Image source, PA Media

Boris Johnson admits his party faced a "mixed set of results" overnight as the votes for local elections in England were counted.

Speaking on a visit to a school in London, the PM says it was a "tough night in some parts of the country", but also says the Conservatives were making "remarkable gains" elsewhere.

He adds: "The big lesson, the message from voters about what they want us to do... is to focus on the big issues that matter to them."

Part of that, he says, is energy security, especially as bills soar, as well as his existing "agenda" on increasing the number of nurses and police officers.

Boris Johnson is making his first comments on the local election results.

He admits the Conservatives had a "tough night" in England.

Chris Page
BBC News Ireland correspondent

In Northern Ireland, ballot boxes have been opened, spreadsheets are being loaded up, and cups of coffee are being poured as candidates, journalists and count staff settle in for a long day.

Votes are being counted at three centres - in Belfast, Jordanstown, and Magherafelt - to decide how 90 seats are filled across 18 constituencies.

Polls in advance of the election suggested Sinn Féin could replace the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) as the largest party in the devolved Assembly.

That would mean that Sinn Féin's vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, would become the first Irish nationalist to be in line to take the position of First Minister.

The Alliance Party is set for strong gains, which may see it rise from fifth to at least third in the Stormont stakes.

However, any hopes a power-sharing government will be formed soon after the results look to be very slim.

The DUP has 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.

Sammy Wilson, a DUP MP in the House of Commons, has stepped up the rhetoric this morning, telling BBC Radio Ulster that “the Assembly cannot function if the poison of the protocol is still there".

Follow the latest from our colleagues in BBC Northern Ireland here.

Image source, Reuters

Lib Dems looking at the long game to oust Tory MPspublished at 11:38 British Summer Time 6 May 2022

11:38 BST 6 May 2022

Vicki Young
Deputy Political Editor

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has just made a speech in Wimbledon, urging people to join them to oust the Tories from power.

That area of London was a very marginal seat at the last general election - it is Conservative held and has been for a very long time. And while the Lib Dems got close in 2019, it was not close enough.

It is in the council area of Merton, run by Labour and held by Labour again today. But even though this is a day of reporting council election results, what you can hear Davey doing in his speech is naming parliamentary constituencies. He knows that winning these will ultimately provide the Lib Dems a way back from their huge losses in the post-coalition election of 2015.

So this is a really interesting part of the dynamic here, with the Lib Dems starting to get better results in all those areas they used to be strong in. And that could spell pretty bad news for sitting Conservative MPs.

It may be a long wait for all the results to roll in. But at least our political reporter in Sussex has some toys to keep him occupied...

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper welcomes what she calls "strong Labour results" so far and says they are down to the party rebuilding its support.

She says: "We do see this as a turning point for Labour because particularly since the 2019 election we've had a real rebuilding of support right across the country in different areas."

She also claims if Labour's vote share were to be replicated in the next general election it would win dozens of constituencies back from the Conservatives.

But analysis from polling expert Prof Sir John Curtice suggests, based on these results being repeated whenever Boris Johnson pulls the electoral trigger, Labour would not grab enough seats for a Westminster majority. In fact it would not even topple the Tories as the largest party in the Commons.

As counting continues, Labour is currently at a net loss of councils outside London, although we have only passed the halfway mark in England and none have been declared at all in Wales or Scotland.

The deputy leader of the Green Party says they are "getting the green representation that we truly deserve" as they win more seats in local councils.

Amelia Womack says her party had been "beating expectations" year after year, and she expects that to continue into the next general election.

Our lead political analyst Prof Sir John Curtice said a little earlier that the Greens had the least anticipated success of the night by gaining 23 seats so far - enough to more than double the party’s representation on the councils that have already declared

But they haven't yet matched their previous best ever local election performance in 2019.

Womack says voters have been "failed by other parties", and her party was providing a "green vision for those who want an alternative".

Image source, PA Media

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has arrived at the count in Moray, telling reporters it is too early to talk about his party's performance north of the border.

