Image source, .

Labour has held Worthing Borough Council, in West Sussex in the south of England.

Size of Labour's majority in Swindon last seen in 1990spublished at 13:42 British Summer Time 3 May

13:42 BST 3 May

Dan O'Brien
Political Reporter at BBC West

The results are in: Labour now has a majority on Swindon Borough Council the likes of which it has not seen since the 1990s.

Gaining nine seats, bringing its total to 41, it gives the party which spent most of the last two decades in opposition a majority of 25.

The Conservatives, who until this time last year were still confidently in power here, are now down to just 15 councillors. The Liberal Democrats have one existing councillor, but didn’t make any progress today.

All sides felt Labour would retain control - the question was always going to be "by how much".

What we have seen is a 180-degree handbrake turn on the politics of just three years ago, a time when the Tories were winning Labour heartlands, which have now switched back

Labour has also made some significant gains in traditionally-Conservative areas of town.

But the Tories found some signs of hope holding onto a couple of key areas.

Turnout overall was 31% - down on last year but still about typical here.

These results will be watched closely on a national level too, as Swindon has such form for electing MPs of the party which ends up in government.

Houchen's win shows Conservatives can still win in crucial areaspublished at 13:37 British Summer Time 3 May

13:37 BST 3 May

Richard Moss
Political editor, North East & Cumbria

Ben Houchen’s win will be a relief to him but also to Rishi Sunak.

It proves a Conservative can still win in the areas the prime minister needs to retain to stay in government, even if it was a far tighter result than when the Tory mayor took 73% of the vote in 2021.

But perhaps not just any Conservative can win.

Despite a controversial second term where he’s had to face constant questions about a deal with local businessmen to regenerate a former steelworks site, the main problem he faced was his own party’s crashing poll ratings.

Ben Houchen was clear then in his campaign that supporters should base their choice of mayor on local issues, and ignore Westminster politics. It has worked for him, but is not likely to be an appeal the area’s Conservative MPs can repeat at a general election.

Labour will then feel they did well enough here to set the party on course to undo the 2019 gains Boris Johnson made in their heartlands - and perhaps a bit more.

Earlier, we reported Labour had taken control of Norwich council. This was the result of a data error, and in fact the count is still continuing. We will bring you full results when we get them.

Labour wins Hyndburn, Lancashire, which previously had no party in overall control.

Image source, .

Labour stays in control of Knowsley Borough Council, in Merseyside, latest results say.

Burnley Borough Council, in Lancashire, remains hung as no party gets overall majority, results show.

Claire Hamilton
Reporting from Huyton

I’m in Huyton for the Knowsley Council election count.

Votes are being tallied at the Knowsley Leisure & Culture Park, which is decorated with art inspired by the nonsense poet Edward Lear.

Here's the poem behind the artwork below:

There was an Old Man on whose nose

Most birds of the air could repose;

But they all flew away at the closing of day,

Which relieved that Old Man and his nose.

Image source, Claire Hamilton/BBC

David Deans
BBC Wales politics reporter

And another result from Wales: Dafydd Llywelyn has won in Dyfed Powys, holding the police and crime commissioner for the area for Plaid Cymru.

Llywelyn has been the PCC in the mostly rural force area since 2016.

Plaid Cymru won the region with 31,323 votes, versus 19,134 for the Conservatives and 18,353 for Labour.

A total of 7,719 backed the Liberal Democrats, in a region served by the party’s only Member of the Senedd.

David Deans
BBC Wales politics reporter

The first Welsh result has come in, with Labour holding the police and crime commissioner area of Gwent.

Newport council leader Jane Mudd is the first woman to be elected to hold the post in Wales. She won the seat following the retirement of Jeff Cuthbert.

However, turnout was low at 15.63%.

Mudd won with 28,476 votes, versus 21,919 for the Conservatives, 9,864 for Plaid Cymru and 8,078 for the Liberal Democrats.

Conservative MP Dame Andrea Leadsom tells the BBC News election results show that she thinks Houchen's mayoral win in Tees Valley is a "fantastic victory".

"This is all credit to a mayor who has done an absolutely brilliant job," she says, "in a key part of the levelling up agenda for the government".

Pressed on Houchen's campaign material omitting references to Rishi Sunak or the Conservative Party, Leadsom insists the win is a "testament to the Conservative government".

Rob Mayor
Political editor, West Midlands

Labour have distanced themselves from an earlier quote from a party source that we reported here. The source linked an expected defeat in the West Midlands mayoral race to the war in Gaza.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: "The Labour Party has strongly condemned this racist quote which has not come from anyone who is speaking on behalf of the party or whose values are welcome in the party."

Image source, PA Media

Here are some quotes from Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen, who has just won a third term.

"Let's keep pushing for a better Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool, let's deliver more jobs, more investment," he says.

"And again I just want to thank everybody. It's a really humbling experience."

Lord Houchen thanked his Labour and Lib Dem opponents for their "very strong campaigns". He also offered a "very personal thanks to my wife Rachel and my new baby Hannah".

"This has been a very difficult few months, it has been a really hard campaign, there has been a lot of spotlight on this election which brings a level of intensity - but having Rachel as an absolute rock by my side, I absolutely could not do without her."

Sighs of relief as Houchen wins for the Conservativespublished at 12:54 British Summer Time 3 May

12:54 BST 3 May

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

There are lots of sighs of relief being breathed at the top of the Conservative Party right now.

Rishi Sunak’s supporters have for weeks been stressing the significance of the mayoral elections in the Tees Valley and the West Midlands, where the declaration is coming tomorrow but Labour have effectively already conceded defeat.

Here’s where the statistical and the political perspectives diverge.

Ask an elections expert and they say these mayoral elections, with strong incumbents who have run independent-minded campaigns, are a poor guide to what might happen in a general election.

But Conservative MPs waking up this morning to dire council results told me they were waiting to see these mayoral results before forming an assessment about the political picture for the Conservative Party.

Expect the prime minister to now try to hammer home the argument that these mayoral contests show that the general election is not a foregone conclusion.

Labour has held Preston council, according to results.

The lunchtime rush of results continues: Basingstoke & Deane holds with no party in overall control.

One more result has just come in. Labour has held Barnsley Borough Council.

Labour holds Wakefield Borough Council, results coming in indicate.

Tees Valley win is a silver lining on a cloudy nightpublished at 12:39 British Summer Time 3 May

12:39 BST 3 May

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

The Conservatives will be delighted with this success - the first silver lining in these elections for them in what has otherwise been a very cloudy electoral night.

Indeed, although Houchen's vote has fallen by 19% since 2021, his performance is still 14% above what he achieved in the first contest in 2017.

However, we know from polling conducted during the campaign that, when voters were asked how they would vote in a general election, the reported support for the Conservatives was 21% below what was recorded for Houchen.

This is not therefore a reliable guide to the Conservatives' prospects in the general election in the area.

Rather, as the result Houchen achieved in 2021 testifies, this is a consequence of his personal popularity.

Even more results flooding in now: Welwyn Hatfield council has also held with no overall control.