Chris Mason
Political editor

I'm getting a few bits and bobs being zapped to me from various folk. One Conservative source claims the situation for them in Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire is “terrible”.

The Tories also feel that plenty of their former voters have not bothered turning up to vote this time.

Labour are feeling very chipper in Plymouth.

The Liberal Democrats are upbeat in Hinkley and Bosworth in the Midlands, where they claim there has been a “total Tory collapse".

We've got our first council result of the night: Labour have retained control of the Cheshire unitary authority of Halton.

Image source, .

Image source, EPA

Cabinet minister Chris Heaton-Harris has been out to bat for the Conservatives tonight.

The Northern Ireland secretary acknowledged that a tough few hours lie ahead for his party in the local elections, but with Rishi Sunak as prime minister "we know our fortunes are changing in a positive direction".

"We are a government that is in mid-term, and mid-term after 13 years," he told BBC's Newsnight programme

"And yes, we had, you could say, a bit of a blip and we've been trying to make sure we win people's trust back and we've been doing that by talking about and acting on people's priorities."

Heaton-Harris said the party is in "no doubt" that it's in for "a tough set of results", adding that "fantastic councillors" were set to lose their seats.

Peter Barnes
BBC political analyst

Only 64 of the 230 councils with elections are counting their votes overnight.

They also tend to be places where only a third of the council seats are being contested this year, which means they’re less likely to switch from one party to another than those counting tomorrow.

But there are still interesting places to keep an eye on.

The Conservatives are defending modest majorities in Brentwood, East Lindsey and North West Leicestershire. They could also be at risk from a Lib Dem challenge in Dacorum and Windsor & Maidenhead.

Labour will be looking to take control of Plymouth and become the largest party in Worcester, Bolton, and Stoke-on-Trent. North Lincolnshire could also be interesting, although Labour are starting quite a long way behind the Conservatives.

Hull is a close battle between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. And Colchester is a battleground council for all three of the main parties, with the Greens in the mix too.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils in England, has sounded a note of caution when it comes to judging the impact of voter ID.

In a statement, it says it is "too early to properly analyse" the effect of the requirement, but councils will be reporting into a review conducted by the Electoral Commission in the coming days and weeks.

Polling station staff are legally required to collect information about the number of voters who were turned away because they didn't have photo ID.

However, much of the data they collect cannot be published - instead, it will be sent to the government and the Electoral Commission.

We've been bringing you comments from the parties after the polls closed, with Labour, the Greens and Lib Dems all confident and the Tories expecting a tough night.

But according to polling expert Prof Sir John Curtice, expectations from the parties on seats gained and lost "all come with a very substantial health warning".

This is because "5,000 of the 8,000 seats up for grabs were in the small, shire district councils of England, in many of which there is a whole council election in which the wards are not just electing one councillor but often two or three", he said.

"So results in places which are by no means typical of the country as a whole are going to dominate the results in terms of gains and losses."

He told BBC's Newsnight that what we should be looking at is seats, and not votes, in terms of the projected national share.

Curtice added that "there is no guarantee that even if the Labour Party do match their current position in the opinion polls that this means the Labour Party will form the next government".

"It simply tells us that at the moment at least, Labour are doing as well as they are in the opinion polls and therefore might reasonably hope to win the next election. But they will still have to convince voters to vote for them again in 18 months time," he said.

Rob Corp
Live reporter

As we mentioned previously, around a third of the 230 councils which held elections today are going to work all night counting ballot papers.

We expect a steady trickle of results to come in through the night, with the first declaration - where else but in speedy Sunderland - expected before 1am.

We’ll then be looking for a result from another council in the North East - Hartlepool - which is estimated to come in at around 01:30.

The Conservatives made big gains here to become the largest party in 2021 and will be looking to cement their position in a traditionally Labour-voting area.

Then we fast forward to around 02:45 when we’ll be looking out for the result from Worcester where there’s a small chance Labour could win a majority for the first time this century.

Shortly afterwards, at approximately 03:00, all eyes will be on Hull and the potential there for the Liberal Democrats to lose control of the council, as Labour only need to pick up two councillors to make that happen.

At 04:00 we go to the South West to see whether the Lib Dems can keep control of North Devon - which they only achieved last December thanks to a by-election.

Staying in Devon, at 05:00 we hope to get a result from the maritime city of Plymouth which is a major Labour target.

We expect to get a few more results up until 07:30 when the overnight counts are due to conclude.

Then the councils which opted to count in daylight will get under way and there will be a bit of a pause until more results start to emerge some time after midday.

Our coverage of the local elections is focused on England, where more than 8,000 seats are being contested at 230 councils.

Mayoral elections are also taking place in Bedford, Leicester, Mansfield and Middlesbrough.

In Northern Ireland, 11 council elections are being held on 18 May.

If you are wondering why there are no results from Scotland or Wales that’s because there weren’t elections there today.

Councils in those two nations hold elections every five years and given voters there elected local authorities last year, the next poll is not due until 2027.

Around a third of English councils which held their elections today are counting their ballot papers overnight, leaving the rest to tally their results during the course of Friday.

We’ll continue bringing you those results through the day as councils aim to get everything done and dusted ahead of the Coronation long weekend.

The Green Party say they are confident of having taken votes from both traditionally Labour and Conservative voters during today's elections.

In a statement after polls closed, the party said it was clear on the doorstep that many people are "appalled" by the Conservatives and are "deserting the party in droves".

"But also, there is no enthusiasm for Labour because they're not offering any inspiration or practical solutions to the crises we're facing," the Greens added.

As we've been reporting, voters needed to show photo ID at polling stations today - the first elections in England to do so.

According to a spokesman from the Electoral Commission, the initial assessment is that the elections were "well run" largely due to the dedication of administrators who "worked hard to prepare for today".

