Local elections 2022: Tories lose hundreds of seats to Labour and Lib Dems – as it happened

Johnson says results have been ‘mixed’ for Tories, but that in some places they’ve had ‘remarkable gains’

Boris Johnson has recorded a clip for broadcasters about the results. He started by paying tribute to Conservative councillors, and said the result were “mixed”.

In some parts of the country it had been “tough”, he said.

But in other areas there were “quite remarkable gains in places that have not voted Conservative for a long time, if ever”.

He said that the message he drew from the results was that people want him to get on with “the big issues that matter to them”.

UPDATE: Johnson said:

It is mid-term. It’s certainly a mixed set of results.

We had a tough night in some parts of the country but on the other hand in other parts of the country you are still seeing Conservatives going forward and making quite remarkable gains in places that haven’t voted Conservative for a long time, if ever …

The big lesson from this is that this is a message from voters that what they want us to do above all – one, two and three – is focus on the big issues that matter to them, taking the country forward, making sure we fix the post-Covid aftershock, get us all through the economic aftershocks in the way we got through Covid, fix the energy supply issues, that’s where the inflationary spike is coming, and keep going with our agenda of high wage, high skill jobs. That is what we are focused on.

Boris Johnson Photograph: Sky News

Updated at 07.55 EDT

Boris Johnson under renewed pressure after damaging local election losses

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.

Conservative MPs and council leaders questioned Johnson’s leadership, demanding action to tackle the cost of living crisis and rebuild trust in the wake of the Partygate scandal after a damaging series of losses across the “blue wall” in Somerset, Kent, Oxfordshire and Surrey.

However, the scale of the Tory backlash was tempered by a mixed picture for Labour, which showed progress, but not enough yet to suggest a landslide for Keir Starmer in a general election. A BBC projection for a general election based on Friday’s results put Labour on 291 seats, the Conservatives on 253, the Lib Dems on 31 and others on 75.

Labour had a very strong result in London and took some southern councils such as Worthing, Crawley and Southampton, gaining about 250 seats in total. It pushed the Tories out of control in their only council in Wales, Monmouthshire, and took over as the party with the second largest vote share in Scotland, where the SNP remained dominant.

But in the north of England and the Midlands, Labour struggled to make gains in “red wall” areas it had lost at or since the 2019 election, despite a convincing win on the new Cumberland council.

Conservative HQ was also buoyed by the news that Starmer is now being investigated over allegations of Covid rule-breaking at a Durham campaign event, muddying the waters over Johnson’s own fine for a lockdown gathering.

Starmer said the results were a “big turning point” for his party. “From the depths of 2019, that general election, winning in the north, Cumberland, Southampton. We’ve changed Labour and now we’re seeing the results of that.”

The Lib Dems also had a clearly successful election night in England, adding at least 189 seats. They took control of the new unitary authority in Somerset, previously a Tory stronghold, edged out the Conservatives in Portsmouth, and pushed them out of control in West Oxfordshire. The Greens also performed well, winning 81 seats – more than doubling their number of councillors – as voters also turned to independents and residents’ associations.

Read more from my colleagues Rowena Mason, Heather Stewart and Aubrey Allegretti here:

We’re closing this blog now. Thanks so much for joining us today.

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Updated at 18.20 EDT

TUV leader Jim Allister has been elected as an MLA (member of the legislative assembly) for North Antrim.

After his election, Allister said he regretted that the party had not managed to secure any other seats.

Allister said:

I am disappointed across the country that we have tripled our vote but that is not reflected in the number of seats.

We had 7.6% of the vote, a massive increase, but that is not reflected in the number of seats.

It is very disappointing when you collect 4-5,000 votes or more in many other constituencies that it doesn’t translate into seats because of the vagaries of the system.

But the reality is that Jim Allister speaks for 65,000 unionists across this province.

Updated at 18.03 EDT

The front pages of tomorrow’s papers are out. Curiously many of them have chosen not to cover the local elections with Keir Starmer’s beergate controversy and the Queen’s jubilee balcony plans (which don’t include Prince Andrew, Prince Harry or Meghan) taking up space instead.

One stands out for suggesting that Boris is back on track despite losing nearly 400 seats.

Here’s ours which focuses on Boris Johnson being blamed for the Tory’s poor results.

The Independent went for a similar top line.

Meanwhile, the Telegraph focused on the results in Northern Ireland.

Here’s a closer look at the Express.

The Daily Mail chose to focus on Starmer’s woes as he faces faces a police investigation over lockdown breach claims.

The Mirror, on the other hand, chose to lead with the plans for the Queen’s jubilee.

