7.00pm
Cornwall. No overall control. Conservatives 46 (+15) Lib Dems 37 (+2) Independents 30 (-7) Labour 5 (-3) Mebyon Kernow 4 ( no change) UKIP 0 (-6)
Doncaster. Labour hold. Labour 43 (+2) Conservatives 7 (-1) Independent 5 (+1) UKIP 0 (-2)
Durham. Labour hold. Labour 74 (-20) Independents 28 (+9) Liberal Democrats 14 (+5) Conservatives 10 (+6)
Cornwall was a significant result with the Conservatives overtaking the Lib Dems.
5.00pm
Northamptonshire. Conservatives hold. Conservatives 43 (+7) Labour 13 (+2) Lib Dems 1 (-5) UKIP 0 (-3) Independent 0 (-1)
4.30pm
Oxfordshire. No Overall control. Conservatives 31 ( no change) Labour 14 (-1) Lib Dems 13 (+2) Independents 4 (No change) Residents Association 1 (+1) Green Party ( 0 (-2)
A disappointing result. This is the Council the Conservatives had hoped to win back.
Cornwall. No overall control.
4.00pm
Surrey. Conservatives hold. Conservatives 60 (+2) Lib Dems 9 (No change) Residents Association 8 (No change) Independent 2 (+1) Green Party 1 (No Change) Labour 1 (No change) UKIP 0 (-3)
Something of a relief. At one stage there was a proposal for a huge Council Tax increase in Surrey but that was withdrawn and – it would seem forgotten.
3.45pm
West Sussex. Conservatives hold. Conservatives 56 (+11) Lib Dems 9 (+1) Labour 5 (-1) UKIP 0 (-10) Independent 0 (-1)
Kent. Conservatives hold. Conservatives 67 (+24) Lib Dems 7 (No change) Labour 5 (-6) Green Party 1 (No change) Residents Association 1 (No change) UKIP 0 (-18)
Very strong performance particularly in Kent – as we predicted.
3.30pm
Devon. Conservatives hold.
Full results to follow. But the real story of the day is how badly the Lib Dems are doing. If they can’t win in Devon where can they win?
3.15pm
An update on the BBC’s score. Net gains for the Conservatives in England 254 seats, net Labour losses 118, net UKIP loses 103, net Lib Dem losses 24.
One thought for those interested in the local elections in terms of the implications for the General Election. If you are a Labour councillor asking for votes it is reasonable to say on the doorstep that Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership is an irrelevance. For a Labour candidate in the General Election that is an absurd claim to make. So perhaps the General Election results will be even worse for Labour than these local election results indicate?
3.00pm
Leicestershire. Conservatives hold. Conservatives 36 (+4) Lib Dems 13 (+1) Labour 6 (-4) UKIP 0 (-1)
East Sussex. Conservatives gain from No Overall Control. Conservatives 30 (+8) Lib Dems 11 (+2) Independent 5 (+1) Labour 4 (-3)
Wiltshire. Conservatives hold. Conservatives 68 (+10) Lib Dems 20 (-7) Independent (7 (-1) Labour 3 (-1) UKIP 0 (-1)
2.30pm
Nottinghamshire. No Overall Control. Conservatives 31 (+7) Labour 23 (-8) Independents 11 (+7) Lib Dems 1 (-6)
A disappointing result. Although as the largest party the Conservatives are in strong position in coalition negotiations.
2.00pm
Cambridgeshire. Conservatives gain from No Overall Control. Conservatives 36 (+8) Lib Dems 15 (+2) Labour 7 (+1) Independents 3 (+1) UKIP (-12)
Derbyshire. CONFIRMED. Conservatives gain from Labour. Conservatives 37 (+19) Labour 24 (-19) Lib Dems 3 (No change)
North Yorkshire. Conservatives hold. Conservatives 55 (+10) Independent 10 (+2) Labour 4 (-3) Lib Dems 3 (-5) Liberal 0 (-2) UKIP 0 (-2)
Buckinghamshire. Conservatives hold. Conservatives 41 (+5) Lib Dems 4 (-1) Independent 3 (+2) Labour 1 (No change) UKIP 0 (-6)
Suffolk. Conservatives hold. Conservatives 52 (+13) 11 (-4) 5 (-2) 4 (+1) Green Party 3 (+1) UKIP ) (-9)
Staffordshire. Conservatives hold. Conservatives 51 (+17) Labour 10 (-14) Independent 1 (-1) UKIP 0 (-2)
Full results to follow.
The Conservatives now have net gains in England of 254.
