Lib Dems on track to win more seats than the Toriespublished at 17:22 British Summer Time 2 May

17:22 BST 2 May

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

"We are the party of middle England now,” the Liberal Democrats’ leader Ed Davey claimed from a garden party in Oxfordshire.

It’s just one of the areas his party has had success in these set of elections. They have already made gains in Gloucestershire and Devon and are hoping to win more in Cambridgeshire, and Shropshire.

The Lib Dems look likely to win more seats than the Conservatives in this set of local elections.

It’s not the first time that has happened.

But it is rare - and it will buoy the Lib Dem claim to be the alternative to Labour in places they are strong, rather than the Tories.

This is one example that highlights it’s not just Reform that are benefitting from the splintering of support away from Labour and the Conservatives.

The Liberal Democrats have won control of their first county council in this local election - Oxfordshire.

Lib Dem councillors now have 36 seats, while Labour has 12 and Conservatives have 10.

Reform have just secured their second mayoralty, with Luke Campbell being elected in Hull and East Yorkshire.

The result comes after Dame Andrea Jenkyns won Greater Lincolnshire for the party.

This is the last mayoral race to be declared.

The Conservatives gained Cambridgeshire & Peterborough from Labour earlier, while Labour held on in Doncaster, North Tyneside and the West of England.

All of the results are in for Hertfordshire County Council and no party has a majority. The Tories previously had control of the council.

The Liberal Democrats have gained eight to be the biggest party with 31 councillors, while the Tories are down 24 to control 22 council seats in second.

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

The Conservatives have now made a net loss of 542 seats - exceeding the tally that their spokesman Kevin Hollinrake MP suggested to the BBC would represent a disaster for the party.

This means that the party has been losing two in three of the seats that it has been defending.

The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg has been speaking to Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, who says his party’s election to a number of councils means they can now "look at the books" and begin reforming public services.

“People are saying why am I paying more council taxes and yet the bins are collected less frequently, the potholes are repaired less frequently... where’s all the money going?”

Asked if he can promise the public lower council bills, he says he can promise them a review of these, as well as the asylum hotel system.

With all the wards declared, there is no party majority in Gloucestershire County Council.

The Tories have done the worst in the local election, losing 24 seats. Both the Liberal Democrats and Reform have gained 11 councillors, to sit on 27 and 11 seats respectively.

The Greens have gained five seats to sit on nine - while Labour has lost four, leaving them with just one councillor.

Labour equals worst projected national share score while Tories score party's lowest-everpublished at 16:36 British Summer Time 2 May

16:36 BST 2 May

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

This is the first time that a party other than Conservatives or Labour have been ahead in the projected national vote share calculation - and Reform's estimated 30% is well above the 23% that Ukip scored at the height of its popularity in 2013.

Labour's tally equals its lowest previous recorded performance in 2009, while the Conservative estimate is the party's lowest-ever recorded.

This is the first time that the combined share of the vote for Conservative and Labour has been below 50%, underlining, as I reported earlier, the fragmentation of British politics in these elections.

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

On the basis of the results in over 1,100 of the wards which have declared their results in these elections, the BBC is estimating that - if a nationwide election had been held on Thursday and the places that did not have elections mirrored the behaviour of those that did, and if the principal parties contested all the seats - the results would've been as follows:

• Reform UK: 30%
• Labour: 20%
• Liberal Democrats: 17%
• Conservatives: 15%
• Greens: 11%
• Others: 7%

I'll have some analysis of the figures in a follow-up post, coming shortly.

We are now seeing that the Tories have lost control of Wiltshire and that no party will achieve a majority of seats.

The Liberal Democrats are in first with 43 seats, a gain of 16 councillors. They are narrowly followed by the Conservatives on 37, which is down 24 on the 2021 elections.

Some gains for the Greenspublished at 16:08 British Summer Time 2 May

16:08 BST 2 May

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

The Greens are currently averaging 10% of the vote in wards that they contested.

On average the party's vote is slightly down in wards that it fought this time and in 2021, against the Conservatives, Labour and the Lib Dems.

So far, the party has made a number of gains but this is probably going to seem more like an election in which the Greens trod water than one in which they made significant advances.

Nigel Farage, who we've just finished hearing from, has unsurprisingly been very enthusiastic about his party's showing in the local elections - telling a roomful of supporters that he believes this bodes well for the next general election.

Here's how leaders from the other main parties have reacted to today's results:

• Labour leader and Prime Minster Keir Starmer tells the BBC the results have so far been "disappointing", but he believes his government needs to go "further and faster" to see the change he hopes to bring about
• Earlier in the day, after saying he'd like to scoop control of the Tory stronghold in Shropshire, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said he believes his party is shaping up to be "the new party of middle England"
• Greens co-leader Adrian Ramsay also struck a positive note at the start of counting, telling the BBC he's also "confident" his party will see big returns in council races
• Later in the day, we heard from Kemi Badenoch, with the Conservative leader sharing that her party always knew these results were going to be "very difficult" but she remains "determined to win back the trust of the public"

Matt Spivey
Live editor

Local election results are coming in thick and fast as our team of reporters in different pockets of England are working tirelessly to keep up with the rapid pace of developments.

In the past hour we've seen a flurry of declarations as the count for 11 of the 23 councils is still under way.

Reform UK has taken control of several councils - including Kent and Lancashire, which they have gained from the Conservatives.

Tory losses have continued this afternoon, including in Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire.

But the Conservatives did find success in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoralty, as Paul Bristow beat Nigel Farage's Reform by five points.

As votes continue to be counted and results announced, we'll continue to bring you the key developments here.

No party has a majority in Leicestershire County Council, but the Conservatives have lost control of the local authority.

With all 55 seats declared, Reform has picked up 25 councillors and the Tories have 15 - a drop of 27 from the 2021 election.

The Liberal Democrats have gained two seats to sit third on 11 councillors.

Lucy Ashton
BBC Sheffield political reporter

The first declaration at the Doncaster Council county is due shortly and we can expect a flurry of results to come through thick and fast.

A former deputy speaker of the House of Commons, Baroness Rosie Winterton, is at the count.

The former Doncaster MP is here to support her Labour colleagues, with one party member saying the results look “grim across the city” for Labour.

Narrow margins indicate fragmented party supportpublished at 15:39 British Summer Time 2 May

15:39 BST 2 May

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

On average, so far, a ward has been won in these local elections with a 15% majority for the first-placed party.

The equivalent figure in 2021 was 25%.

This is one indication of how the fragmentation of party support has resulted in more outcomes that are tight.

Equally, in the average constituency, nearly three parties have secured more than 15% of the vote. The comparable figure there in 2021 was closer to two parties.

We've just been hearing from Reform leader Nigel Farage, who's just been speaking in Durham - a council his party has just taken control over.

"Keir Starmer's party has moved far away - we are now the party of the working man and woman," the Reform leader says to cheers.

He goes on to celebrate his party's recent wins in Lancashire and Nottinghamshire councils.

"This marks the end of two party politics as we've known it for over a century - it is over, it is finished it is gone," he says, before hitting out at the Tories, who he says "have been wiped out".

"If you vote Reform, you get Reform," he says to more celebratory cheers.

Addressing supporters of his party, Farage says: "You have cleared a very important hurdle today and next year we will clear them in the Welsh and Scottish parliaments.

"I believe we will win the next election."

Reform has taken control of Kent County Council from the Conservatives. We're still waiting for final results - but Reform has picked up 40 councillors.

The Liberal Democrats are currently in second place after gaining seven seats, to sit on 11 as it stands. The Conservatives currently have just one seat, down 42.

The Conservatives have lost control of Warwickshire County Council, but no party has secured a majority as it stands.

With 48 of 57 seats declared, Reform is in the lead with 22 and the Liberal Democrats coming in second at 10 seats - a gain of five.

The Conservatives are down 28 seats, with seven seats on the council so far.

Image source, bbc

Tories and Labour losing most ground in seats they're defendingpublished at 15:18 British Summer Time 2 May

15:18 BST 2 May

Professor Sir John Curtice
Polling expert

One of the reasons why Reform's tally of seats appears to be heading for an unexpectedly high number is that support for both the Conservatives and Labour is falling more heavily in places where they previously were strongest.

The Tory vote is down on average by 35 points in wards where their vote was more than 65% in 2021, whereas their vote is down only 10 points where they had less than 25% in 2021.

Meanwhile, Labour's vote is down on average by 22 points in wards where they won more than 40% in 2021 - but down by just two points in wards where they won less than 10%.

Essentially this means that Conservatives and Labour are losing ground most heavily in seats they are defending.

With more than 900 keywards declared, Nigel Farage's Reform UK Party has won more than half. If this continues, the party could end up with some 800 or so seats across these elections as a whole.