Lutfur Rahman, the disgraced politician found by an election tribunal to have engaged in corrupt and illegal practices, has secured a comeback by winning the vote to become mayor of Tower Hamlets in east London.

After the five-year ban placed on him for standing for public office lapsed, Rahman managed to unseat the incumbent mayor, Labour’s John Biggs, under the banner of his Aspire party.

Rahman was kicked out of office in 2015 after a specialist court concluded that he was guilty of vote-rigging, buying votes and religious intimidation. But the police and Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to launch a criminal prosecution.

Rahman won 40,804 votes on the second round, with Biggs on 33,487.

The result is a blow to Labour in what was otherwise a very successful set of results in London, where it took Wandsworth, Barnet and Westminster from the Tories.

Rahman announced in February that he was planning a political comeback with a challenge to Labour over “service cuts, tax hikes and road closures”. In an election leaflet, he wrote: “I have never, ever acted dishonestly, but to those who think I didn’t exercise enough oversight over campaigners in the last election, I apologise.”

Read the full story from my colleagues Aubrey Allegretti and Rowena Mason:

The Conservatives suffered disastrous losses across Wales in the local elections, with the party’s Welsh leadership blaming the crisis in No 10 for their woes, while there were encouraging gains for Labour, Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.

One of the most striking results on Friday came from Denbighshire in the north-east, where the Tories dropped from first to fourth place. They also lost control of their only council, Monmouthshire, in the south-east.

Denbighshire is seen as crucial because the Tories routed Labour in the north-east during the 2019 general election. Boris Johnson visited the seaside town of Rhyl last week to try to shore up support but some party members on the ground believe his presence hindered rather than helped. The Tories had been part of an independent-led administration but Labour became the biggest party in the county and may now try to form a new coalition.

In Monmouthshire, Labour becomes the largest group for the first time since 1995.

Andrew RT Davies, the leader of the Tories at the Welsh parliament, said the party’s candidates had wanted to talk about how they were tackling the cost-of-living crisis locally, but had to answer questions about Johnson.

He told the BBC:

The national headlines were challenging. Boris Johnson has my support, but he has to use the summer months now to make sure that he can build the confidence of the party, the confidence of the people to take us forward into the next general election campaign.

Read the full story here:

Dylan Tippetts has said he hopes his election will “dial down hate and division” after becoming Plymouth’s first openly trans councillor.

The 21-year-old is Labour’s first councillor in the city’s Compton Ward.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Tippetts said he is “still in shock”, adding: “I didn’t think I was going to win the seat last night.

If I can help someone realise that trans people are just normal human beings like everyone else, with the same hopes and dreams, (and) just help dial down some of the real hate and division at the moment, that would be incredible.

It would be even more of an honour to show a young person who might be scared of coming out that everything’s going to be OK and everything that they want in life can come true.

He added that trans people should be respected “as the human beings that we are”.

Being treated as a normal person (is) refreshing in today’s toxic environment … trans people aren’t looking for special treatment.

Plymouth Sutton and Devonport Labour MP Luke Pollard said he is “so proud” of Tippetts.

Tippetts grew up in Bridgwater, Somerset, and came out in 2018.

He told PA he moved to Plymouth shortly afterwards for a “fresh start, as coming out wasn’t the best experience for me”.

He said he is “proud” to represent a party with a “positive vision” for the city, adding that residents have been “ignored and taken for granted for far too long”.

He said he hopes to address concerns about the cost-of-living crisis, as well as to give a “voice” to those who do not have one.

He said:

There are lots of people that don’t have a voice – whether it be nurses, young people, porters, kitchen cleaners, taxi drivers – and I want to stand up for those people and make sure that they’re actually listened to, because everyone has an equal and valuable contribution to make.

For me, it’s bigger than just promoting equality and diversity in terms of trans people. It’s promoting the amazing diversity that we’ve got across our city in all walks of life.

Updated at 16.09 EDT

The Conservatives have lost control of the only council they had majority control of in Wales.

Monmouthshire, in south-east Wales, has been led by the party since 2017 but Labour now has the most seats, PA News reports.

Although no party has taken overall control of the local authority, Labour gained 14 seats to have a total of 22.

Labour had two fewer than were needed for a majority, and lost out on gaining full control of the council in a coin toss. The Tories lost six seats to have an overall total of 18, once counting had finished.

Several Senedd members and Conservative MP David Davies had visited the area in the days leading up to the election on 5 May, but it was not enough to instil confidence in the electorate.

The leader of the area’s Conservative group, Richard John, who has been vocal in his criticism of prime minister Boris Johnson over the partygate scandal, retained his seat.

However John told ITV Wales people had “sent a message that the party needs to consider”.

