Local elections and London mayor results 2024: Starmer tells Sunak ...

Labour has Tamworth from no overall control to add the council to the parliamentary by-election it won in October.

The party gained nine seats on the council with the Conservatives losing six, and Independents losing three.

The new council is Labour 18, Conservative eight and Independents four.

Labour took the parliamentary seat in October with a huge 23.9 swing from the Conservatives.

The first black female police and crime commissioners have been elected in England and Wales.

Labour’s Emma Wools won the contest to become the new PCC for South Wales, while party colleague Nicolle Ndiweni was elected in Derbyshire.

Ms Wools replaces former Wales first minister Alun Michael, who did not seek re-election after 12 years in the role.

Ms Wools, who has been the unelected deputy PCC since 2017, received 73,128 votes, the Conservatives 43,344, Plaid Cymru 27,410 and the Liberal Democrats 17,908.

“I am honoured to have been elected by the people of South Wales,” Ms Wools said.

Voter turnout for the 2024 Mayor of London and London Assembly elections was 40.5 per cent, according to London Elects.

This was down 1.5 per cent on the turnout in 2021.

The Greater London Returning Officer will announce the result of the mayoral election at City Hall on Saturday once all the mayoral votes have been counted at the 14 constituencies.

Later on Saturday, the returning officer will announce the allocation of the 11 London-wide Assembly Member seats, following constituency results at individual count venues.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said David Skaith’s win at the York and North Yorkshire mayoral election was a “historic victory” for Labour in “the heart of Tory territory”.

Sir Keir said the win was “vindication” for the Labour Party and showed that “people are fed up with a failed government,” in comments at a victory rally at Northallerton Town Football Club in North Yorkshire.

“This is a historic victory, the villages and towns of North Yorkshire – this is the heart of Tory territory,” he said.

“We’ve had a positive campaign here and I am very, very proud to stand here as leader of the Labour Party to celebrate this historic victory and it is a historic victory – these are places where we would not have usually had a Labour Party success but we’ve been able to create that success and persuade people to vote for us.”

To the voters, he said: “Thank you for putting your trust in Labour, we will not let you down.”

It is a “very good day for Labour,” he said.

Labour has made more big gains in one of the councils where it hoped to make progress - Cannock Chase, Staffordshire.

The party now controls the council (there was no overall majority before today) after picking up 11 seats, bringing its total to 21.

The Conservatives lost 11 seats, the Greens gained one seat and the Lib Dems lost one seat.

The West Midlands Council backed Brexit heavily in 2016 (69 per cent to 31 per cent) and has been a bellwether since 1997.

Labour will work to “earn votes back in future”, Yvette Cooper said, after conceding Labour had lost council seats because of the war in Gaza.

The shadow home secretary told BBC News: “We do strongly recognise there are areas where we have had independent candidates who have been particularly strongly campaigning on Gaza and where there is really strong feeling about this issue, because tens of thousands of people have been killed.

“It is just devastating to see what is happening, which is why we need an immediate ceasefire and for hostages to be released and why we hope some progress will be made in the negotiations.

“We do recognise the strength of feeling that there is and of course we will continue to work just as we do in every area across the country to earn votes back in future.”

Labour won a whopping 15 seats to take control of Nuneaton & Bedworth in Warwickshire.

The Tories ended up with 16 seats - a loss of 14.

The result will please Labour strategists who said prior to the elections they wanted to target councils located in bellwether parliamentary seats.

Nuneaton, in the West Midlands, has chosen the governing party at every election since 1997.

It overwhelmingly backed Brexit (66 to 34 per cent) and has an 87 per cent white population.

Tory mayor claims he ‘forgot’ to wear blue rosette during local elections

The winning Tory candidate in the Tees Valley mayor election claimed he “forgot” his blue rosette as he celebrated victory on Friday 3 May. Ben Houchen has denied “trying to pretend” he was not Conservative during his mayoral election campaign, despite saying he could “absolutely” work with Sir Keir Starmer if the Labour leader becomes prime minister. “People know round here I’m a Conservative,” he told Sky News when asked about apparent efforts to distance himself from the Tory Party brand and instead run on a highly personal platform. Lord Houchen was the only candidate on stage not to wear a party rosette at the Tees Valley count, saying he “forgot” it.

Labour has lost control of Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire.

The council is represented by a mixture of Labour and Tory MPs (2 each) and backed Brexit in the referendum (55% - 45%).

It also has a sizeable Muslim population at 18.5 per cent, according to the 2021 Census.

Labour has been facing a backlash from many in the Muslim community over its position on the war in Gaza.

In the Liberal Democrats’ latest election campaign stunt, Sir Ed Davey could be seen posing alongside people in inflatable dinosaur costumes as he appeared in Winchester.

The dinosaurs wore blue rosettes usually sported by Conservative candidates, and held up a banner reading “Make this Conservative Government history”