England local elections 2018

The first results have been declared for the Carlisle City Council elections.

Labour have three seats in Newtown and Morton North, and three in Denton Holme and Morton South.

Conservatives have three seats in Longtown and the Border.

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One of the councillors elected to Denton Holme and Morton South is Ruth Alcroft, Labour's prospective Parliamentary candidate for Carlisle.

There have been boundary changes in Carlisle, making it difficult to compare results until most seats are counted.

Labour and Conservative politicians on Allerdale borough council both agree that national political issues saw them both lose seats to Independents.

With Labour holding 14 seats and the Tories 15, talks will be taking place to find out whether a stable coalition can be put together with some or all of the 19 members with no party affiliation.

Quote Message: People are sick to the back teeth with Brexit, Irish backstop, Conservative Party, Labour Party, and the mainstream parties and I think they've flocked towards Independents." from Alan Smith Leader, Allerdale council Labour group

People are sick to the back teeth with Brexit, Irish backstop, Conservative Party, Labour Party, and the mainstream parties and I think they've flocked towards Independents."

Quote Message: Independents are resonating with the voters with respect to Brexit, Brexit's generated a revenge vote." from Tony Annison Leader, Allerdale council Conservative group

Independents are resonating with the voters with respect to Brexit, Brexit's generated a revenge vote."

With 28 seats declared in Copeland, Labour have 14, the Conservatives 10, and Independents, three. Two wards are still to be decided.

The council's seats have been affected by boundary changes so a direct comparison cannot be made, but the authority was Labour-controlled before the election.

The Conservatives have so far lost five seats on Eden District Council, with the Liberal Democrats winning three, Independents gaining one, and the authority's first member of the Green Party, Doug Lawson, taking Penrith Carleton.

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Two young people were outside the count in Penrith protesting climate change.

Labour candidate Jeanette Forster has been elected for the Sneckyeat Ward on Copeland council, retaining a place.

Copeland's wards have been significantly changed by a boundary review since the last election, making it difficult until all results are in to say whether parties have lost or gained seats.

It's not over - it's far, far from over.

Many hundreds of seats are yet to declare. Many individual political stories yet to be told. So be very aware - the final shape of wins and losses for the government and the main opposition is unclear.

But at this stage of the morning, there is one message to both of the main parties at Westminster from this enormous set of elections - it's not us, it's both of you.

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Local elections are about different issues in our villages, towns and cities. But at count after count, Tory and Labour candidates have been paying the price for Westminster's failure so far to settle the Brexit question. Council leaders from both parties saying openly that voters can't trust them any more because of how they have dealt with the issue - whether that is a sentiment among Leave voters in Sunderland who don't trust that we'll ever leave, or Remain voters in Bath who are furious that we likely will.

Or more simply maybe, now we are nearly three years on from the referendum itself, this is a verdict on the competence of Westminster's biggest parties, on the mess of handling Brexit.

The beneficiaries? A Lib Dem recovery of sorts, a marked pick-up for the Greens, and independent councillors gobbling up seats in different pockets of the country. By traditional measures at this early stage, Labour is far from making the strides of a party marching towards Number 10. The Tories have so far escaped the worst. But their divisions over Brexit have cost them both - and neither of them have an obvious way out.

But as I say, many more results are yet to come in, and you can keep up with them here throughout the day.

Woking homeless people who were given the chance to vote in local elections this year as part of a voter ID trial now have photo ID enabling them to access universal credit.

Woking Borough Council worked with the York Road project to register 11 homeless electors and issued them with local elector photo ID cards.

Speaking at the meeting of executive members on Thursday, Councillor Beryl Hunswick said: "These were 11 people who would have otherwise fallen through the gap completely. They are homeless and this allowed them to vote".

The voter ID trial at the local elections on 3 May 2018 was hailed a success after figures showed 99.73% of voters (18,851) arrived at polling stations with the correct papers.

A total of 51 people attended with either the wrong ID or no ID and decided not to return after being turned away.

Council leader David Bittleston said providing the 11 people with local elector cards meant they were "able to prove they were citizens in other ways and become contributors to the community".

BBCCopyright: BBC