The Conservatives have lost control of a key London council for the first time in over 40 years. Wandsworth Council has been run by the Tories since 1978.
However it'll be all change in that part of the capital after Labour took over the reigns of the authority for the first time in decades. Wandsworth was a totemic council for the Tories.
It turned blue in 1978, a year before Margaret Thatcher’s election as prime minister and was reputedly her favourite council, renowned for its low taxes. The loss of Wandsworth is the significant blow in what is fast shaping-up to be a dismal night for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Tories.
At the time of writing, the Conservatives have lost 83 seats across England compared to the last local election in 2018. UKIP are also two seats down with 58 of 146 councils declared. The Liberal Democrats have enjoyed the biggest gains of the night so far, winning 41 seats at the time of writing followed by the Green Party (+20) and Labour (+15 seats). Independent candidates are also up three seats at the time of publication.
Latest results show that the Conservatives have also lost control of the local authority in Worcester - famously a key target area for the Labour party during the Blair years - which is now a hung council.
However, it's not all bad news for the blues. The Conservatives can find some solace in the fact the they've seized full control over Bedworth Council - taking Labour's final seat in the town during the Nuneaton and Bedworth local elections.
Party campaigners have hailed the result as a tremendous achievement, hailing the victory as proof that "the blue wall is building" in the west Midlands, according to Coventry Live. Elsewhere, the Conservatives gained control of the new Cumberland authority.
But the Conservatives' gains so far will leave the party with little to smile about - and the situation might not get much better for the party. A Tory source told the Press Association that they expect "these elections to be tough”.
The voting took place with the shadow of the partygate scandal still looming large across the political landscape. That coupled with with concerns about a cost-of-living crisis underlined by grim economic forecasts from the Bank of England on polling day meant the Conservatives were destined to face an uphill struggle for a positive outcome from this year's local elections.
The Labour Party will have gone into this election campaign with optimism following the scandal surrounding the Tories. However, to date their performance has been overshadowed by the Lib Dems and to a lesser extent, the Greens who have made big and arguably surprising gains in areas.
Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds acknowledged there would be “ups and downs” in the results but said she hoped they would show progress since the 2019 general election drubbing under Jeremy Corbyn.
Counting in many English authorities, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will not begin until later on Friday.
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