The spokesman said confidence in the overall picture "should not overlook other impacts which can only be revealed through detailed data collection and analysis over the coming weeks".

But he added that previous research carried out by the Electoral Commission ahead of these elections showed "the ID requirement posed a greater challenge for some groups in society, and that some people were regrettably unable to vote today as a result".

Image source, PA Media

All the main UK parties have put out post-poll statements, with the Liberal Democrats saying voters were fed up of being taken for granted by the Conservative government.

"I have knocked on countless doors in recent weeks and heard real anger and frustration from voters who are sick and tired of being taken for granted by this Conservative government," the party's deputy leader Daisy Cooper said.

"Tonight, their voices will be heard."

Cooper thanked Lib Dem councillors, candidates and volunteers for "working tirelessly" and being "true local champions" as they have "done the party proud".

And so the analysis, spin and expectation management begins.

After the polls closed, a Conservative Party spokesman said:

Image source, PA Media

As the polls closed, Labour said it was proud of the "positive campaign" it had run that "focused on the issues that matter most to voters".

“This is a cost of living election," said Shabana Mahmood, Labour’s National Campaign Co-ordinator.

"We have set out the choices we would make to help people through the cost of living crisis, cut crime and cut NHS waiting lists, but the Tories have been silent on the issues that matter most."

She added that voters will have sent a "damning message" about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's leadership if the Tories "go backwards from their disastrous 2019 local election results".

Mahmood said Labour expected to make gains and progress in areas it needs to win the next election.

Much has been made in recent years of the Conservatives’ gains in so-called “red wall” areas - traditionally Labour-voting places in the English Midlands and North which flipped to the Tories under Boris Johnson in the 2019 general election delivering the party an 80-seat Commons majority.

So it will be interesting to see whether councils like Hartlepool in the North East, where the Conservatives became the largest party in 2021, stick with them or drift back to Labour.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party will be looking to see signs of recovery in its traditional heartlands.

But there’s also a potentially interesting story in the Tories’ so-called “blue wall” - England’s shire counties - where their vote has come under pressure from the Liberal Democrats.

And what about those areas in the South East where Labour have been challenging for control?

The picture should be somewhat clearer by late tomorrow afternoon.

Image source, .

Chris Mason
Political editor

Image source, Getty Images

The Conservatives, as one cabinet minister put it to me, are "braced" for losses, many former Tory voters described by the party as being "grumpy" with them, if not "furious".

The Liberal Democrats are upbeat about advances in counties around London in particular; the Greens are predicting advances too.

Labour sound chipper; they think they are luring back voters who have previously deserted them.

All of this will matter as it will determine who runs so many of the vital public services that we rely on every day.

But it will matter too for the mood of the national parties.

The key test, by tomorrow night, will be to what extent are Labour making progress? To what extent are the Conservatives in retreat?

In short, do the results, when they're all in, suggest Labour can win the next general election, or not?

Waiting game begins as votes castpublished at 22:00 British Summer Time 4 May 2023

22:00 BST 4 May 2023

Chris Mason
Political editor

So here goes.

Polling stations have closed, the verdict of the people - in much of England at least - has been delivered.

But, unlike a general election, there is no big reveal moment, no exit poll as polling stations pack up in these local elections, so no figure, no estimated outcome to shape the breathless analysis of the actual results in the hours that follow.

Instead, a more sedate, even if still nocturnal, for some at least, unveiling of the outcome.

Only around a third of the results will come in the small hours, the majority of local authorities opting for daytime arithmetic instead.

But sleep is for wimps on election nights...or so I'm trying to convince myself.

We will be here, online, on television and on the radio all night unpicking the results as they come in.

And doing the same throughout Friday as well.

Marita Moloney
Live reporter

It’s just gone 22:00 and polls have now closed in the English local elections which have been held in every corner of the country from Devon to Tyneside.

Some 8,000 council seats are up for grabs at 230 local authorities.

While local issues will be in play, these elections are a good test of where the political parties stand ahead of the next general election which is expected to be held in 2024.

It’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s first electoral test as leader of the Conservatives, while for Labour it will be interesting to see whether the party’s sustained opinion poll lead is reflected in its performance at the ballot box.

Stay with us - around 60 councils will declare their results overnight, and Rob Corp, Paul Seddon and I are here to keep you updated throughout.

Plus we’ll have analysis overnight from our political editor Chris Mason and you’ll be able to stream the BBC News’ special election programme without leaving this page by clicking on the play button above from 23:30.

More than 8,000 council seats are being contested at 230 councils in England - here’s a recap of some areas they’re responsible for:

• providing care for the elderly and disabled
• schools
• fixing potholes on some roads
• collecting rubbish

Take a look at how responsibilities differ in different types of councils below:

Image source, .

In Northern Ireland, which has elections on 18 May, councils have fewer responsibilities. They do not run education, road-building or housing, but do collect taxes and maintain some local services.

More than 8,000 councillors across 230 councils from all corners of England are being elected today - that’s about two thirds of the country’s local authorities.

There aren’t any elections in Scotland or Wales this year, but there will be some in Northern Ireland on 18 May.

Take a look at which areas are holding elections below:

Image source, .

And have a look at the following graph which shows the state-of-play going into today's elections.

Image source, .

Image source, PA Media

Local elections are being held in England only. Voters are deciding who runs services in 230 local councils.

There are around 8,000 councillor seats and four mayoral posts up for grabs - there’s still time to check if there's a vote in your area here.

For the first time, people have needed to show photo ID to vote in polling stations. There are more details on accepted ID here.

Polling stations close soon - at 22:00.

You can follow all the results and analysis during the night and throughout Friday right here on this page.