And another result: West Oxfordshire is a hold, with the council remaining with no overall control by any party.

Image source, PA Media

As the graphic in the previous post shows, Ben Houchen's vote share was down 19% compared to 2021.

This time, he took 53.6% of the vote - compared to 72.8% last time.

Despite the reduced share, he was more than 12 percentage points clear of his rival this time round, Labour's Chris McEwan.

Incumbent Ben Houchen, Conservative, has won the Tees Valley mayoral election.

Image source, .

Another result has come in: Labour holds Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council.

Richard Moss
Political editor, North East & Cumbria

It's good news for Tees Valley's incumbent mayor, Ben Houchen of the Conservatives, who appears to be outperforming his party.

He finished first in Hartlepool with 10,074 votes to 8,732 for Labour's Chris McEwan. It's an encouraging result for the mayor in an area where Conservatives lost six council seats last night and Labour gained eight.

He’s also come out on top in a second council area, Redcar & Cleveland, where he received 15,987 votes to McEwan's 12,015.

There are three more councils left to declare but a clear picture is building.

Speaking to reporters for the first time since results started coming in, Rishi Sunak concedes it is "disappointing" to lose Conservative councillors.

Asked if he needs to convince his party that he can do better in a general election, the prime minister says: "Keir Starmer was in Harlow on Wednesday saying that was a place that he needed to win in order to win the next general election - that hasn't happened."

Sunak, who is speaking from North Yorkshire, also notes the Tees Valley result has not come in yet and says that is also a "key battleground".

"I am focused completely on the job at hand - that's delivery for people across the country," he says, before detailing his party's efforts to reduce National Insurance and its plans to send asylum seekers who arrive on small boats to Rwanda.

Rob Mayor
Political editor, West Midlands

Labour are briefing they believe they are on course for defeat in the West Midlands mayoral race, with support for independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob, who stood on a pro-Gaza ticket, a major factor.

A senior party source said: "It’s the Middle East, not West Midlands, that will have won [Conservative candidate] Andy Street the mayoralty. Once again Hamas are the real villains."

A Conservative source told me that quote is "vile" and they insist the contest is "extremely close".

The result in the West Midlands is not expected until Saturday afternoon.

Further to our earlier post from Harry Farley, the PA news agency is now reporting a Labour source saying Conservative incumbent Ben Houchen has won the Tees Valley mayoral election.

Stay with us and we'll bring you the official result when it comes in - to emphasise, the annoucement has not been made yet.

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

Image source, PA Media

Labour sources have been playing down their chances of winning the Tees Valley mayoral election.

“Ben Houchen has been campaigning as an independent,” one Labour figure tells me.

What they mean is that while he is the Conservative candidate, most of Houchen’s campaign has been based on his own personality and record, not linked to the national party.

Labour argue that even if they lose this mayoral race, if they can get more than a 12.5% swing in the proportion of votes from the Conservatives to Labour, then they will be confident of winning the parliamentary seats in the area when it comes to a general election.

Is this expectation management or are Labour already conceding? As a reminder, we are expecting the result around 12:30.

But it’s clear Labour are arguing that if they don’t win the Tees Valley mayoral, they won’t see it as a major setback.

Another result coming in: Labour has regained control of Norwich City Council.

Labour had lost its majority after a handful of councillors quit the party in November, leaving no party with overall control.

Update at 13:33: This post was based on a data error, and the count in Norwich is still continuing.

Dafydd Morgan
Reporting from Llandysul

Plaid Cymru tell me they’re “very happy” with how things are going here at the Ceredigion count for the Dyfed-Powys Police area.

The boxes for their incumbent commissioner, Dafydd Llywelyn, look full in comparison to the other candidates.

But Ceredigion is one of four counties in this police area, and Plaid admit that Ceredigion will be the easiest of the four. They aren’t celebrating yet.

Georgia Roberts
Political correspondent

Image source, PA Media

What these results do to the mindset of Conservative MPs – and any potential push to oust Rishi Sunak if they’re particularly bad – is key.

It’s early days but so far, the mood seems muted. But what about those areas where sitting Conservatives have already seen disappointing results?

Among the early results of the day was the Conservatives losing North East Lincolnshire to No Overall Control.

They remain the largest party on the council, but it’s still one of those Brexit heartlands the Conservatives have secured in recent years that seems to be among those turning back to its more Labour-leaning roots.