Asked about results in England, he says: "It's very disappointing and challenging for the party to lose councils we have held since the 1960s - right the way through when we've been in government, when we've been in opposition, at the peak of the Blair years."

Ross - who had called for the PM to resign over breaking lockdown rules, but then gave him his backing over Ukraine - acknowledged that defeated candidates had said Partygate was an issue for voters.

But he added: "It doesn't look like voters are shifting to other parties, they're staying at home this time. Again we have to wait and see what happens in Scotland.

"General apathy at local council elections is a concern for all the parties but we will not be immune from some of the problems we have seen south of the border with voters deciding this is an election they can sit out."

Image source, .

It's 11:00 in the UK - time to have a look at where things stand in England's local elections.

As our graphic shows, it's the Liberal Democrats who've had the biggest net gain in England so far - adding 58 councillors.

Labour has gained a net 33 councillors, with eye-catching wins in London but slow progress elsewhere.

With around half of council results declared, the Conservatives have lost 120 councillors so far, although this loss is less dramatic than some had expected.

Meanwhile, there's been a strong performance from the Greens, who've added 23 seats to their total.

We don't yet have any council results from Scotland and Wales, which started tallying their votes this morning.

Likewise, in the elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly, counting began at 09:00.

As usual at this time, all kinds of venues are pressed into action as counting centres where election results are declared after the tellers do their nimble but painstaking work.

In Newport, the Geraint Thomas Velodrome is where candidates have gathered, hoping to avoid their political hopes being punctured when the results are declared.

Across Wales, counting got under way at 09:00 - they don't do overnight counts for council elections - with a total of 1,160 seats up for grabs in Wales across the nation's 22 councils.

We expect results from Wales through the afternoon and into the evening.

BBC Wales will bring you all the results and analysis as the day progresses on their live page here.

Image source, PA Media

Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator admits the party has "much more work to do" to be back on track for a win at the next general election but she is positive about what she has seen so far at the counts.

Shabana Mahmood, who is also a party MP, tells Today that Labour "always had a mountain to climb" after their 2019 general election losses but says: "What the early results are showing... is we have made huge progress on that 2019 election result and on the results we saw last year."

Mahmood says the aggregate vote share shows Labour would win seats in the "Red Wall" area if these votes were translated to a general election, taking places like Workington, Grimsby, Leeds and West Bromwich.

"So we have a solid foundation to build on as we look ahead to the next general election," she says.

Image source, PA Images

If you're just joining us - welcome to our live coverage of the UK's election results. Here's a quick roundup of where things stand right now.

• Just over half of England’s councils have declared results so far. Results from other parts of the UK are expected later
• Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says his party has reached a “turning point” after snatching three key London local authorities from the Conservatives
• Wandsworth, Barnet, and Westminster all went from blue to red after decades of Tory leadership in each authority
• Outside the capital, Labour’s performance has been more mixed
• Conservative co-chairman Oliver Dowden has acknowledged some “disappointing” results but said voters were still convinced of Boris Johnson’s “bold leadership”
• Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has hailed a “historic night” for his party, which has gained Hull
• The Lib Dems have made a net gain of 58 councillors so far – more than any other party
• The Greens are also doing well, with a net gain of 23 councillors across England so far
• Vote-counting only began this morning in Scotland and Wales, where all council seats were up for grabs - results are expected by early evening
• Similarly, counting is now under way in Northern Ireland, where people have been electing a new government to the Stormont assembly - we may get a full result there overnight or on Saturday morning

Image source, .

Swindon is something of a bellwether town, but the Conservatives have held on to control of the Wiltshire unitary council.

Image source, .

One advantage of starting a local election count the morning after the vote - rather than overnight - is that it allows more time for the ballot papers to arrive at the counting centre.

Our colleagues working in Orkney have shared a photo of papers reaching the mainland from outlying islands of the Scottish archipelago.

Ballot-counting started across Scotland at 09:00. The first results are expected from noon, and there are hopes of a full picture by late afternoon or early evening.

Although we aim to bring you all the key developments right here, you can expect even more comprehensive coverage on our Scotland-specific live page.

