Local elections results: Corbyn says Brexit deal between Labour and Tories ‘has to be done’ in wake of poll hammering

Disastrous night for major parties as Liberal Democrats surge

Local elections: Tories and Labour suffer losses

Voters have punished both Theresa May’s Conservative party and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour in the 2019 local government elections over Brexit.

The Tories lost more than 1,200 seats, while the Lib Dems gained more than 600. The Greens gained more than 180 seats, with party co-leader Jonathan Bartley declaring it “the biggest election night in our history”.

Change UK MP Chuka Umunna said the local election results illustrate that “politics is broken in Britain”, while polling expert Sir John Curtice said the hold of the two big parties looks “as weak as it has done at any point in post-war British politics”.

The prime minister was confronted with anger as backbench MPs called for her removal and warned that the party would be “toast” if it did not change direction.

In Wales, a heckler interrupted the PM as she gave a speech in Wales, saying: “Why don’t you resign? We don’t want you.”

(Graphic News)

The prime minister later thanked Conservative councillors who had lost their seats.

“Because we haven’t delivered the Brexit deal through parliament yet, this was going to be a particularly challenging set of elections for both of the main parties,” she said in a speech to the North East Lincolnshire Conservative Group.

“I also know that last night, I’m sorry to say, a good number of good local councillors across the country lost their seats,” she said, in a speech to the North East Lincolnshire Conservative Group.

“Brandon (Lewis) and I both started our careers in local government and we know what it’s like when you’re fighting local elections against a difficult national background.

“I’d like to thank all those councillors for all their hard work and effort that they’ve put in.”

Labour also suffered losses, surprising the party leadership who had expected to make gains in Thursday’s vote.

Instead the party lost 63 council seats and overall control of six councils, including heartland councils such as Hartlepool, Wirral and Bolsover.

Both parties are now bracing for further losses in European elections, which are scheduled for 23 May.

If you would like to see how the results emerged, please see what was our live coverage below:

[3 May 2019 20:28 · Zamira Rahim]

The Conservatives have lost control of Waverly council.

No party will have overall control of the local authority.

[3 May 2019 20:30 · Zamira Rahim]

Theresa May has thanked Conservative councillors, who lost their seats, for their work.

"I also know that last night, I'm sorry to say, a good number of good local councillors across the country lost their seats," she said, in a speech to the North East Lincolnshire Conservative Group.

"Brandon (Lewis) and I both started our careers in local government and we know what it's like when you're fighting local elections against a difficult national background.

"I'd like to thank all those councillors for all their hard work and effort that they've put in."

[3 May 2019 20:39 · Zamira Rahim]

Jeremy Corbyn has told the BBC he is "very sorry" that Labour lost control of three of its heartland councils.

The party lost control of Hartlepool, Wirral and Bolsover but Mr Corbyn said Labour would "fight back" in the areas.

"We will win them back," he said.

[3 May 2019 20:40 · Zamira Rahim]

Mansfield council remains outside the control of any one party, results show. 

It is the last English council to declare its results.

[3 May 2019 20:57 · Zamira Rahim]

"It just seems voters, period, saying: 'A plague on both your houses'," John Curtice, the UK's leading polling expert, has said about the local election results.

The outcome suggests that the Conservatives and the Labour Party could be in for losses at elections for the European Parliament, scheduled for 23 May.

[3 May 2019 21:01 · Zamira Rahim]

All English results in the local elections have now been released, with ballots still being counted in Northern Ireland.

The Conservatives have lost 1,269 councillors and lost control of 45 local authorities. The party managed to secure control of just 93 councils.

Labour, which had expected to make gains in the elections, lost 63 council seats and overall control of six councils.

The opposition party continues to have control in 60 local authorities.

The LIberal Democrats have done particularly well, gaining 676 council seats, for a total of 1,351.

The party won control of 18 councils, a rise of 11.

The Greens have also done well, winning 185 more seats, for a total of 265.