Updated at 16.00 EDT

Sinn Féin’s Daniel Baker, Pat Sheehan, President Mary Lou McDonald, Aisling Reilly and Orlaithi Flynn at the Titanic Exhibition Centre in Belfast, as counting continues for the Northern Ireland assembly. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA

Updated at 15.32 EDT

Labour notched up 16 gains in Cardiff to increase its overall majority on the city council to 31, PA News reports.

Labour now has 55 seats, the Conservatives 11, the Liberal Democrats 10, Plaid Cymru two and Propel one.

Updated at 15.33 EDT

The winner of a council seat determined by the drawing of straws joked that his Labour rival lost after he chose the straw on the left.

Independent Andy Solloway was declared the winner in the Skipton West and West Craven division of the new North Yorkshire unitary authority on Friday after tying with Labour’s Peter Madeley on 503 votes, even after a recount at Skipton Town Hall.

Solloway told BBC Radio 5Live how he ended up drawing straws with Madeley’s representative, Brian McDaid, after first discussing with the returning officers the possibility of picking playing cards or tossing a coin.

He said the returning officer had even offered to go out and buy a pack of cards before it was decided that straw-pulling was the fairest method.

The councillor said:

We just felt between us it possibly wouldn’t be a good look to mix elections with potential gambling,

Asked how he felt seeing that he had drawn the long straw, Solloway replied:

Quite shocked really. I had the same number of votes but it was decided in that way and that’s seems strange.

And Brian, being a Labour guy, decided to pick the left one.

The poll in Skipton West and West Craven was part of the biggest overhaul of local government in North Yorkshire for nearly 50 years.

The new councillors will serve the final year of the existing council but will then become the first councillors to serve on the new unitary authority which will launch on April 1 2023.

After the votes were counted, the Tories secured a four-seat majority to govern the final 11 months of North Yorkshire County Council before it merges with seven district councils to create the new single overarching authority across the 3,100 square miles of England’s largest county.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon with SNP’s Zen Ghani, Roza Salih (second right) and Susan Aitken (right) at the Glasgow City Council count. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has hailed a “resounding victory” as her party celebrates its best ever Scottish council election result.

The first minister said:

The people of this country clearly trust the SNP nationally and locally.

This election has once again confirmed the SNP is – by any measure – Scotland’s dominant political force and our resounding victory is even more remarkable given my party has been in government at Holyrood for 15 years.

She said the party would now turn its efforts to the task of reaching agreement on forming administrations with other parties who “share our progressive principles”.

She said:

While this result is yet another resounding endorsement of the SNP – and for pro-independence parties – it has yet again confirmed that Scotland utterly rejects the corruption, sleaze and law-breaking of the Tories.

Meanwhile, Anas Sarwar and Douglas Ross are reduced to slugging it out for second place like two bald men fighting over a comb.

In this election, I asked the people of Scotland to vote for the SNP to send an unequivocal message to Boris Johnson that he must do more to help families suffering from this crippling cost of living crisis his party created.

“The people of Scotland responded – and then some – as shown by the utter collapse of the Tory vote. They lost more than 100,000 votes in what must be a wake-up call for Westminster Tories.

Scottish Labour has become the closest challenger to Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP after the Scottish Conservatives plunged to their worst electoral result in a decade.

Labour enjoyed an unexpected win in West Dunbartonshire, taking overall control of the council, and won a swathe of seats elsewhere as it took the second largest share of the vote overall.

In another surprise, it fell one seat short of beating the SNP in Glasgow, Sturgeon’s home city, raising the prospect that the SNP may form a formal coalition there with the Greens.

Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said:

This is the first positive and cheerful day for the Scottish Labour party [after 10 years of defeats] and I’m very confident by the end of the day we’ll be in comfortable second place in Scotland. Our eyes are now firmly set on the SNP.

The results triggered sharp recriminations among Scottish Tories, who found themselves relegated to third as voters punished them over Partygate by abstaining or switching their support.

Embarrassed by defeats in wealthy areas such as Edinburgh and East Renfrewshire, the Tories enjoyed a rare glimmer of success in the Scottish leader Douglas Ross’s home area of Moray in north-east Scotland, gaining three seats.

Ross said:

It’s been a difficult night and in some areas it has been very disappointing. In too many parts of Scotland we’ve lost excellent candidates.

He said the Partygate scandal and the cost of living crisis had dominated conversations with voters.

There’s absolutely no doubt that people have sent a message to the prime minister and the government, particularly around Partygate. That’s absolutely clear.

Read the full story from my colleagues Severin Carrell in Stornoway and Libby Brooks in Glasgow:

Newly re-elected mayor Lutfur Rahman, who belongs to the Aspire party, hailed the size of his majority, which he claimed had increased from his previous terms in office.

