23 of 23 councils. Counting complete.
Reform gains control of a string of councils in England and secures their second mayor after winning the Runcorn and Helsby by-election
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey says they are now "the party of middle England" as the party secures control of three councils
Keir Starmer says Labour's by-election loss is "disappointing", while Nigel Farage says today "marks the end of two-party politics"
Labour narrowly holds three mayoral races in North Tyneside, the West of England, and Doncaster - but loses control of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoralty to the Conservatives
These are really bad results for the Labour party, writes the BBC's chief political correspondent in seven key takeaways
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says she's "determined to win back" trust, as her party loses more than 600 councillors
Watch: BBC's Henry Zeffman on what comes after Reform's by-election win
No party has overall control of Worcestershire County Council, after the Tories lost control of the local authority for the first time in 20 years.
It has been a huge victory for Reform, who are now the largest party on the county council, with 27 seats - two short of a majority.
The Conservative Party has been left with just 12 seats. Tory leader Simon Geraghty lost his seat to Greens.
Reform has now gained Lancashire County Council from the Conservatives.
There are still 11 seats left to be declared - but Reform has picked up 42 seats there so far.
With 56 out of 64 seats declared so far, we can say that the Conservatives have lost control of Nottinghamshire County Council.
Reform has picked up 34 seats so far, with the Tories down 17 seats to a total of 17.
This marks the first time in a decade that the Conservatives haven't held a majority in the council here.
Georgia Roberts
Political reporter, BBC Derby
Reform UK has now officially got a majority on Derbyshire County Council.
The casualties they’ve inflicted include Labour’s leader in Derbyshire and potentially the current Conservative leader of the council Barry Lewis, but there’s a recount it’s that close.
There’s a feeling here that Reform have managed to mobilise people that don’t normally turn out to vote in Derbyshire and this has helped them along to victory - turnout was higher than expectations.
But Conservatives here also say they don’t feel they could’ve fought against the strong sentiment for Reform and sympathy for their national policies.
Labour and the Conservative are equally hurting, but for Labour this is a particular blow.
A year ago they were expecting to take this council, riding high off the back of recent victories in district and borough councils and a clean sweep of Labour MPs in the general election.
One Labour figure here tells me the party now need to do some serious soul searching as to how things have gone “so wrong, so rapidly”.
Tim Iredale
Political editor, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
Reform UK Deputy Leader and Boston and Skegness MP Richard Tice has arrived at the count for the Hull and East Yorkshire mayoral contest.
He says he believes Luke Campbell - Reform's candidate - has won.
We've just had confirmation that Tory candidate Paul Bristow has won the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoralty.
A final decision in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral race is imminent, our reporters at the count tell us.
We'll update you as soon as we have the result.
The Conservatives have lost control of Devon County Council, with three seats still left to be declared.
The Lib Dems and Reform both made significant gains, but neither has won enough to take full control.
Reform has taken control of Durham County Council.
The council was previously run as a coalition between the Liberal Democrats, Tories and independent councillors.
This brings the total number of councils taken by Reform to three - before today, it was zero.
We're now hearing that Reform just needs to pick up one more seat in Durham to gain control of the council.
We've got reporters at the count and will update you as soon as that result becomes clear.
Image source, PA MediaShadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick says any suggestion the Conservative Party would be performing better if he was leader rather than Kemi Badenoch is "complete nonsense", insisting she is doing an "excellent job".
Asked by the BBC if he rules out backing a coalition with Reform, he says: "Yep. Kemi has been clear, no pacts, no coalitions. I have been clear. I want to put Reform out of business, I want to send Farage back to retirement.
"The way we get back in the game is being better than Reform," he adds, insisting previous comments he made were instead about the need to have a coalition of voters on the right of politics.
Jenrick says it's been a "tough" night for the Tories, with the public still "very angry and frustrated by the Conservative Party".
Image source, PA MediaConservative leader Kemi Badenoch says she's determined to win back the public's trust and the seats her party has lost, in her first comments since late last night.
"These were always going to be a very difficult set of elections coming off the high of 2021, and our historic defeat last year - and so it’s proving," she writes on X.
"The renewal of our party has only just begun and I’m determined to win back the trust of the public and the seats we’ve lost, in the years to come," the opposition leader adds.
Pritti Mistry
Reporting from Lincolnshire
Reform UK has reached 36 seats on Lincolnshire County Council as counting continues, meaning they will take control of the council from the Conservatives.
There are still more seats to announce, however with a total of 70 seats available, the 36 they have means Reform takes control.
Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert
While the results coming in today are from areas less pro-Brexit than the ones overnight, Reform still enjoy a substantial lead in the overall tally of votes so far.
The party is now running at 35% of the vote, with the Conservatives on 25%, Labour 15% and the Lib Dems 12%.
The fall in the Conservative vote since local elections in 2021 is about about 19 points - less than the 27 point drop evident in the overnight results. But even so, the party is still clearly headed downward overall.
Meanwhile, at six points, the fall in Labour's vote is also a little lower than the nine points overnight. Again, though, it is going in much the same direction.
Meanwhile, the Lib Dems are registering a clear advance of 6 points in the wards declared today - a stat that reflects, in particular, some notable gains in Devon where the party is currently running first in the tally of votes.
Trystan Jones
Reporting from Staffordshire
As we've reported, Reform UK has just taken the final votes they need to claim control of Staffordshire County Council.
There are still more results to announce, but they now have 34 council seats - and they only needed 32.
It's quite a result, because they went into this election with no councillors and the Conservatives held 53 of the 62 seats.
Ken Owen, chair of Reform UK in Newcastle-under-Lyme, says he thought voters were disillusioned with the other major parties.
"[It was] a remarkable night, not only for Reform UK candidates, but I think the people of Staffordshire have sent a message to the current sort of administration," he says.
"Reform UK have got a strong team of people behind the scenes, and I'm sure we'll be talking about that over the next day or two."
Owen also says no decisions had yet been made about who might be appointed to key decisions within the council.
Reform UK has taken control of Staffordshire County Council, with some votes still being counted.
This is the first time Nigel Farage's party has taken full control of a council.
Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert
The BBC is forecasting that, with just the result for Cambridge itself to be declared, the Conservatives will win the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoralty - thereby taking it from Labour.
Labour themselves are at risk of coming fourth here.
Although the Cambridgeshire mayoralty was won by Labour in 2021, the party was only ahead after the allocation of second votes under the supplementary vote system, external. The Conservatives were ahead on first preference.
This year, voters only had a first choice, which may well have helped the Tories to win the position this time.
Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert
In initial results, Reform are well ahead in the tally of votes for Durham - with 40% of the vote, so far, and 15 points head of Labour - while the Liberal Democrats are ahead in Devon.
It seems that on initial results, we can't rule out Reform taking control of Durham.
We're beginning to see the challenge to the two big parties - Labour and the Conservatives - coming from more than one direction.
Kate Moser Andon
Political reporter, in Cambridgeshire
I'm here in Cambridgeshire, where three of the six districts have now been declared in the mayoral contest.
One of the remaining districts is apparently doing a recount.
We're now being told that we could get the results in 20 minutes' time.
Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert
Three of the six council areas have now been declared in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
The BBC's forecast indicates that the mayoral race here will be a tight one between the Conservatives and Reform.
The post is currently held by Labour's Nik Johnson.
