Local election results tracker: Which parties came out on top?

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The Conservative Party suffered heavy losses at the 2023 local elections as Labour and the Liberal Democrats made substantial gains across England.

Labour gained 536 seats and took control of another 22 councils, outstripping the Tories to become the largest party of local government in England.

Rishi Sunak’s party was hit by dire losses of 1,061 seats in all – slightly more than feared by party bosses who had played down expectations and pointed to the chaos left behind by Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer cheered on his side’s “fantastic” results, and said his party was “on course” for a majority at the next general election.

The Liberal Democrats also made significant gains of 407 council seats, mainly in the “blue wall” south, profiting from widespread dissatisfaction with the government after a year of chaos in Westminster and a biting cost of living crisis.

Labour took control of key councils including Stoke-on-Trent, which was seen as a test of Starmer’s ability to win in areas that backed Brexit in 2016. Support for Labour rose by seven points compared with 2021 in the most heavily pro-Leave wards.

The vote share at the local elections would put Labour on 35 per cent – nine points ahead of the Conservatives on 26 per cent, according to analysis by polling guru Prof John Curtice for the BBC.

While it is Labour’s biggest local election victory since losing power in 2010, the party’s vote share no better than last year’s local elections.

Prof Curtice’s analysis also put Labour 14 seats short of the 326 needed for a majority – but warned: “We can’t give a definitive answer because people don’t vote in general elections the same way they do in local elections.”

Elections expert Prof Michael Thrasher said Labour would fall 28 seats short of a majority in parliament based on the vote share at the local elections.

Below, you can see the very latest results at a glance to get a sense of the national picture.

The Lib Dems said the local election results made them hopeful of winning 20 target “blue wall” Tory seats in the south of England – including constituencies held by chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Dominic Raab and Theresa May.

More than 8,000 seats were contested across 230 councils, with Bedford, Leicester, Mansfield and Middlesbrough among several cities and regions choosing a new mayor.

Going into election day, the Conservatives had 3,363 seats to defend, Labour 2,140, the Liberal Democrats 1,221, independents 954, the Green Party 240, residents associations 112, UKIP 25, the Reform Party four and the Liberal Party and the Yorkshire Party two apiece.