Local elections 2022: Johnson under pressure after Tories lose hundreds of seats; Sinn Féin on track to be largest party in NI elections – live

Some reaction to Thursday’s result from our columnist Jonathan Freedland, who says that Keir Starmer can’t dazzle the public like his predecessor Tony Blair, but that his “steady, unflashy competence” might be enough to help him oust Boris Johnson.

“Here, then, is how Labour might raise the current ceiling on its performance,” he says. “Talk a bit less about what the Tories are doing; talk a bit more about what Labour will do – and do it not with a rock-star personality at the top but a few sharp, memorable promises that lodge in the consciousness.

“It won’t be enough to win a 1997-style landslide… But it might be enough to repeat 2010, depriving the incumbent PM of his majority and allowing for a change of government.”

Read the full piece here.

Where things stand

If you’re just tuning in, here’s a summary of where things stand with 196 of 200 councils having declared their results.

The Conservatives have won 1,344 seats overall, representing a net loss of 398. Labour has won a total of 2,980 seats, which means they have gained 264 seats.

The Liberal Democrats have won 863 seats, so have gained 189 seats in total. Plaid Cymru now has a total of 202 seats, which is one more than the party’s total before the election.

The Scottish National party has won 453 seats, which is an overall gain of 62. The Green party has won 156 seats, which equates to a net gain of 81 seats.

The number of seats held by Other parties, meaning smaller parties and independent candidates, has fallen by 240, and currently stands at 628.

Updated at 03.55 EDT

Why do the seat tallies differ between outlets?

A quick note to explain the data we’re publishing. You might have noticed that the tallies of the number of seats gained and lost so far by each party differs between outlets. This is for a number of reasons.

Our data on councillor numbers comes from the PA Media news agency, which only reports on complete councils, while some sources report each council seat as it comes in.

There are also differences in the point of comparison: PA calculates change based on the status of each seat just before the election, not on its status after the preceding election.

Lastly, there are frequent changes in ward boundaries and the number of councillors per ward, to maintain equality of representation. This may mean that parties’ net seat changes in one particular council may not balance each other out.

Updated at 03.31 EDT

How the papers covered the local election results

The mounting pressure on Boris Johnson in the wake of the Conservative party’s heavy local election losses provides the lead for several papers – although some titles see Keir Starmer’s alleged lockdown breach as the bigger story.

The Guardian splash headline reads “Johnson blamed for Tory election woes” as the prime minister suffers increased scrutiny about his suitability as leader after seeing almost 400 of his councillors ousted from their seats.

The Financial Times has a similar splash headline in which it says “Johnson faces renewed threat as Tories hit hard in local elections” above a picture of the prime minister appearing to scratch his head.

The Times reports that “Tories punished in south”, contrasting the governing party’s stronger performance in north compared with the devastating defeats suffered in London where it lost the strongholds of Wandsworth, Westminster and Barnet.

You can read the full paper review here

Updated at 03.28 EDT

The latest from Northern Ireland Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald and Sinn Fein northern leader Michelle O’Neill Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Sinn Féin is on course to be the biggest party at Stormont after a symbolic breakthrough for Irish nationalism in Northern Ireland’s assembly election.

The party topped the first-preference vote with 29%, which will position its deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, to become the region’s first minister, the first nationalist to hold the position in a historic turnaround and a severe blow to unionism.

With transfer votes still being counted on Friday night, it was clear the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) had dramatically lost its pre-eminence by slumping to 21.3% in the first preference vote. “A disaster for the DUP,” tweeted Tim Cairns, a former special adviser to the party.

The other big winner in Thursday’s election was the centrist Alliance, which surged to 13.5%, putting it in third place and showing the growing influence of voters who shun nationalist and unionist labels.

An expected DUP boycott could delay and conceivably derail the formation of a new power-sharing executive unless Boris Johnson’s government renegotiates the Northern Ireland protocol with the EU, as the DUP demands. That would put a question mark over O’Neill becoming first minister, but not alter the profound psychological impact of a Sinn Féin victory.

Updated at 02.39 EDT

Tories suffer crushing defeats in local elections

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of remaining the council election results in England, Scotland and Wales – as well the results of Northern Ireland’s assembly elections.

Boris Johnson’s leadership is facing fresh peril after senior Conservatives blamed him for losing swaths of the party’s southern heartlands to the Liberal Democrats and flagship London boroughs to Labour.

In a punishing set of local elections for the Tories, the party lost about 400 council seats, ceding control of Westminster and Wandsworth in London to Labour for the first time since the 1970s, and plunging to its worst position in Scotland for a decade.

Many grassroots Tories laid the blame at Johnson’s door for the loss of their seats. John Mallinson, the Conservative leader of Carlisle city council, told the BBC he had “lost some very good colleagues” in the Cumberland local election, and had found it “difficult to drag the debate back to local issues” while campaigning, because of Partygate and the cost of living crisis.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin is on course to be the biggest party at Stormont after a symbolic breakthrough for Irish nationalism in Northern Ireland’s assembly election.

Stick with us throughout the day for results, reaction and analysis.

Updated at 03.13 EDT