1.25pm
Norfolk. Conservatives gain from No Overall Control. Conservatives 55 (+15) Labour 17 (+3) Lib Dems 11 (+1) UKIP 0 (-15)
Shropshire. Conservatives hold. Conservatives 49 (+1) Lib Dems 12 (No change) Labour 8 (-1) Independent 3 (-1) ICHC 1 (No change) Green Party 1 (+1)
Hertfordshire. Conservatives hold. Conservatives 51 (+3) Lib Dems 18 (+2) Labour 9 (-5)
UKIP have gained a seat from Labour in Lancashire.
12.30pm
The Green Party have been making modest gains – following the increase in the number of candidates. Given their extreme left wing stance it might be thought they would declining in the Jeremy Corbyn era – apparently not.
Derbyshire is looking very good with 11 gains so far. A Conservative gain here is very much a “stretch target” – but it seems to be happening.
Conservatives are also making gains in Nottinghamshire. A high profile Conservative target.
11.20am
Rallings and Thrasher projected 115 net Conservative gains from all the Council results in England. That was based on Council by-election results. Already that has been surpassed – with 125 net gains in the results so far according to the BBC scoreboard. If the local election results reflect the opinion polls then Stephen Fisher says the net Conservative gains in the English council elections would be 430.
10.30am
Northumberland: No overall control. Conservatives 33 (+12) Labour 24 (-8) Independent 7 (+4) Lib Dems 3 (-8)
Tantalising the Conservatives missed out on the last seat after a straw draw – here was a tie in votes with Labour. That misses out gaining the overall control of the council. But still a very good result. Again the Lib Dems fall back. Is a pattern emerging?
9.30am
Isle of Wight: Conservative gain from No Overall Control. Conservatives 25 ( + 10), Independents 20 (-9) Lib Dems 2 (+1) Labour 2 (- 1),
Before 2005 this was a Lib Dem Council. This time they took one seat from the Conservatives and so doubled their tally to two. But a pretty derisory performance from them given expectations of an advance. More details here. ConHome cited the County as a key Conservative target here.
Warwickshire. Conservative gain from No Overall Control Conservatives 36 ( + 10), Labour 10 (-10) Lib Dems 7 ( -1) Independent 2 (-1) Green Party 2 (no change).
This was a Council which the Conservatives lost last time largely due to UKIP. Even though UKIP didn’t win any seats they took a significant votes from the Conservatives. ConHome cited this here.
Cumbria. No overall control. Conservatives 37 (+11) 26 (-9) Lib Dems 16 (No change) Independents 5 (-2)
The Labour candidate in the Copeland by-election lost her Council seat. Some interesting coalition talks will doubtless be taking place over the weekend.
Dorset. Conservative hold. Conservatives 32 (+4) Lib Dems 11(-1) Green Party 2 (+2) Labour 1 (-4)
While this was generally a good result for the Conservatives. The council leader Robert Gould lost his seat to a Lib Dem. More details here.
Gloucestershire. Conservative gain from No Overall Control. Conservatives 31 (+8) Lib Dems 14 (No change) Labour 5 (-4) UKIP 0 (-3)
This was a county the Conservatives should not have lost in the first place. As ConHome noted this was due to the UKIP factor.
Essex. Conservative hold. Conservatives 56 (+14) Lib Dems 7 (-2) Labour 6 (-3) Independent 4 (+3) Residents Association 1 (-2) Green Party 1 (-1) UKIP 0 (-9)
Essex man ditches UKIP and returns to the fold.
Hampshire. Conservative hold. Conservatives 57 (+11) Lib Dems 18 (No change) Labour 2 (-2) Independent 1 (-1) UKIP 0 (-8)
Another strong Conservative performance.
Lincolnshire. Conservative gain from No Overall Control. Conservatives 58 (+23) Labour 6 (-4) Independent 5 (-4) Lib Dem 1 (-2) UKIP 0 (-13)
This was another Council the Conservatives should not have lost in the first place. The county has been a high profile area of UKIP success and so the wipeout for the Party there is significant. A huge Conservative recovery.
Somerset. Conservative hold. Conservatives 35 (+6) Lib Dems 12 (-6) Independent 3 (+1) Green Party 2 (+2) UKIP 0 (-3)
This was a Lib Dem council until 2009. We we noted if there was a serious revival they should be making big gains in Somerset and being serious contenders to regain the Council. Yet they actually lost seats.
INITIAL VERDICT
Terrible results for Labour, unprecedented for the main opposition party at Westminster to be performing so badly in local elections. Even worse results for UKIP – who have lost every seat so far. But while dramatic both those outcomes were widely predicted. What is more surprising is how badly the Lib Dems are doing so far. In Council by-elections they had been notching up some impressive results. Based on that Rallings and Thrasher had predicted they would make net gains of 85.