Sir Ed claims Conservatives were being dragged down by a "discredited" prime minister, and warns if Boris Johnson remains in place the "Liberal Democrats are coming for you".

Vicki Young
Deputy Political Editor

There are going to be a lot of very nervous Conservative MPs watching these results coming in across southern England.

It might not end up being a disastrous result for the Tories everywhere, which helps Boris Johnson survive as leader.

But many of them will be realising their once safe seats are under threat.

It may not be dramatic enough to lead to a coup against the PM.

However, those MPs will be assessing if he is a vote winner for them or not.

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Another significant win for the Liberal Democrats, who will be in control of the newly-created unitary authority for the county of Somerset.

Earlier, the Lib Dems unseated Labour from Hull.

The party has so far managed a net gain of 124 councillors across England - more than any other party across the country.

It's also seen a net gain of 16 seats in Scotland - second only to the Scottish National Party so far.

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Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O'Neill has been elected in Mid-Ulster with 10,845 first preference votes - with the highest voter turnout of 69.5%.

Three Sinn Féin candidates have also been elected in Belfast - Gerry Kelly and Carál Ní Chuilín have been elected in Belfast North, and Sinn Féin's Danny Baker has been elected in Belfast West.

Kelly won 8,395 first preference votes and Ní Chuilín won 7,943 - the quota was 7,672

Baker won with 9,011 votes - the quota was 7,278.

So far, five of the 90 seats up for grabs in the Northern Ireland assembly have been filled.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin are battling it out for top spot in the election - with the majority party being given the right to nominate the next first minister.

The DUP won 28 seats at the last Assembly elections in 2017, just ahead of Sinn Féin which returned 27 MLAs.

Image source, Reuters

The big picture

• The BBC has used results in hundreds of key wards to predict what would have happened if the entire country had voted in Thursday's elections
• This projected national share shows Labour as the biggest party - taking 35% of the vote - while the Conservatives are on 30%
• This estimate represents Labour's healthiest local election lead since 2012 - although it's worth saying that people vote differently in local and general elections

Councils won and lost

• 108 of 146 councils in England have now declared their results

• Labour has taken two West Sussex councils that were under no overall control: Crawley and Worthing. Earlier, it trumpeted wins in three key London councils
• The Liberal Democrats have taken Hull and the newly-created Somerset unitary authority after a strong showing, gaining more than 100 councillors in England
• Many results in Scotland so far show no change to the control of councils, although the Scottish National Party has gained Dundee
• A flurry of further results in Scotland and Wales is expected later this afternoon or early this evening
• Overnight or on Saturday morning, we hope to have the full results from the elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly

What the party leaders have said

• Boris Johnson acknowledged a "tough night" for the Conservatives after a net loss of 10 councils in England
• Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said winning a newly-created council in Cumberland showed his party could win anywhere

We're more than half-way through the counting and a picture of the local elections in Scotland is beginning to emerge.

It's the Scottish Conservatives who are falling back from their 2017 result, with most of the other parties making gains.

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