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

All in all, Boris Johnson might feel this morning that the overnight news has not been as bad as he might have feared. He will doubtless argue that governments often lose ground in the middle of a parliamentary term, and in the past the damage has often been worse than this.

That said, these results illustrate the sharp decline in Conservative support over the last twelve months, not least in the wake of the recent Partygate scandal and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Tory MPs might be particularly concerned about the fact that party’s vote fell most heavily in the South of England outside London where many of them have their seats.

On the other hand, they may feel comforted by Labour’s failure not to make more progress than they did.

Tories at weakest since 2019 general election winpublished at 10:06 British Summer Time 6 May 2022

10:06 BST 6 May 2022

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

These early results have produced the much-anticipated reverse in electoral fortunes for the Conservatives. The party’s share of the vote in more than 600 key wards where the BBC has collected the detailed voting figures is down by four points since 2018, when the seats were last up for grabs.

Meanwhile, their loss of support is as much as six points compared with last year’s local election contests. These losses confirm that the party is now electorally weaker than at any point since Boris Johnson won his majority of 80 in 2019.

But as was also anticipated, this fall in support has not resulted in spectacular losses of seats. That reflects the fact that the Conservatives were defending many fewer wards than Labour. Even so, the loss of 120 seats to date represents one in five of those the party was trying to defend.

However, the loss of support for the Conservatives did not simply translate into a Labour advance. Indeed, across England as a whole the party’s vote failed to advance at all in wards where it faced competition from both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. A one-point advance in Labour’s vote share in London was accompanied by a three-point fall in the North of England.

The Tory MP for Stockton-on-Tees, Matt Vickers, says his party's losses are "not what they were stoked up to be" ahead of the vote.

He says: "Let's put it in context, these were mid-term elections after 12 years as the party in government, skewed towards Labour's base in London.

"It should have been Labour's day... they've fallen well short of that."

Asked whether Boris Johnson has been a factor in the losses his party have experienced so far - 122 seats at this stage - Vickers says he is "bitterly disappointed".

But he insists the PM is "still delivering across the north of England", with "huge investments" and "long term projects".

Heavy losses predicted for Tories in Scotlandpublished at 09:46 British Summer Time 6 May 2022

09:46 BST 6 May 2022

David Wallace Lockhart
BBC political correspondent

A Scottish Conservative source said the situation north of the border “is not looking good” and pointed the finger of blame at the prime minister.

The source predicted “heavy losses” for the Tories in Scotland and insisted “it’s all down to Partygate and Boris”.

They added that people who would normally back the the Tories were “understandably, and rightly, angry” and had opted to stay home rather than vote.

However, other Scottish Tories who spent the day on the doorstep suggested the situation in Westminster wasn’t a dominant issue, and voters were more concerned with local factors.

Scottish Labour seems relatively confident about coming second in terms of vote share. But it feels like a totemic moment – such as becoming the largest party on Glasgow City Council once again – remains slightly out of reach.

The main question for the SNP is just how big a margin of victory they secure. Sources say turnout will be key here.

Our colleagues at BBC Scotland will be giving you all the latest updates here.

Image source, LDRS/Bristol Live

In recent years, we have often reported on voters in a variety of cities around the country voting to install a directly-elected mayor, but Bristol has just gone the other way.

Voters there have decided in a referendum to abolish the post of directly-elected mayor, just a decade after it was created.

The city was given the choice of a mayor or a committee system in which decisions are made by groups of councillors and 56,113 of voters backed the latter as the way to go from now on, while 38,439 wanted to keep the mayor.

Mary Page, co-founder of the campaign for change, calls it a "victory" for the people who came out to vote.

She says: "The committee system will allow more people to be involved, to be engaged in democracy."

The current mayor, is Labour's Marvin Rees, who took up the post in 2016 when Bristol became the first major European city to elect a mayor of black African heritage. , externalHe was re-elected last year and will not have to pack his bags immediately as he will remain in his position until 2024 when the committee system comes in.