The Conservative MP for Cleethorpes, Martin Vickers, tells me the loss of the council was “clearly disappointing”.

“Good local councillors paid the price for perceived failings by the government.”

However – he calls the idea of changing leader “complete madness” just months away from a General Election.

“Divided parties don’t win elections. The government can’t change direction now – we’ve set our course.”

He also acknowledges that Reform UK may impact big Brexit-voting seats like his, given their strong showing in the Blackpool South parliamentary by-election today.

“Reform will pose a threat and it’s not one I’ll cast to one side. We’ve got to unite and rally around…the manifesto will put some meat on the bones.

“It’s been a very difficult time to be in government.”

Greens picking up Labour votespublished at 11:26 British Summer Time 3 May

11:26 BST 3 May

Oscar Bentley
BBC Political Research Unit

Image source, PA Media

At this point in the day, the Greens have won 21 seats in total, gaining 13.

In the BBC’s keyward analysis, those declared so far has the Greens up a reasonably modest 1.9% of the vote.

The party is doing very well in areas with a high Muslim population – their vote is up 17.3%, while Labour’s is down 14.4%, suggesting they could have picked up voters disaffected by Labour’s stance on the Israel-Gaza war.

And in areas with a high student population the Greens are also doing well – up 3.9% while Labour has dropped 1.1%.

Looking forward, the Greens are very hopeful of becoming the largest party on Bristol. They were neck and neck with Labour going into the election, and all seats were being elected making gains easier. Party co-leader Carla Denyer is hopeful of taking a Bristol seat from Labour at the general election.

They’re also hopeful of picking up seats in places like Norwich, Solihull, and Worcester – all places they were in second place heading into the elections.

Richard Moss
Political editor, North East & Cumbria

We're expecting a result in the Tees Valley mayor election - here's Ben Houchen awaiting his fate at the count.

We may have the result of voters in Hartlepool pretty soon. The overall result will follow after.

Counting is progressing quickly and the result might come before the original 12:30 estimate.

Image source, EPA

• Labour won the by-election in Blackpool South, beating the Conservatives with a massive 26% swing
• Sir Keir Starmer, Labour leader, said the win was a message to Rishi Sunak: "We want change"
• Labour also won councils in Redditch, Thurrock, Hartlepool, and Rushmoor in Hampshire - but lost Oldham to no overall control
• The Conservatives have lost three councils - party chairman Richard Holden called it "a disappointing night"

• Only a third of the 107 councils holding elections have declared results - counting is continuing or just beginning in many of the police and crime commissioner races and mayoral contests

• Reform UK nearly beat the Tories into second place in Blackpool South, the Green Party is heading for a record number of councillors and Liberal Democrats have made modest gains
• Most mayoral results - including London where Labour's Sadiq Khan is hoping to remain in office - will come on Saturday

The Liberal Democrats have held Watford Borough Council, it has been announced.

Reform UK leader Richard Tice has hailed the Blackpool by-election as an "extraordinary night" after the party nearly beat the Conservative Party to second place.

"This was our best by-election by a significant margin, way above our national polling average," he tells BBC News.

"What it shows actually with great local candidates, more and more people are hearing about Reform and they like the message they hear."

When it is suggested to him that his party is still far away from winning a seat at the general election, Tice says "we've got the wrong electoral system in this country".

We've just had results from another council: Labour has held Swindon Borough Council.

Joshua Nevett
Reporting from Nuneaton

You’ve probably heard a lot about the significance of the “national mood” ahead of these elections.

But there are some Labour-Tory contests in Warwickshire that could tell us more about the bigger picture than others.

One of them is in Nuneaton and Bedworth, where all 38 seats on the Conservative-run council are up for election this year.

Labour has its sights set on winning back the council - and electoral history and demographics give the party reasons to be confident.

The parliamentary constituency of Nuneaton has historically been considered a bellwether, meaning it usually votes for the winning party in general elections.

Nuneaton has "different types of voters who would make up a constituency that broadly reflects where public opinion is in the rest of the country", says Patrick English, YouGov's director of political analytics.

"If you're carrying this kind of area, then you're likely convincing many other types of voters."

Image source, .

Well, not exactly.

But some social media users have been enjoying one particular result from Stockport, where the council announced Labour candidate Karl Peter Marx Wardlaw has been elected.