He said:

A huge vote came out yesterday, a bigger mandate than I had in 2014 or in 2010. A large number of people came and trusted me and Aspire and our activists to deliver for them going forward.

Rahman suggested that one of his first acts would be to scrap low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), which limit traffic in residential areas.

Rahman said:

Our roads have been closed, blocked up. It’s contributing to more CO2 in the borough when the idea was to reduce it.

We’re going to look at our roads, we’re going to consult and reopen our roads.

Former Conservative leader William Hague has told Times Radio that a windfall tax on oil companies was not “a crazy idea”, and that “if something is a true windfall, then there is a case for tax on it.”

He added that “when you get a situation like this, where you get a huge additional profit, just because the global price of oil has changed, well, then there is actually a stronger case for it”

Asked by Cathy Newman, about the fact that some Conservatives are wavering on windfall tax, he said:

I think there is and I think some justified wavering because you know that if something is a true windfall, then there is a case for tax on it.

Sometimes it’s an excuse just to tax a company that has been working hard and doing well, and its strategy is working, and it’s really earned the profit.

But of course, when you get a situation like this, where you get a huge additional profit, just because the global price of oil has changed, well, then there is actually a stronger case for it. So I think that argument has gained ground some ground within the Conservative Party in recent days.

Asked if he personally backed a windfall tax on oil companies he said:

I don’t think it’s a crazy idea. We’ve done similar things. Sometimes in the past, even under the Thatcher government that was sometimes done, where there was a true windfall. I think there’s something for the chancellor to really look at there, rather than for us just to say it’s a completely mad idea.

Lutfur Rahman urged people to “judge me on what we will do for you” after being elected as Tower Hamlets mayor.

The controversial politician hailed the “huge vote” that put him ahead of the incumbent, Labour’s John Biggs, by about 7,000 votes.

Lutfur Rahman speaks at the Tower Hamlets election count in London. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

Rahman said:

I want to rebuild Tower Hamlets, I want to invest in our future, and give our people a better future than we had in the last seven years.

Judge me and my administration on our record, what we’ve delivered in the first term.

The only borough in the country to have free homecare. We delivered the London living wage – the first in London – we delivered the university bursary, educational maintenance allowance.

Our promises going forward are even more progressive. Judge me on what we will do for you.

Updated at 14.08 EDT

Labour increased its majority on Wakefield council in West Yorkshire, winning 45 seats against 13 for the Tories, three for the Liberal Democrats and two independents.

A parliamentary byelection is pending in Wakefield after Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan resigned following his conviction for sexual assault.

Updated at 14.06 EDT

The Tories lost Monmouthshire, their only majority-controlled council in Wales, to no overall control.

Labour is now the largest party with 22 seats, the Conservatives on 18, five independents and one Green, PA News reports.

Thursday’s local elections were seen as a test of voters’ mood after Partygate and as the cost of living crisis bites. Here are some of the things we learned.

Boris Johnson’s future remains in the balance

Conservative MPs have repeatedly found reasons to prevaricate rather than take action against their beleaguered leader for breaking Covid rules. Perhaps not surprisingly, then, some were taking comfort on Friday in the idea that Labour appeared to have made only limited advances into the “red wall” – and that the most catastrophic outcomes had been avoided (though suggestions of 800 or more lost seats always appeared outlandish).

But these results are unlikely to have discouraged anyone plotting a coup. Labour won the popular vote, with the BBC’s projected national vote share putting the party on 35% to the Conservatives’ 30% – Labour’s best performance on this measure for a decade.

The Liberal Democrats are breathing down Tory MPs’ necks across the south, from Jacob Rees-Mogg’s patch in Somerset to Dominic Raab’s in Surrey. And Labour looks likely to push the Conservatives into third place in Scotland, underlining fears that Johnson has become an electoral liability. Upcoming byelections in Tiverton and Honiton and in Wakefield may provide further evidence of that.

Keir Starmer’s path to No 10 may lie through a Lib Dem revival

The Conservative party co-chair Oliver Dowden compared Keir Starmer’s performance in Thursday’s local elections unfavourably with that of Tony Blair in 1995, two years before he swept into Downing Street, when Labour gained 1,800 council seats.

But there are other routes to power for Labour than a 1997-style landslide. The Lib Dems’ gains across the south, from Somerset to West Oxfordshire to Raab’s back yard of Elmbridge in Surrey, suggest the Conservatives could lose a swath of MPs outside Johnson’s stomping ground of the red wall to Ed Davey’s party.

Combined with Labour gains in the red wall and a recovery in Scotland, that could be enough to deprive Johnson of his majority – though it would open up complex questions of what deal he might be prepared to strike with the Scottish National party, the Lib Dems, or both.

Read more here: