In the results announced so far. Its a fantastic morning. The liberal democrats are back in business. Im Annita Mcveigh live at westminster. They may have been local elections, but National Politics seems to have been a deciding factor for voters with both conservatives and labour hit by an apparent brexit backlash. There are calls for theresa may to go after the difficult night for her party, which many are putting down to her handling of brexit. I think we need to change. I just dont think we can continue like this. Ive been very clear, quite frankly. Many of my constituents have said this to me, we need change, we need a change of leadership, perhaps the time has now come for that. Well be bringing you all the overnight results, including full analysis of why the tories and labour suffered those losses, and whats behind the gains for the lib dems as the daytime counts begin. Good morning and welsome to the bbc news Election Special. Good morning and welcome to the bbc news Election Special. Voters have punished the conservatives and labour in early results from the local elections in england in what appears to be a protest against the deadlock over brexit at westminster. As counting got under way last night, it quickly became clear that the smaller parties, such as the liberal democrats and greens, and independent candidates were winning seats around the country. Nearly a hundred of the 248 councils up for election have declared their results. Counting in the remaining authorities as well as in Northern Ireland will take place later. Lets take a look at the results so far. This is on the council figures, 80,400 Council Seats in all for grabs. The number of councillors for the conservatives has dropped by 442, a big loss for the conservatives, labour also suffering losses, down 79. As you can see for the figures here, the real winners are the lib dems, greens and independents. The liberal democrats at 304, ed davey has said that the lib dems are back in business, and the independents are interested, john curtice, the analyst, has said in the 69 councils were independents we re in the 69 councils were independents were standing, they won on average around 25 of the vote. They are amongst the biggest winners. Ukip also suffering. Lets have a look at the councils, 248 councils in england for the taking, lets have a look at how the numbers are stacking up look at how the numbers are stacking up at this stage. There are still 140 yet to declare. We will bring you those results through the day. As they stand, labour and conservatives suffering losses, and its the same stories, the liberal democrats, independents and hung councils all up. With more on the story of the night so far, heres jessica parker. Results coming in, some smiles, and cheers. A hold in the Battle Ground of swindon for the tories and a gain in North East Lincolnshire. But elsewhere, far less favourable results, the conservatives losing control in areas such as st albans, southend, broxtowe and peterborough. Theresa may, polling card in hand, what does the picture mean for her . I think she needs to take a look at how many councillors weve lost overnight, wake up in the morning and think about how she thinks the conservative party needs to put its best foot forward. These ballot boxes brought good news for labour, where they took control of trafford, but the party lost control of councils in hartlepool and bolsover. A sense in some areas that it wasnt quite the night theyd hoped for. It is not looking good. This is going to be a very difficult night for labour. We have been out and about and the message we are getting loud and clear is all about brexit, and the residents are telling us they are going to make sure there is some change, because of their dissatisfaction over brexit. So signs it could be some of the smaller parties like the liberal democrats and greens, as well as local independents, that are on the advance. The liberal democrats gaining areas like north norfolk, winchester and cotswolds district council. Feeling buoyant, we are seeing a lot of the vote coming out, and the National Picture is really tough for the tories. However, there is a way to go yet. This is a big set of local elections and the parties are watching closely. Peering into what it might mean for their wider fortunes. Here in the wee hours, though, is this some cross party collaboration, or perhaps commiseration . So on it goes, verdicts being delivered, one ballot box after another. They were certainly eager to get going here, it is democracy in energetic action. And energy may well be what is needed. The results for plenty of other races yet to come. Jessica parker, bbc news. As weve heard, the poor performance of both labour and the conservatives in the local elections in england is being blamed on a brexit backlash. Lets go over to Annita Mcveigh, whos in westminster. Good morning, everyone. Potentially, are these the least local local elections we have seen for a very long time . With brexit being such a dominant feature of national life, lets get the thoughts straightaway of norman lets get the thoughts straightaway norman smith. Lets talk about the big themes emerging so far. The biggest is the brexit backlash, which both the main parties have been hit by, no getting away from it, it has been a disastrous night for both of them. We can put that squarely down to the fact about sorting out brexit. A vote is around the country have gone, you guys have failed big time, and i have looked for anyone but the above to vote for. We have seen a huge increase in the number of votes going to the independents, they got more than 200 new successful candidates as voters cast around rating for anyone but the usual people voting for anyone but the usual people. On the labour side, it has mean a real haemorrhage of support in their traditional leave supporting heartland, bolsover, the home of the beast, dennis skinner, they have lost control of the council there. Really symbolic. Hugely symbolic, not just really symbolic. Hugely symbolic, notjust me saying that, the Council Leaders in those labour areas, the leaders in those labour areas, the leader of barnsley council, newcastle council, nick forbes, saying its all down to the brexit fudge. On the tory side, very similar tale. They lost the cotswolds council. That is the home of David Cameron, shepherd sites, green wellies, you name it. Shepherd huts. True blue tory country, they lost that. North east somerset, the home ofJacob Rees Mogg, it is blindingly clear that many tories are fed up to the back teeth of the brexit impasse and we are seeing the brexiteer is saying, and also mrs may. We have seen people like priti patel saying, its not just brexit, seen people like priti patel saying, its notjust brexit, its theresa may as well. Do you think theresa may needs to go . That is the ultimate question, i will reflect and payback many of the comments i have had certainly over the last three weeks knocking on doors, people have categorically said that she is part of the problem. Where we have now got to look at these results, look at our direction of travel going ahead as a party, obviously our Party Leadership and our party nationally needs to look at the situation and make some very, very serious decision is now in terms of where we go. Where would you like to see it go . I think we need to change, i just dont think we can continue like this. I have been very clear frankly, many of my constituents have said to me, we need to change, we need a change of leadership, perhaps the time has come for that iiow. Perhaps the time has come for that now. So, norman, the least local local elections we have arguably ever had because of this absolutely dominant issue of brexit. One of the key winners from all that, though, it seems, is the liberal democrats, who were flat on their back going into these elections. The last time these were fought, i think they had their worst result ever. So given that, and given labour and the tories are having a horror show, you would expect them to do well but they have done pretty well. One of they have done pretty well. One of the most striking results was in North East Somerset where they got shot of 23 tory councillors, to seize control. One of the questions is whether vince cable will use this as his swansong, to say, i have taken the party back, we are on the road again, and will leave quite 0011 road again, and will leave quite soon now to go out on a high. More broadly, they claim these are the best results they have had in a generation, here is ed davey. Its a fantastic morning, the liberal democrats are back in business. To put it in context, i think this was a sea change. I think voters have been desperate for a strong alternative to the conservatives and labour who have made such a mess of everything the last few years. And now voters have it, they have chosen the liberal democrats, notjust a protest but to put theirfaith in us, around the country, in the north against labour, in the south against conservatives. This was our best night for a generation. Came from quite a low starting point, though, didnt you . If you look in context, back when labour was taking britain into an illegal war with iraq and liberal democrats were opposing it, we got Great Results that year. These are better than that. When john majors conservative government was in meltdown, we got good results, these results look like they may be as good as then. So these are historic in terms of liberal democrats success and victories. On the back of this, we think its a real clear signal to the british people that if you want to stop brexit, you vote liberal democrat. It was your worst ever results in 2015, though, wasnt it . Lets put this into fair context. These are our best ever results. 0k. Youre not going to depress me on this night. We have been taking seats in councils and places that we never expected. We are winning places that werent even on our best hopeful list. Lets just take a look at something that shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell has been tweeting in the last hour. We will see what the final Election Results look like by the end of the day, as they are pretty mixed geographically until 110w. That brings me onto another question. Exactly what message can the parties extrapolate from the results so far . Its interesting thatjohn mcdonnell tweet, about sorting brexit, there will now be huge pressure onJeremy Corbyn to do the deal with theresa may because its quite clear its hurting labour, brexit is hurting labour and his hopes to get beyond that and get his hopes to get beyond that and get his message out on austerity is being drowned out by the noise over brexit. There will be renewed pressure on him to buckle over that, even with all the risks that come with that. The other thing that the main parties have to brace themselves for, last night was bad but boy oh boy it could get a lot worse in a fortnights time when Nigel Farages brexit party and change uk get involved, if you want brexit, go with nigel farage, if you dont, go with change uk, so the squeeze on the main parties in a fortnight is going to make love might look plenty is going to make last night look like a picnic. A message has been sent to the main parties. One of the reasons why this particular set of results is so interesting and such an interesting comparison to what has gone before is most of the seats contested yesterday were contested at the last general election, which benefited the conservative party at that time as well. It was thought there would bea as well. It was thought there would be a natural correction for the conservative party from that point, that means we have to consider additional losses for the conservatives. As well as opinion and analysis here at westminster, we will be taking you all over england and Northern Ireland to get a reaction from lots of different locations to what has been happening in yourarea. Right locations to what has been happening in your area. Right now, im joined by the conservative party vt chair, heron helen whately. North east somerset, the lib dems ta ke North East Somerset, the lib dems take it ousting 23 conservative councillors in that vote overnight, and pretty patel and others saying that the reason is theresa may and her handling of brexit, do you agree it isa her handling of brexit, do you agree it is a time for a change of leadership . I dont, i agree that the factor in these elections is clearly brexit. We always knew this would be a tough election for us. 2015 was a high point in the general election helps the turnout. We knew that more than a thousand seats could be lost by the conservatives. I thought labour would be making much stronger games games and they do not appear to have done so. I thought swindon for instance would go to having different control, it is no overall control, and we have one in North East Lincolnshire, so we have got some positives. But brexit clearly is the dominant factor. You say it is the dominant factor, clearly it is a factor. We have heard from local government leaders, saying that, blaming the loss of councillors, colleagues they have worked with for some years, on brexit. I very much feel for councillors, Council Candidates, i have been campaigning with my local Council Candidates and i know how ha rd Council Candidates and i know how hard they have worked. I know there isa hard they have worked. I know there is a factor in these elections, clearly, of the National Situation and brexit and thats really clear on the doorstep. What you do with that message . To me, the strongest message is for mps and parliament to get on and do brexit. Many people voted to leave, 17. 5 Million People voted to leave, 17. 5 Million People voted to leave and they are frustrated that we havent left. We know the country is divided on this so we know the country is divided on this so we have to do a moderate brexit that works for everybody. Thats a really strong message to labour mps as well as conservative mps to move on and support us, leaving the European Union, but working for having a good future relationship with them. Are you clear on that, are you clear it is voters saying, weve gone to these other parties because we want brexit to go ahead . Because for example, going back to North East Somerset, and there are other examples, people have moved to the lib dems, who want the uk to remain in the eu. How can you be sure that that is the message that speeding being delivered . |j sure that that is the message that speeding being delivered . I wont deny some people who voted remain, it is another messy so consent. But we are seeing people being frustrated with the National Picture and looking for an alternative, particularly who seems to be local and apart from that. I dont think thatis and apart from that. I dont think that is particularly the same conclusion that i draw that you drew. I am not drawing conclusions so drew. I am not drawing conclusions so much as suggesting that that could be a possible interpretation of it. If we do end up having the European Elections, that will be another chance for people to restate their view on brexit as well. I do feel overall there is a huge desire for us to move on 3s a feel overall there is a huge desire for us to move on as a country. You d eftly for us to move on as a country. You deftly sidestepped the question of whether theresa may is ultimately the person responsible for all this in terms of her handling of brexit. Obviously there are still results to come but if this continues to be a disappointing night and day for the conservatives, and the European Elections, if they go ahead, are also disappointing that the conservatives, is that the point where theresa may needs to go in your opinion . I dont think so. I have heard people frustrated with us on the doorstep, it was not particularly frustration with the Prime Minister, it was overall frustration at parliament for not seeing through the referendum result. And the challenge for the Prime Minister is overall the divisions in parliament and the numbers and the maths. And thats what we need to get through, and have a brexit deal that a majority of mps will support so we can move on. Helen whately, thank you very much for your time. Lets speak to the Labour Party Chair ian lavery who joins us from newcastle. Good morning. Clearly, its a disappointing night, there have been some significant and symbolic gains for labour in some places but a disappointing night in terms of losses of councillors, like the conservatives, we have seen local government leaders are blaming the pa rtys government leaders are blaming the partys handling government leaders are blaming the pa rtys handling of government leaders are blaming the partys handling of brexit. So what message do you take from the results so message do you take from the results so far . What we have seen is that the message of austerity has angered people on the doorstep. The fact that there has been lacking investment in the nhs and education, a reduction in living standards. But that has been trumped, in the areas who feel by and large disenfranchised from the political process , disenfranchised from the political process, that has been trumped by the message of brexit. We have got a clear message from a lot of these communities, a lot of these constituencies, that the two parties need to get on and get brexit sorted. And thats the message were getting by and large from the east midlands to the West Midlands and north of that as well. So labour has failed not only to hammer home its message and policies on brexit, but also in what might be seen as a more traditionally strong area for you, its handling of austerity, is that what you are saying . No, what i am saying quite clearly is that the areas which i have already mentioned, there are a great concerns. There has been huge anger about tory austerity, but theres more anger the fact that this government have not been able to deliver a brexit that they promised in the first place, and that has trumped the huge problems being faced by many people in these areas. Thats why people are getting out there and voting with their feet, voting for change, voting for the small parties, a lot of it is a protest vote. I share their frustrations. The labour and tory party, they all agree that we would be leaving, we would have a brexit in line with the 17. 4 Million People who voted for brexit. And that hasnt happened. They are frustrated, anger and we will take that on board. But your Party Colleague Barry Gardner has been echoing that this morning, saying a party that has been speaking with two voices on a subject as huge as this cannot expect to do well at the polls. There is absolutely no sign, is there, that labour is somehow going to make those two voices harmonise anytime soon. And speak with the united voice on the subject of brexit. The reality of that brexit has been extremely divisive. The labour party are the only party who are trying to bring both sides of that divide together. Its essential that regardless of what happened to, we bring this country together. We have seen what happens on the streets of this country what has happened in the past year to 18 months, very divisive. We have a duty as a Political Party to try and bring all sides of this together. Thats a huge challenge which we have got. And im sure that the labour party are best placed in order to do that. We havent gone one way 01 order to do that. We havent gone one way or another because communities are split, the country is split, constituencies are split and many of the parties are split as well. We have got a challenge and i think we are up to that challenge. Are you up to that challenge, though . At this point in the election cycle, with the conservative party absolutely torn apart over brexit, with the Prime Minister losing three vote on her Withdrawal Agreement on brexit, labour should be absolutely trouncing the conservatives, but it isnt, isnt it . Whats happening on doorsteps across the country where we have had elections, people are very, very angry at austerity, people are frustrated at austerity. But what has trumped the austerity message is the brexit issue. This is a brexit election and that is what we have had to deal with. Its not normal under the circumstances. These are Tumultuous Times in the political history, for the want of a better term. These are times where anything could really have happened. People are frustrated and we understand why they have gone and voted the way they have, not traditional ways. However, voted the way they have, not traditionalways. However, again, i must say, the press are suggesting that it must say, the press are suggesting thatitis must say, the press are suggesting that it is a disaster for labour and disaster for the tory party. The conservatives come on the basis of the figures we have at this moment in time, could lose more than 1000 seats. The day isnt concluded yet. I predict that the labour party results will get better throughout the day. But we are disappointed in the day. But we are disappointed in the situation today. Lets see what the situation today. Lets see what the rest of the day brings. Just one final question to you, if i may. When you talk about trying to bring people together, bring the party together, does that include a referendum, a confirmatory referendum, a confirmatory referendum and a guarantee of that, 01 referendum and a guarantee of that, or does it mean that you think Jeremy Corbyn is now under more pressure to come to some sort of agreement with theresa may and a brexit . What i have said is the big challenge is to bring both sides of the divide together. What we have seen the divide together. What we have seenin the divide together. What we have seen in the north, the leader of graham miller, the leader of Sunderland City Council last night, said the reason why there had been losses in sunderland was purely because of the stance, the potential for a peoples vote. People want to see brexit over and done with. Im hoping thatJeremy Corbyn. See brexit over and done with. Im hoping that Jeremy Corbyn. Doing a deal with theresa may, is that what you think . Im hoping Jeremy Corbyn and the team can get together and come up with a brexit deal in the best interests of the country and the economy, jobs and communities, security and the environment, with Consumer Protections and workers rights. If we can get a deal and we can exit the eu as promised in the ma nifesto, can exit the eu as promised in the manifesto, and as promised by this government. Ian maybury, chair of the labour party, thank you for your time this morning. Ian lavery. Lets go back tojoanna in the newsroom. Here are the headline figures for you. The change in counsellors, it shows heavy losses for the conservatives, labour is well and there will winners are the liberal democrats and other independent and smaller parties. Lets have a look at individual councils. The conservatives have gained control of North East Lincolnshire council for the First Time Since the authority was formed. Labour had previously run the council with liberal democrat support as no party had a majority. Elsewhere, the conservatives have retained control of east riding of yorkshire, taking 49 of the 67 seats. Labour lost all six of the seats it was defending. Bbc look norths Philip Norton has more. Here in beverly, all 67 seats on the east riding of Yorkshire Council are being contested and already here, the word is that turnout has been very low. The first confirmed award turnout for bridlington central and old town, 25. 5 , driffield, 28. 1 . Here, the conservatives have held the council since 2007. They currently hold 47 seats. One of the main changes that we will see here is the leader of the council, yorkshires longest serving council leader, stephen parnaby, announcing that he was not standing after 23 years as a leader. Also standing here is matthew grove, once a conservative councillor and humberside polices first police and crime commissioner. He is standing as an independent candidate for the holderness ward. Graham stuart, the local mp, is here, watching proceedings and he has told me it could be a very difficult night for the conservatives. The liberal democrats made sweeping gains across devon, gaining five seats in torbay and 10 in north devon. The party missed out of taking overall control of north devon by a single seat. Labour held every one of their seats in plymouth and gained another, with luke pollard mp saying his local Party Members were bucking the national trend, and showing what labour can achieve. On a difficult night for the conservatives, they dropped behind ukip in several plymouth wards, including ham, devonport and honicknowle. Martyn oates, bbc south wests Political Editor has more. There are some remarkable similarities between the results here tonight and the results here in this hall almost exactly a year ago. Then the conservative government was not being particularly helpful in terms of its National Policies to the conservative councillors on the ground here. On that occasion, labour took the council from the conservatives, bucking the national trend, it was the only target council that labour took that night, Jeremy Corbyn turned up next morning to celebrate. Tonight, labour may be being damaged elsewhere, here again, though, they have done well. They have held onto the council with the addition of one seat to their majority. They have also held exeter city council, it would have taken an absolute meltdown in their vote for them to lose it. However they did lose one seat to the green party, and the citys labour mp, a prominent remainer and a prominent critic of the labour leaderJeremy Corbyn, was quick to attribute this to the party not having a firm enough policy on a second referendum on eu membership. I think the interesting thing to look ahead to now is tomorrow. We have seen the tory and labour fight in the regions two big cities today, elsewhere in the region, in the rural south west, the fight is very much between the tories and the lib dems. Well have to wait until tomorrow to see whether the lib dems enjoyed a resurgence against the tories. Lets speak to the polling analyst professorjohn curtice. There are still 137 councils to declare. We are expecting to shortly seejeremy declare. We are expecting to shortly see Jeremy Corbyn, declare. We are expecting to shortly seeJeremy Corbyn, he will be out and about in sale, trafford, Greater Manchester, labour won control of Trafford Council for the first time in more than ten years. It is the one council that labour has won so far. They are not all in, we dont have the full council picture but thatis have the full council picture but that is the one they have won safer and we are expecting to seeJeremy Corbyn so we will go to that when it happens. Lets speak tojohn curtice now. Good morning. The voters have spoken, some of them, reading between the lines, what are they saying . I think the fact that both the conservative party and the labour party have seen their vote falling compared to the local elections 12 months ago by similar amounts, it brings home the message, we knew already that the conservatives were in deep trouble because of their failure to deliver brexit but it also looks as though the labour party is being punished because of dissatisfaction with the way in which it has been reacting to the brexit impasse as well. More broadly, one can see how the parties in particular were being punished, where they could be regarded as part of the establishment. Labour loses ground, trafford accepted, more in the north than the south. The opposite is true to the surface conservatives. Labours vote tends to do worse in labour held wards, and the conservative in conservative held wards. If you add to the picture this remarkable success of independent candidates, tripling the number of independent councillors declared so far, may be an indication of, look, if there is somebody around who isnt standing ona somebody around who isnt standing on a party ticket, i can really tell the party system that i think about it. Put all that together and i think there is a sense whereby basically both parties have been told that so far at least, you have not been up to scratch. We have been found wanting as a result of brexit. To that extent, it is a wider protest, than simply leave voters leaving the conservative party is because they are unhappy about brexit or going to the labour leaving the labour party. It seems to bea leaving the labour party. It seems to be a wider protest. When you look at the success of the liberal democrats, which is declared remain party, its tempting to think, is that the message . It is tempting to think that and i think the liberal democrats want you to think that but the intriguing thing is, it is not obvious the liberal democrat vote goes up particularly more in remain areas thanit particularly more in remain areas than it does in leave areas. It tends to go up more in places where the liberal democrats already have a degree of strength locally. Lots of places where they started off second. Lots of the places where they used to have an mp until 2015 and they lost it. A lot of the local liberal democrat strength seems to have been restored but remember some of the remarkable successes of the liberal democrats have been in the south west, not particularly a remain area. I think this is probably much more about how the liberal democrats are to some degree are rediscovering some of the local roots and also beginning to act once again as the party of protest, which used to be their traditional role until they entered the coalition with the conservatives in 2010. What about the eurosceptic vote . The ukip vote has gone down. The ukip vote is down as compared with 2015, which is what we are mostly comparing it with but remember that in 2015, ukip got 13 of the vote in the general election that day ended similarly in the local elections so it is a high baseline. It is down on average by about four points as compared with then but that means that as compared with last years local elections, for example, when ukip came close to disappearing, it has recovered quite substantially. Yes, we are not seeing here some of the dramatic increase in the eurosceptic vote we have seen in some of the polls, but their Nigel Farages brexit party was not standing. But we do have evidence that particularly in leave voting areas, the eurosceptic vote is backed up and is at a level where, but for the ukip performance between 2013 and 15, we would have historically found quite remarkable so historically found quite remarkable so there is a warning for the conservatives, yes, there is a eurosceptic vote and it is back and running and maybe when they are having to face nigel farage in three weeks time, they will find a rather more considerate challenge. Weeks time, they will find a rather more considerate challengem weeks time, they will find a rather more considerate challenge. It is not over because there will be a lot of counting happening today, 137 councils still to be declared so the vote just 44. 8 complete at the moment. None of the Northern Ireland councils have declared at all. Could the picture change . What should we be looking for . I think the thing the conservatives have to worry about is that, you know, the councils that are being counted today are disproportionately more rural, tory Shire Councils where the liberal dems are often the bigger challenges than the labour party. The lib dems are often the bigger challenge. Given what we have seen so challenge. Given what we have seen so far, lib dems increasing their voting areas, particularly when starting off second, they must a concern that indeed, the scale of tory losses will indeed be quite substantial, north of 500, if not necessarily reaching 1000. By the end of this evening, the simple headline for the conservatives at least will not look that good, they will be seen to have suffered losses not dissimilar to what was anticipated in advance, even though the labour party has actually also proven to be relatively weak. Thank you very much, john. We are still waiting to hear from Jeremy Corbyn who is out in sale in trafford, the one council so far that labour has taken control of. One council so far that labour has ta ken control of. It one council so far that labour has taken control of. It is a significant win for labour because it is the first time they have won that council in more than a decade. We will go straight to sale as soon as we seeJeremy Corbyn and get his reaction to the results so far. Now its time for a look at the weather with simon. Good morning. The Bank Holiday Weekend is nearly upon us and if you have got plans, take note because it will turn much colder compared to recent days, certainly much colder than last years Early May Bank holiday. We have got a cold front moving southwards, introducing arctic air right across the uk as we go into the weekend. Showery rain across central areas, drifting further south but it will stay quite cloudy for many of us but you can see those temperatures across northern parts, 7 11. Further south, holding onto milder conditions with a bit of sunshine in the far south west. We continue with showers through the night but they were mostly clear away. Further wintry showers into north east scotland and north east england but look at the blue, a frost across northern parts tonight. Some clear skies to take us into saturday morning and a bright start to the day. Some in and eastern areas but look at those temperatures, 10 13. Goodbye. Welcome back. Voters have punished the conservatives and labour in early results from the local elections in england, in what appears to be a protest against the deadlock over brexit at westminster. As counting got under way last night, it quickly became clear that the smaller parties and independent candidates were winning seats around the country. Nearly 100 of the 248 councils up for election have declared their results. Counting in the remaining authorities, as well as in Northern Ireland, will take place later. Lets have a look at some of the key results in england. This is the overall picture on the total tally of councillors. You can see the conservatives have suffered heavy losses, there. Labour also suffering losses, and the big winners of the night, the lib dems, up winners of the night, the lib dems, up by winners of the night, the lib dems, up by 304 seats. The green party and independent candidates as well up and the interesting thing to note with the independent candidates is in the 69 candidates where councils where they feel that candidates, they took 25 of the vote on average. Lets take a look at what has happened with councils and there are some interesting stories to pick out from the overview, as you can see, that conservatives have lost control of 16 councils and labour have lost control of two. The liberal democrats up eight and the independent candidate up two, and the number of hung councils has increased by eight. In terms of the specifics, labour has one macro has won overall control of Trafford Council for the first time inJeremy Corbyn is there this morning. The liberal democrats have won eight councils, and we just heard from professorjohn curtis that where they have seen real success is where they have seen real success is where they were just behind the tories and have built on previous support, winning North East Somerset and cotswold in particular, both notable because North East Somerset is Jacob Rees Mogg territory and the cotswolds is of course David Cameron territory in terms of the mps. These are the figures reflecting what happened in bath and North East Somerset, the conservatives down quite dramatically there. So what does it indicate for labour and the tories as they digestive what this says about brexit . It is being described as a brexit backlash but the question for labour in particular will be what path does it ta ke particular will be what path does it take from here . Will it work harder to secure a deal on brexit with the tories . The next step in the elections is of course the European Elections is of course the European Elections on the 23rd of may which will potentially be even more interesting than these results. We have got more results to come throughout the day and we will keep you across them as they come in and bring you all of the reaction to the results as well, as it happens. Right now, time for the rest of the days news. More than a Million People along Indias North East coast are sheltering in relief centres as the area is battered by the worst summer cyclone there for more than 40 years. Trees have been uprooted and electricity poles felled. Winds of up to 200 kilometres an hour have been forecast, as well as a possible storm surge. Ramzan karmali has the latest. Cyclone fani hits land, battering indias east coast. This is the town of puri, home of the jagannatha temple. It has been standing here for over 850 years. Officials may have been braced as fani headed up the bay of bengal. But with winds expected to reach speeds of 220 kilometres an hour and 100 Million People in its path, precautions were taken. Many in the most exposed areas sought safety. Around a million have been evacuated from low lying regions. Hundreds of emergency shelters have been set up and schools and universities closed. Now we are rescuing the pregnant women and the lactating mothers, particularly old people, because they are more prone to danger, so we are trying to lessen the human casualties. Forecasters tracked fanis progress as the eye of the cyclone approached odisha state. This storm system has a number of hazards attached to it. We have got torrential rain, 200 300 millimetres on this, and ahead of the storm, we will get a storm surge working in across parts of odisha, west bengal and even into parts of bangladesh. That poses the threat of some significant flooding as well. Officials have been using these forecasts to help them plan operations. Thousands of relief workers have been deployed and the government has set up a relief and rescue fund worth over 150 million in anticipation. But those officials are warning that many homes and infrastructure caught in the cyclones path are likely to be completely destroyed. Ramzan karmali, bbc news. Our correspondent rahul tandon is in bhubaneswar, the capital of odisha, which is right in the path of the storm. Im afraid we cannot hear from im afraid we cannot hearfrom him at the moment so we will bring you that a bit later. New research has found that people receiving effective treatment for hiv cant pass on the virus to their sexual partners. A study, published in the lancet medicaljournal, looked at nearly 1,000 gay male couples and discovered no cases of hiv transmission over eight years. The researchers say its a powerful message, which everyone should be aware of. 1p and 2p coins are to remain in circulation, after the treasury confirmed it had gone back on plans to get rid of them. The chancellor, philip hammond, said even though technology had transformed banking, it was important to give people a choice and help those who rely entirely on cash, particularly the elderly, vulnerable and those living in rural areas. In thailand, preparations are under way for the coronation of king maha vajiralongkorn. It starts this weekend with a lavish three day ceremony. This morning in bangkok the day began with a procession, which brought the kings name plaque, horoscope and royal emblem from the temple of the emerald buddha to the royal palace. As the day continues therell be further elaborate ceremonies. Actor peter mayhew, who played chewbacca in the star wars films, has died at the age of 74. The seven foot two actor played the wookiee warrior in the original Star Wars Trilogy in the late 1970s and early 80s, as well as some laterfilms. Paying tribute, harrison ford, who played chewbaccas companion han solo, described peter as a kind and gentle man, possessed of great dignity and noble character. Sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, heres mike bushell. Good morning. Hopes of an all London Europa League final are still on after promising semifinal first leg results from arsenal and chelsea, in the europa league. Arsenal are well in control of their semifinal despite going behind early on against valencia. Two goals from Alexandre Lacazette turned this first leg around, and then Pierre Emerick aubameyang gave them a much more comfortable two goal advantage ahead of next weeks second leg in spain. Chelsea got a draw against eintract frankfurt in germany. After going behind early on, pedro nabbed a vital away goal ahead of next weeks second leg at stamford bridge. Caster semenya is set to run in the 800 metres in the Diamond League meeting in doha later today, just 48 hours since the court of arbitration for sport dismissed her challenge against the iaafs new rules, which restrict testosterone levels in female runners. Theres speculation it could be semenyas last race as a professional after she posted that knowing when to walk away is wisdom. Fast bowlerjofra archer will make his england debut later when they play their opening odi of the summer against ireland. Hes onlyjust qualified to play International Cricket for england after residency rules were changed. And hes attempting to win a place in the world cup squad. Theres commentary with the test match special team on radio 5live sports extra from 10. 30am. Favourite judd trump is level with qualifier gary wilson in the semifinals of the World Snooker championships in sheffield. Its 4 4 after the first session. Wilson showed his intent by knocking in a break of 140 to go 2 1 up. But trump, who reached the final in 2011, fought back to level it. They resume at 2. 30 this afternoon. David gilbert is 5 3 ahead againstjohn higgins in the other semifinal. Thats all the sport for now. Lots more on these stories at the bbc sport website. As weve heard, the poor performance of both labour and the conservatives in the local elections in england is being blamed on a brexit backlash. Lets go over to Annita Mcveigh, whos in westminster. Thank you very much. Yes, a painful night for the conservatives and to a lesser extent, for labour, although lets see what the day brings and how the figures shape up by the end of today. A lot of very strongly supporting labour councils, those votes ca m e supporting labour councils, those votes came in overnight soak at labours number of losses clocked up through the day . Lets see. Reeta chakrabarti has been looking at some of the key results. One of the main themes of the night has been the loss of seats by the two main parties, the conservatives and labour, and the liberal democrats making gains, largely at the expense of the conservatives. So the screen here gives you a good impression of what has happened overnight. Councils like bath and North East Somerset, hinckley and bosworth, the liberal democrats taking them from the conservatives. Let me show you what happened here in bath and North East Somerset. This was a labour gain with a majority of 15. Look at that, 37 lib dems. I beg your pardon, a lib dem gain, 37 lib dem councillors elected there with just nine conservatives. I will just show you the seat change, there. 23 liberal democrat councillors gained and 24 lost by the conservatives. Almost a straight swap. Lets go back to the main screen. Other stories emerging overnight are the conservatives in certain places falling behind. They lost folkestone and hythe, for example, that is now no overall control. Better news for them in walsall and North East Lincolnshire, where they gained both of these councils. For labour as well, a very mixed picture. They lost control of bolsover. That has now become an independent council, a group of independents have won there. And in the wirral, this is also a labour loss. Let me just go in and show you what happened there. Labour were short by two although they were the Largest Party. They were short by two. Let me just show you the labour losses, there. They lost four seats. Perhaps even more interesting is the share change. You can see this, in terms of their share of the vote, labour losing 13 of their vote share, and the greens being the clear beneficiary, gaining 12 of the share. Butjust back to the main screen again, better news for labour in trafford. They had been in a Minority Administration and they are now in overall control of trafford. Lets speak to the our correspondent phil mackie, if you want to get a take on life, the universe, the price of politics and the price of apples as well. Phil mackie is in dudley market to bring us up with what has been happening. Dudley is one of those really key marginal seats in westminster elections, dudley north is held by labour and dudley south by the conservatives. Last night, no real clear victors. The conservatives lost control by one seat to no overall control so it is dead level, a dead heat, with 36 councillors for labour and 36 for the conservatives but it is likely the conservatives but it is likely the conservatives but it is likely the conservatives will continue in power with a casting vote of the mayor for another year. Elsewhere in the West Midlands, no clear winners, conservatives probably happier than labour, although labour gained a bigger majority in one counsel, they conservatives have taken walsall from no overall control but they lost worcester to no overall control, the greens holding the balance of power there. Ukip made a bit of a comeback in the Black Country where it used to do very well but did not win any seats. The greens hold the balance of power in worcester. There was some independent parties like the Black Country party in dudley which polled well but did not win any seats but may be a force in the future. Corin is with me, the chief executive of the Black Country chamber of commerce. It is a local election, what impact does that have on area thatis what impact does that have on area that is big in manufacturing and particularly thinking about exports when it looks like people ive kind of voted on a national rather than local base is mostly about brexit . Have kinda voted. Local base is mostly about brexit . Have kinda voted. It is a big shame, there needs to be a bigger debate about brexit but at local level, we wanted a council with a clear mandate to address local issues for that we know manufacturing is struggling at the moment and we have some big issues around imports but in an area like dudley, we have a massive regeneration agenda to push through, School Improvements to be done, late payments for businesses and we want a council focusing on local tasks, not like a hung parliament. You kind of almost did not guess who won but he wanted a winner to have a majority to get on with things that you are fearing that maybe with a borough so closely fought like this that there will be no clear leadership . Yes, and in the dudley area, one of the nice things about the parties as they worked closely on some of the big issues but you need a clear majority and you want local voters to give them a mandate. This is what we want around business and some of the big issues. Sometimes this is a big distraction. What do you make of the Black Country party we talked about briefly . They feel that if you candidate and did quite well, did not win anything but a sign people are turning away from the big parties in local elections . Nationally, that seems to be the trend, doesnt it . There is more of an impact on the independent parties on things like the lib dems, people seem on things like the lib dems, people seem really fed up of politics at moment, certainly the Old Fashioned way of doing things and may be no overall control is the way for the future, people having to barter at the local level. Thank you for joining us. Obviously, this area voted very strongly to leave at the referendum three years ago. There are some early indications, i have seen some are some early indications, i have seen some analysis that suggests that ukip particularly, which has picked up votes again, pick them up more from labour that the conservatives but i dont think theres a clear message being sent from dudley or the West Midlands delay. It is pretty much the same as things were before. Phil, thank you very much for that, no clear message from dudley and the West Midlands. But ill be getting any clearer messages . What can the parties extrapolate from the votes so far . Are we getting . Lets get the thoughts now of the guardians columnist, dawn foster and henry zeffman, Political Correspondent for the times. Thank you forjoining us. Lets talk about the conservatives first, is this voters saying to the conservatives that they are fed up with brexit or that they are fed up with brexit or that they are fed up with the partys handling of it and the fact it has not been delivered so the fact it has not been delivered so far, dawn . Annoyingly, it seems to be both so a lot of people are very annoyed that it has taken so long, that there is no clear path forward , long, that there is no clear path forward, that we voted for brexit yea rs forward, that we voted for brexit years ago and nothing has happened. But there are also a number of people who dont want it to happen at all and you can see that in the massive growth in independent and lib dems supporters. Ordinarily, people say that people should vote lib dems if they wanted to stop brexit, it did not happen previously but it is now. Henry, that really interesting results, to go back to it, we have talked about it a bit today, in North East Somerset, 23 conservative councillors out, the lib dems taking control, lets remind everybody this is the westminster seat of Jacob Rees Mogg. That is right, one of the really striking things about the results we have had so far is how much of a bloody nose the conservatives have been given in remain voting areas. Remember, there are still lots of remain voting areas that vote conservative at general elections, notjust bath conservative at general elections, not just bath and conservative at general elections, notjust bath and North East Somerset, it maidenhead, the westminster mp being theresa may, the lib dems have not taken control but they have absolutely surged forward. But we should be careful of thinking it isjust remain voting conservatives who are annoyed with the tories, they have lost Council Seats pretty much everywhere, urban and rural areas, leave and seats pretty much everywhere, urban and ruralareas, leave and remain voting areas. It is what happens when you have been in government for nine years but also when you are pushing through or failing to push through a deeply divisive policy. Should labour be doing better than they are or is this pretty much as we expected because of the divisions within the party over brexit as well . I think because labours position is a kind of fudge, trying to appeal to both sides, you will get people who are not finding it appealing to them at all. I think it is sort of expected that this would happen because of how labour have tried to equivocate over and over again. When you look at them in comparison to the tories, it is clear that the tories are much worse off. We are at nearly out of time but briefly, at the risk of sounding like a block buster movie, the rise of the independents, 200 plus, that isa of the independents, 200 plus, that is a Pretty Amazing results. Absolutely, people are fed up with both parties, i think and i dont think it is what we expected for the labour party, they were hoping for hundreds of gains, not losses, and i think it shows both major parties at westminster are struggling to connect with lots of people. Thank you forjoining us. So many interesting things to talk about and so many results still to come in and we will be heading around england and indeed to Northern Ireland as well to take stock of what is going on. We will say goodbye to viewers on bbc two now. Now its time for a look at the weather with simon. It is looking dry in london at the moment but further north, showery outbreaks of rain and a rather grim start to the day across northern areas. It is because this weather front is moving southward. The other thing it is doing, it is a cold front bringing colder air from the north, so a notable difference across much of scotland, Northern Ireland and northern parts of england. We will even see some snow showers in the far north east of scotland. Showery rain continuing to spread southward but there will be some brighter skies in the far south of england during the afternoon. We have got a northerly wind bringing in cold air. Temperatures across many northern parts, 7 10. Just holding onto the milder air at this point in the afternoon, 14 or 15. Gradually through tonight, though showers continuing to feed southward. Further showers coming in on the northerly wind which will be wintry over scotland, the North Yorkshire moors but the main thing about tonight is the blue developing across northern areas, a frost into saturday morning. Further south, across northern areas, a frost into saturday morning. Furthersouth, not quite as cold, temperatures five or 6 degrees. It will certainly be a bit of a chilly start to the day for many. There will be a frost around. You can see that. Also some sunshine. Foremost, a glorious start to the day but all of us will be under the influence of this northerly wind, the air coming from iceland and from the arctic. Temperatures way below the average for the time of year. As i mentioned, it is a sunny start for many. There will be a few showers across eastern parts of england, North Eastern scotland and one or two showers. Foremost on saturday, a dry day. There will be sunny spells and a bit more cloud into the afternoon. Temperatures, 7 10 or 11. Higher pressure out towards the west, bringing cold northerly wind across the uk. It is also bringing mostly settled weather. Again on sunday, yes, a chilly start but also a bright one, with plenty of sunshine. Cloud tending to build up as the afternoon goes on. Claudia in the afternoons on the morning, a few showers in the far north but otherwise, a dry day again, with temperatures 7 13. Into bank holiday monday, well, again, lots of cloud and there could be a few showers across northern parts. Some sunny spells. Temperatures are still below the average for the time of year, about 8 13. Bear in mind that last yea rs about 8 13. Bear in mind that last years in Early May Bank holiday, we had temperatures up to 28. 7. Goodbye. Youre watching a bbc news Election Special with me, joanna gosling, as we bring you the results of local elections which have been taking place in england and Northern Ireland. Its bad news for both the conservatives and labour as voters turn away from the two main parties. Sadly, the big parties are being punished for whats happening over brexit and theyre forgetting the local issues. Members of Parliament Saying that we need to be having a peoples vote on a second referendum, people in sunderland the about brexit, residents are telling us they want to make sure of change because of their dissatisfaction about brexit. Its been a good night for the lib dems, greens and independent candidates, the lib dems have made significant gains in results announced so far. Its a fantastic morning. The liberal democrats are back in business. To put it in context, i think this is a sea change. I think voters have been desperate for a strong alternative to the conservatives and labour. Im Annita Mcveigh live at westminster. They may have been local elections, but National Politics seems to have been a deciding factor for voters with both conservatives and labour hit by an apparent brexit backlash. There are calls for theresa may to go after the difficult night for her party, which many are putting down to her handling of brexit. I just dont think we can continue like this. Ive been very clear, quite frankly. Many of my constituents have said this to me. We need change, we need a change of leadership. Perhaps the time has now come for that well be bringing you all the overnight results, including full analysis of why the tories and labour suffered those losses, and whats behind the gains for the lib dems as the daytime counts begin. Good morning, were bringing you a bbc news special on the results coming in from yesterdays local elections. Voters have punished the conservatives and labour in early results in england in what appears to be a protest against the deadlock over brexit at westminster. Overnight, it quickly became clear that the smaller parties, such as the liberal democrats and greens, and independent candidates were winning seats around the country. Nearly 100 of the 248 councils up for election have declared their results. Counting in the remaining authorities as well as in Northern Ireland will take place later. Lets take a look at the results so far. The councillors first up, you can see heavy losses for the conservatives, and also losses for labour. The real winner is the liberal democrats, up 304 seats. Ed davey for the lib dems saying it is a turning point for them. The greens also up and the independents, up 215 in the 69 councils where they fielded candidates, they took 25 of the vote. Ukip down 54. Some of these figures are mostly reflecting ona these figures are mostly reflecting on a previous high for the parties. Lets ta ke on a previous high for the parties. Lets take a look at the councils in particular. You can see again, labour and the conservatives have lost, they have got almost the same number of councils so far but dont forget, just under 45 of the vote has been counted so a lot more councils still to declare and you can see where the clear winners are. Some of the councils in particular are an area of interest, the liberal democrats have taken councils in areas that have been previously conservative. Not much good news for the main parties, but labour is celebrating the news that it has taken trafford, celebrating the news that it has ta ken trafford, and celebrating the news that it has taken trafford, and that is where Jeremy Corbyn the labour leader has been out and about this morning, taking that counsel from the tories. With more on the story so far, heres our Political Correspondent, chris mason. Results have trundled in throughout the night. There have been smiles and cheers, hold in the Battle Ground of swindon for the conservatives. And a gain in North East Lincolnshire, but elsewhere, not good news for them. The tories losing control in places like st albans, southend, broxtowe and peterborough. We can hazard a guess how this couple voted. But what the results mean for the Prime Minister . I think she needs to take a look at how many councillors we have lost overnight, wake up in the morning and think about how she thinks the conservative party needs to put its best foot forward. These ballot boxes brought good news for labour whether to control of trafford in Greater Manchester. But the party lost control of councils in hartlepool and bolsover, a sense in some areas that it was not the night they hoped for. Its not looking good, this is going to be very difficult night for labour. Weve been out and about across the borough, and the message we get loud and clear is all about brexit. And the residents are telling us theyre going to make sure there is some change because of their dissatisfaction over brexit. So far, its been good news for the smaller parties, like the liberal democrats and the greens, as well as local independents who are on the advance. The lib dems have gained areas like north norfolk, winchester, and the cotswolds. Actually feeling pretty buoyant, weve seen a lot of our vote coming out, and the National Picture is really tough for the tories. So smiling lib dems, and smiling greens as well. We had a very, very good night so far. Weve gained a lot of new seats and importantly, on a lot of new councils where people have never elected greens before and this is across the country in places he would not expect. However, there is a long way to go yet. This is a big set of local elections. And the parties are watching closely, tearing into what it might mean for their widerfortunes. Tearing into what it might mean for theirwiderfortunes. Here tearing into what it might mean for their wider fortunes. Here in tearing into what it might mean for their widerfortunes. Here in the re small hours, though, some cross party re small hours, though, some cross party collaboration. Or perhaps commiseration. On it goes, verdicts being delivered, one ballot box after another. They were eager to get going here, democracy in energetic action. And plenty more energy will be needed throughout the day. As weve heard, the poor performance of both labour and the conservatives in the local elections in england is being blamed on a brexit backlash. Lets go over to Annita Mcveigh, whos in westminster. Good morning. We have differently heard that, the idea of a brexit backlash. What exact messages will the parties be taking from the voting, with remain supporting party is doing better in some areas, but also losses for the conservatives and labour in brexit to supporting areas as well . Lets get the thoughts of our assistant Political Editor norman smith. What message will the parties take from this in terms of their direction from here on in, what can they extrapolate from these votes . Thats one of the extraordinary things, both the main parties agree they have taken an almighty brexit kicking. Have they any idea what to do . Actually, no, i dont think so. Look at the labour side, no doubt they have suffered a backlash in their leave supporting hartland, northern seats like hartlepool, sunderland, barnsley, ashworth, bolsover, the home of dennis skinner, losing support thereby predominantly leave and labour voters who thought that they we re labour voters who thought that they were not delivering on brexit, they will put their vote elsewhere. There are two ways this could go. You could say, all right, we got to do a deal with theresa may, get brexit over the line. That way we can move on to our favoured agenda of austerity. That is one argument. The danger is, half the party, the remain part of the party would explode. They are saying, the lesson of last night . Vote, if you look where the voters went, they went to the liberal democrats and greens, they are remain voters so they are going to remain. So the labour party is divided. Genuinely i dont think there is anything approaching anything like consensus. If you listen to labour mps in the leave supporting areas, they are pretty clear that mr corbyn now needs to deliver on brexit. Have a listen to the mp for stoke, where i think they lost five councillors. My constituents just dont believe that we will deliver brexit. I represent a seat that is 73 leave. And what is quite clear, especially if you look at the spoiled ballot papers this evening, is that was, we dont trust you, ukip, ukip, ukip, we havent got that many ukip candidates standing here this time, they would have done very well if they had. And a huge amount of independent support, which is anyone but the tories or us. So its been a really, really tough set of results so far. Some brilliant local councillors have lost their seats and my frustration is that we seem to have just abandoned them, no matter how hard we are working locally, we need clear messaging from the top and playing around just isnt working. And, norman, a painful night, potentially a painful day for the conservatives, heading towards 500 losses at the moment, how high at that figure go . I think the pain will get a lot worse for the tories. They have talked about losing 1000 seats, i think they could. They are halfway there. Most of the seats being announced today are in rural areas so being announced today are in rural areas so predominantly tory seats, the potential for making losses are much bigger. Stand by for the tories to hit the big 1000 which is psychologically a big blow. They face the same question about brexit. Half the party, the theresa may loyalists, think that this will be the moment where everyone realises we have got to deliver and we have to agree some sort of theresa may deal. Then you get the brexit is a saying, theresa may would be the equivalent of Ramsay Macdonald, the famous labour Prime Minister who went into a deal with the tories and was reviled for ever in a day afterwards. Already we have seen brexiteer is coming out saying, she got to go, she is the problem. The only thing they are agreed on is one way or another, they have got to get brexit, how they do that, answers came there none from brandon lewis, the chairman. I absolutely accept that there is huge frustration, not just with our members, but with the Public Parliament around where parliament and we have got ourselves to on delivering on brexit. And i think there is a very clear message to both parties that we have got to get on getting brexit done. One of the things we have seen, interestingly, if you look at some of those seats in those leave areas where we have made some gains come in labour heartlands, actually, where they actually, where they are losing out, there is a definite frustration with people who want to see this done. On the doorsteps, there has been mixed comments from people. On doorsteps, a lot of people talk about local issues but youre right, when they talk about brexit it is frustration that we havent got it done. You can see the independents are up 214 seats, the lib dems are up 314, let me show you a tweet from vince cable, the leader, in the last few minutes. He says, hes on his way to chelmsford. He is going to celebrate the big win. This is seen declaring that three Party Politics is back, thought on how the lib dems are doing, in those rural constituencies which have been supporting tories, our vote is going to move to the lib dems and if so, what message does that give . A brexit supporting party and remain supporting party . The lib dems have done well, no doubt, if you look at North East Somerset, Jacob Rees Mogg land, they wiped out Something Like 20 tory councillors. They have done well. But i think, you know, the goal is in front of them, there is no one in it, you have to bang it in. Last time was their worst result ever and if they cannot beat labour and the tories now, when they are flat on their back, when are they going to do it . So yes, they had to get some decent results. The real test i think for them is going to come in a fortnight, when change uk entered the fray, competing for exactly the same sort of votes. That will be a test of whether people do think, as ed davey and others are saying, that the lib dems are the voice of remain or whether they are beginning to be crowded out. In a way, last night and today, they are the aperitif before the main course, which is the euro elections in a fortnights time. I suspect for all the grief and horror and misery that the two main parties have suffered overnight, its just going to main parties have suffered overnight, itsjust going to be main parties have suffered overnight, its just going to be so much worse in a fortnights time. Norman, thank you for that. Those European Elections certainly giving the voters another opportunity to send a message to all the parties. Joining me now from leeds is the shadowjustice secretary richard burgon. Good morning, thank you for your time this morning. Whats your assessment of the results so far . Clearly in ordinary circumstances, in normal times, this is not how labour would hope to be doing at this stage in the election cycle. When not in exactly at normal times, are we . Its a mixed night for labour, it could have been better for us andi labour, it could have been better for us and i wish it had have been better for us. The last time i looked, the conservatives have lost 450 seats and half of the seats are yet to be counted. Its actually not since the dark days ofjohn major that the conservatives have lost 500 or more seats in one local election. So its a mixed night for labour, we have consolidated in some areas, made gains in places like peterborough, stevenage, southend, basildon, which we need to win at the next general election but i would like to have seen a better night for labour. Look at the north east, whats the message from those areas, by and large very strongly supporting leave in the european referendum, what is that saying to the party . Is it saying to Jeremy Corbyn that he needs to get on and make a deal with theresa may . I think both main parties, the conservatives and labour, should both take from these results that there is a sense of real frustration out there and thats why i think independents and challengers have done well in these elections, people are frustrated at parliament in westminster. And we have got that message and something needs to be sorted. But if that was the direction thatJeremy Corbyn was to go in, thats going to anger a lot of other labour voters, isnt it . Of course, its difficult when youre a party that represents communities that both supported leave and remain. We are doing the right thing by trying to bring people together but obviously that presents real difficulties. We think its the right thing to do to bring people together and hopefully get on the issues other than brexit, because i think this local election is a is not typical, brexit is overshadowing a lot of issues such as wages, public services, housing and the rest of it. I think people are frustrated that parliament is not getting onto those issues in the way it should be. Do you really think Jeremy Corbyn potentially making deal with theresa may, potentially, is going to bring people together, its a way not to get labour to fundamentally say yes, it will support a confirmatory referendum on any deal . Labour is not going to just accept or support any deal, we have made that clear. Weve made clear what we want from any brexit deal. As it stands, the Prime Minister has not come forward with that. Were not going to be pushed into in position, because of mixed local Election Results but we are clearly listening, i think the conservatives should listen as well because they have done very badly for us. A very bad night for them. There is frustration for westminster and the main physical parties because of the frustration that brexit is dragging on and on, lots of people whether they voted to remain or leave want it sorted. Where have your votes gone, do you have a clear picture of that yet . |j have a clear picture of that yet . wa nt to have a clear picture of that yet . want to analyse that further, i dont want to be precipitous on where our rates have gone. I think it varies from area to area. Analysis does show that there has been a swing to labour in the south, and in the north west, and that is welcomed, the north west is an area welcomed, the north west is an area we needed to win. We have consolidated games we have previously made in plymouth, southampton, and as i say, steve na g e, southampton, and as i say, stevenage, basildon, peterborough, southend. We have made advances there, and we will make advances in there, and we will make advances in the next general election. Joining us from leeds now. Joining me now is tony travers, professor at the london schools of economics specialising in local government. Spoke about the psychology of whats going on here, the psychology of voting, its fascinating, it moves away in some areas from labour or the conservatives to the lib dems, especially interesting where you have the leave backing conservatives are losing have the leave backing conservatives a re losing votes have the leave backing conservatives are losing votes to the remain backing liberal democrats, so what is going on . It looks as if brexit inevitably has had a role in these elections, but the question of what the role is and how it influences the role is and how it influences the way votes have moved is going to be analysed for some time to come. Because it looks as if in some parts of the country, in the north in particular, where labour has not done so well, their vote has fractured and fragmented to a number of different parties including independents. Its not often we talk about it being a good night for independents but it has been, ukip have not done so well. It looks like brexit has played a different role in different parts of the country. Difficult for labour in the north but i think we will see later today, difficult for conservatives in the south, helping the liberal democrat in part of the west and south of england. He said ukip did not do well, they were coming from a four base in terms of the last cycle of elections and they were fielding far fewer candidates than last time, but come the European Elections, the brexit party, what do you think its chances are . There is a fascinating hypothetical, something we cannot quite answer these elections. If the brexit party and change uk, the other new party, had stood in these elections, i suspect they would have damaged the conservatives and labour even more than they have been damaged in these elections are so far. I think when we get to the euro elections, the brexit party will do significantly better. This is what the polling shows, then ukip has donein the polling shows, then ukip has done in these elections. Despite brexit being an over to what our local elections, it looks as though most of the disenchantment with the political system here in westminster has fractured between the liberal democrats, independents, greens, gone all over the place. Not so much to ukip. So the two main parties dont have long to wait to find out what impact, what the voters deliver at the European Elections. Do you think they will bide their time for a few weeks and see what the message is there and then decide what to do next . We have had a lot of discontent from some conservatives saying that theresa may and her handling of brexit is to blame for their losses, and she needs to go. think both the conservative and labour party if they stand back from this result will actually think that the electorate wants them to get on with some kind of brexit. So they have now got a common interest in finding a way of sorting brexit out before the euro elections in three weeks time. Whether they can actually bring themselves to do that is not clear yet. So Neither Party has done very well, neither of those parties has done very well here. And what can independents and the liberal democrats in particular do build on this result . The lib dems have the challenge coming from change uk in the European Elections, even though they are essentially singing from the same hymn sheet in terms of their backing for the European Union, for the europeans membership of it. What the lib dems we re membership of it. What the lib dems were always good at, in the long yea rs were always good at, in the long years after the 70s when they built up years after the 70s when they built up at the local level and were able to get parliamentary seats, they we re to get parliamentary seats, they were great on on the ground campaigning. It looks as if after the bad years during the coalition, 2010 to 2015, they can rebuild that local machine. They have a local machine, and change uk dont have a machine, and change uk dont have a machine that they do. Its about whether they fight each other and Work Together as a common front. Because the lib dems are good at gradually building their way back, they have done it before. I suspect todayis they have done it before. I suspect today is going to be evidence that they are doing it again. At a local level, that helps them at westminster later on. Good to talk to you, professor tony travers. Labour has won overall control of Trafford Council in Greater Manchester for the first time in over a decade, thats certainly a symbolic victory and one that the labour party has been talking up. The labour leaderJeremy Corbyn is there this morning to congratulate there this morning to congratulate the newly elected labour councillors. We were listening to him afew councillors. We were listening to him a few minutes ago. We lost 80 councillors, and are very sorry about that and i thank them for their services. Thats about right. Wait a minute, youre too excited. The conservatives lost 500 and lost control of a lot of councils. Losing seats at this point in the electoral cycle is not a good night for labour. We have won trafford into an overall majority, we have swings to labour in a number of errors in councils across the whole of the country, and that gives usa whole of the country, and that gives us a basis on which we can win marginal seats such as swindon and thurrock, and other places, and im looking forward to an election where we do that. But also half the results have come in yet. Trafford is the exception, you have lost control of bolsover, hartlepool, wirral, walsall, these are labour heartlands. Im very sorry we lost them, we will fight back and win the back, thats the whole point behind them. We are putting forward an agenda of anti austerity and pointing out the local authorities have borne the brunt of the austerity agenda which has been forced to sit on them by the conservatives and lib dems encouraging together. And perhaps you should have done better on the back of that, your own shadow secretary for local government said that labour expected to do better, do accept that . Of course we wanted to do better, we always want to do better, thats why we are in politics, thats what we exist for. We are going to continue to campaign to try and bring people together in negotiations over brexit, but also, to oppose austerity and put forward an agenda which actually deals with the injustices that exist in this country in housing and so many other ways. Bolton, bolsover, hartlepool, why do you think you have lost in these Council Areas . A number of reasons, some of them are local factors and some of them were people probably disagreeing with both parties on attitudes towards the European Union. Our policy is that we are the only party which seeks to appeal to people however they voted in 2016, and ensure that we try to defend jobs and working conditions in this country. Trying to appeal to everybody, you have failed to please everybody. You are assuming that people are divided because of how they voted in 2016. Our purpose is to try and bring people together so that we have an intelligent relationship with europe in the future, we dont have a terrible loss of jobs, if future, we dont have a terrible loss ofjobs, if we have a no deal exit from the European Union. Is this a failure from politicians of major parties to deliver anything on brexit at all . The referendum took place in 2016, parliament has been unable to reach an agreement on where we go from here and thats why there have been opportunities for us to put our views to the government which is what we are doing. If there is no agreement which, we will bring it back to parliament and try to get agreement there. Jeremy corbyn in the sale, marking the labour partys gain of Trafford Council. In the next half an hour, we will be heading out around the country to get reaction from Great Yarmouth and warwick amongst other places throughout the day. Back to you, joanna. Thank you, you need to, we will continue to take a closer look at some of the significant results of the night. One result that defied the trend overnight, the conservatives gained control of North East Lincolnshire council for the First Time Since the authority was formed. Labour had previously run the council with liberal democrat support as no party had a majority. The council was formed in 1996 and it is the first time the conservatives have won a majority. A third of North East Lincolnshire seats were being contested. Our Political Editor for yorkshire and lincolnshire tim iredale explains more. This is a result few would have predicted before the polling stations opened. Previously, labour was the dominant party in North East Lincolnshire. Before these elections, labour ran the council with the help of the liberal democrats. But all that has changed after a string of conservative gains here. It means the tories now have full control of this grimsby based authority. This is an area heavily supportive of brexit in the 2016 referendum, almost 70 opted to leave the eu. But voters have chosen not to punish the conservatives in North East Lincolnshire, but instead, labour are the biggest losers here. The liberal democrats have become the Largest Party on Portsmouth City Council Following the local Council Elections. They have increased their seats by 150 so far, the liberal democrats. Lets go through this result. The conservatives and liberal democrats went into the election both holding 17 seats, with the Labour Party Supporting a lib dem led administration. The lib dems gained two seats with 28 of the vote, labour gained one and the conservatives lost three, still leaving no party in overall control. The Political Editor for the south of england, peter henley has more. tx here in portsmouth, it has finished with labour making gains and the liberal democrats. The conservatives, though, have not lost as many seats as they would have expected. And the turnout stayed a lot higher than people thought. They put that down to local issues. People know that this council is tight and that their votes count come here. They count on things like the controversial residents parking scheme, about a District Energy idea which the liberal democrats scrapped. In each ward as well, people know their councillors, and they know that the result of this election was important to portsmouth. So whilst brexit kept some people at home, for others, they came out. Turnout in the end was comparable to previous years. So another exciting election, a local election, here in portsmouth. The liberal democrats are now the Largest Party in the city council there. We will bring you much more announce and analysis. The bangla day weekend is nearly upon us and it is going to turn much colder compared to recent days got the Bank Holiday Weekend. It is going to be colder than last years may bank holiday. Arctic air being introduced right across the uk as we go into the weekend. Showery rain across central areas, drifting further south, but it will stay quite cloudy for many. You can see the temperatures across northern parts, 7 11. Further south, the temperatures across northern parts, 7 11. Furthersouth, holding onto milder conditions with a bit of sunshine in the far south west. We continue with showers through the night but they were mostly clear away. Further wintry showers into north east scotland and england. Look at the blue, frost across northern parts through tonight. Clear sky to take us into saturday morning and a bright start but some showers and eastern areas but look at the temperatures, then 13. Goodbye. 10 13. Good morning were bringing you a bbc news special on the results coming in from yesterdays local elections. Voters have punished the conservatives and labour in early results in england, in what appears to be a protest against the deadlock over brexit at westminster. Overnight, it quickly became clear that the smaller parties, such as the liberal democrats and greens and independent candidates, were winning seats around the country. Nearly 100 of the 248 councils up for election have declared their results and counting in the remaining authorities, as well as in Northern Ireland, will take place later. Lets take a look at the latest results. We the latest results. Can focus first novel on the total we can focus first novel on the total number of councillors and you can see the headline figures for the conservatives and labour, both down, the tories have so far lost about a quarter of the seats they were defending. Labour have lost about 8 of the seats they were defending. Labour were defending a relatively poor result. The liberal democrats have increased the number of seats that they have by 150 . You can see their standout result on the pages they have increased the number of councillors by 304. The other part of the story of course is what has happened with independents, up 215 and the greens up 42, the message that a nalysts and the greens up 42, the message that analysts are saying these results send is a plague on both your houses, for the conservatives and labour. Ukip are down as well, 54 seats. Lets take a look at what it means for the individual councils. Labour have lost two councils, the conservatives have lost more, 16 so far. And the liberal democrats, as we have been saying, are the winners, they have gone up by eight councils. No overall control is up by eight. And be independents have won control of two councils. If we look specifically at some individual councils of particular interest, labour, as we have seenJeremy Corbyn out in trafford, they won control of trafford, formerly a conservative stronghold, but they have lost control of some of their other previous strongholds, like hartlepool, bolsover and wirral, notable amongst them. Focusing on that result in trafford, there, labourgaining that result in trafford, there, labour gaining that council as you can see. And we heard Jeremy Corbyn a few moments ago, basically saying thatis a few moments ago, basically saying that is a good result for labour, but its a pretty bleak picture, not just for labour but he conservatives as well. The liberal democrats are saying. Ed davey said that their fortu nes saying. Ed davey said that their fortunes have changed. Whether this rolls out because if you take away the brexit factor, these might look to be fairly traditional results that would reflect local Council Elections at any time, the liberal democrats, the parties away from the main parties, doing well but there is no denying the liberal democrats have done very well overnight. They have done very well overnight. They have won eight councils including winchester, north norfolk, cotswolds and bath and North East Somerset. So what will the parties be doing now . Obviously, analysing what the results mean for them and what they need to do to change their fortunes Going Forward, the question particularly for labour, does it now start to say that it will offer a confirmatory vote on brexit or does it work harder to get some kind of deal with the tories on brexit . The next stop after these elections is the European Elections on the 23rd of may. Well be returning to the Election Results shortly, but first a look at the rest of the days news. More than a Million People along Indias North East coast are sheltering in relief centres as the area is battered by the worst summer cyclone there for more than 40 years. Trees have been uprooted and electricity poles felled. Winds of up to 200 kilometres an hour have been forecast, as well as a possible storm surge. Ramzan karmali has the latest. Cyclone fani hits land, battering indias east coast. This is the town of puri, home of the jagannatha temple. It has been standing here for over 850 years. Officials may have been braced as fani headed up the bay of bengal. But with winds expected to reach speeds of 220 kilometres an hour and 100 Million People in its path, precautions were taken. Many in the most exposed areas sought safety. Around a million have been evacuated from low lying regions. Hundreds of emergency shelters have been set up and schools and universities closed. Now we are evacuating the pregnant women and the lactating mothers, and particularly old people and those in thatched houses, because they are more prone to danger, so we are trying to lessen the human casualties. Forecasters tracked fanis progress as the eye of the cyclone approached odisha state. This storm system has a number of hazards attached to it. We have got torrential rain, 200 300 millimetres on this, and ahead of the storm, we will get a storm surge working in across parts of odisha, west bengal and even into parts of bangladesh. That poses the threat of some significant flooding as well. Officials have been using these forecasts to help them plan emergency operations. Thousands of relief workers have been deployed and the government has set up a relief and rescue fund worth over 150 million in anticipation. But those officials are warning that many homes and infrastructure caught in the cyclones path are likely to be completely destroyed. Ramzan karmali, bbc news. Our correspondent rahul tandon is in bhubaneswar, the capital of odisha, which is right in the path of the storm. This is the fury of nature in one of indias poorest states. The cyclone hit this area at around 8am local time. Over the last hour, we have seen the wind speeds increase dramatically. In puri, where the cyclone came in, speeds are up to 210 kilometres per hour. On thursday, one of the largest evacuations that this area has ever seen took place. The authorities used tractors, boats, cars, any form of transport they could find to get people to safety come into the people to safety, into the temporary shelters. The first part of the work has been done but when the cyclone passes by, many people will have seen their lives destroyed. Their land will have been destroyed by the cyclone and their fishing boats will also be devastated. The work that this cyclone will leave behind will start when it passes from this area in a few hours time. A second man has been charged with the murder of 14 year old jaden moodie, who was knocked off a moped and stabbed in east london. Jaden, from waltham forest, was found injured in leyton, following reports of a road crash. 21 year old Yousuf Dubbad from east london is expected to appear at Thames Magistrates Court later today. 18 year old Ayoub Majdouline from the wembley area has already been charged. The case is due to be sent to the old bailey on tuesday. New research has found that people receiving effective treatment for hiv cant pass on the virus to their sexual partners. A study, published in the lancet medicaljournal, looked at nearly 1,000 gay male couples and discovered no cases of hiv transmission over eight years. The researchers say its a powerful message, which everyone should be aware of. 1p and 2p coins are to remain in circulation, after the treasury confirmed it had gone back on plans to get rid of them. The chancellor, philip hammond, said even though technology had transformed banking, it was important to give people a choice and help those who rely entirely on cash, particularly the elderly, vulnerable and those living in rural areas. In thailand, preparations are under way for the coronation of king maha vajiralongkorn. It starts this weekend with a lavish three day ceremony. This morning in bangkok, the day began with a procession, which brought the kings name plaque, horoscope and royal emblem from the temple of the emerald buddha to the royal palace. As the day continues, therell be further elaborate ceremonies. Actor peter mayhew, who played chewbacca in the star wars films, has died at the age of 74. The seven foot two actor played the wookiee warrior in the original Star Wars Trilogy in the late 1970s and early 80s, as well as some laterfilms. Paying tribute, harrison ford, who played chewbaccas companion han solo, described peter as a kind and gentle man, possessed of great dignity and noble character. Returning to the local elections now. 112 councils now announced. In the last hour, weve heard from the labour leaderJeremy Corbyn, who played down suggestions that it had been a bad night for labour. He pledged a fightback. Well, this is how conservative mp priti patel has been reacting to the results so far. She says the time had come for a change in leadership. Do you think theresa may needs to go . That is the ultimate question. I will reflect and play back many of the comments i have had certainly over the last three weeks knocking on doors, people have categorically said that she is part of the problem. Where we have now got to look at these results, look at our direction of travel going ahead as a party, obviously our Party Leadership and our party nationally needs to look at the situation and make some very, very serious decision now in terms of where we go. Where would you like to see it go . I think we need to change. Ijust dont think we can continue like this. I have been very clear, frankly, many of my constituents have said to me, we need change, we need a change of leadership, perhaps the time has come for that now. Priti patel, there, on what the results mean for her party. Lets show you the result for gateshead which has just show you the result for gateshead which hasjust come in. Results trickling in through today because there are still a number to go, 112 now declared, gateshead the latest, this is the result. Labour. They are still counting but you can see labour are well ahead with 36 seats, holding that council. The liberal democrats have got nine seats so far and no seats for any of the other parties standing in that election. That is a holder for labour. They have had one win so far, taking Trafford Council, a former tory stronghold. We will continue to bring you the results as they come lets ta ke lets take a look at what the results indicate for the liberal democrats, the big winners of the night, making major gains with 150 more seats than they had before the elections. They are saying it is affirmation of their own approach. Earlier this morning liberal democrat mp sir ed davey gave his reaction. Its a fantastic morning, the liberal democrats are back in business. To put it in context, i think this was a sea change. I think voters have been desperate for a strong alternative to the conservatives and labour, who have made such a mess of everything the last few years. And now voters have it, they have chosen the liberal democrats, not just to protest but to put their faith in us, around the country, in the north against labour, in the south against conservatives. This was our best night for a generation. When john majors conservative government was in meltdown, we got good results. These results look like they may be as good as then. So these are historic in terms of liberal democrats success and victories. On the back of this, we think its a real clear signal to the british people that if you want to stop brexit, you vote liberal democrat. Ed davey, delighted with those results for the lib dems, who have absolutely had the strongest performance of the night. The green party and independents doing well as well. Lets get some more reaction from westminster with Annita Mcveigh. You just mentioned the green party, there, joanna. Joining me now isjonathan bartley, co leader of the green party. One of my colleague saw him walking past earlier looking very happy and unsurprisingly so, 48 councillors are so unsurprisingly so, 48 councillors are so far, up 42, the last time i looked, maybe it has gone up since then. It may well have done, things are changing all the time, a phenomenal set of results so far and more to come, we have broken through on 16 new councils, cementing our place as the fourth party in england in local government and real momentum going into the European Elections where we are the biggest representation of remain in the European Parliament. 16 councils where you have now got councillors where you have now got councillors where you have now got councillors where you did not before, why do you think you have managed to make breakthroughs in some of those locations and tell me where they are . Some of it is very hard work, there is narrative around a protest vote but weve known where the gains will come for a long time and where we have had greens elected, people wa nt to we have had greens elected, people want to see more they want greens on the council and in that town hall because they know it makes a difference, places like south tyneside, sunderland, right down to exeter, right around the country, in places we would not necessarily expect greens to be elected, we are making the breakthroughs and holding the balance of power in places like worcester to make a big difference. When you analyse your vote and you will do in the days and weeks ahead, how can you be sure, you already talk about it not being a protest vote, how can you be sure the protest vote is not a factor . In the last nine Council Elections, we have gained very consistently, over the last nine years, we have gone up and up last nine years, we have gone up and up to that position as the fourth party now in local government. We know that this is not a flash in the plan, this is something concrete we have been building on. Also, we know on the doorsteps what was going to happen in these elections. We are breaking records. Remember their base we are coming from his 2015, the comparable elections four years ago, fighting those seats again, when we had our own record breaking general election result. The bar was already very high and to have had these kind of gains in this kind of context i think is very reassuring and shows how much progress we are are making. Looking at the psychology of the vote, what do you asa psychology of the vote, what do you as a remains a boarding party do with this . Equally, you have the conservatives saying they are suffering because of the brexit backlash because they have not delivered brexit yet and you have a number of labour ministers, senior voices saying that in areas where they have suffered, it is because they have suffered, it is because the party also has not delivered on brexit. Yet you have these Great Results for yourselves, you have very strong showing for the remain supporting lib dems as well. What is going on here with the vote . There clearly is a brexit backlash, it has been very disappointing to see labours equivocation, not backing a peoples vote or being a remain party but with greens, you know what you are getting, we want a peoples vote and to remain in the European Parliament and we have three times as many meps as the lib dems so we will be flying the flag going into the European Elections and people are responding to that but also, people saying that they are fed up with the big parties, they are equivocating are not being clear and prevaricating and when they see the local greens in local councils making a difference, they know that what they are going to get is going to be solid, secure and clear. But how is that going to feed into what happens with brexit . Is it going to make a difference . Absolutely it is, i think make a difference . Absolutely it is, ithinka make a difference . Absolutely it is, i think a very clear messages being sent to the establishment parties. Lets not forget that there has been a long term decline since the 1950s in the vote for the two big parties, 85 590 was what they were getting between labour and the conservatives in the 1950s and that has gone down, a bit ofa in the 1950s and that has gone down, a bit of a blip in the 1950s and that has gone down, a bit ofa blip in in the 1950s and that has gone down, a bit of a blip in 2017 but the long term trend is to look for more choice and people who will deliver and be clear. Who will stand very clearly for the kind of country we wa nt to clearly for the kind of country we want to be. That is something that has not been talked about really, these elections are about the kind of country what we want to be. Do we wa nt of country what we want to be. Do we want to be compassionate and outward facing or do we want to turn in on ourselves best of the greens are in on ourselves best of the greens a re clear in on ourselves best of the greens are clear in particular in europe, Climate Change does not stop at the border, the Climate Emergency is something about brad moving steadily into the foreground, they know were going to stand on things that matter, to be open and inclusive as a country and work with partners and thatis a country and work with partners and that is why they will vote for us in European Elections, to. So for the greens, has this been truly a local election in the truest sense the word . We election in the truest sense the word . We discussed election in the truest sense the word . We discussed earlier, these are not very local elections in that brexit has actually dominated over issues of bin collection, parks and so issues of bin collection, parks and so forth. There are those local issues, clearly, people know that when they get greens elected, we dont have the base vote to the big parties have so we have to work for every single vote, it has been great to see us maintaining 70 seats as well as making gains so we are recognising the local factor. Maintaining seats as well as making gains. The climate that has come into prominence and lastly weeks but we have seen this for a long time, where greenslade, others follow, so people have been voting on the back of that agenda and clearly there is also the remain vote, a cry for a peoples vote to sort out the mess that we see at westminster at the moment. Jonathan bartley, coleader of the green party, thank you for your time today. Lets get a snapshot of the results from around england. With me is in warwick is the bbcs Political Editor in the midlands, patrick burns. In Great Yarmouth is Andrew Sinclair, Political Correspondent for bbc east. Im also joined by south east todaysjohn young in brighton. Patrick, do you first, good to see you. What has been happening there . Well, a very interesting picture is starting to emerge here, actually. The story, as we know, of these elections are so far is the liberal democrats. There has been a strong suggestion that this may not be so much about the remain sentiment, more a reversion to the old protest vote, that the liberal democrats enjoyed for many years before they went into coalition with the conservatives. Here in the West Midlands, which as you know voted overwhelmingly in the referendum to leave the European Union, there were just three places which voted to remain. Cotswold was one of them, downing gloucestershire, at the bottom of our patch. In gloucestershire, the liberal democrats have gained control from the conservatives. So i am sure they will be able to join the dots and say that has much more to do with remain sentiment than some kind of bland, blanket protest vote. To reinforce that, here in warwick, which at the moment, the outgoing authority had a conservative majority, there are some very strong suggestions that there are some serious damages to both the conservatives and two labour here, and indeed, some are suggesting that the liberal democrats could be challenging to become the Largest Party here as well. And guess what . Warwick was one of the other places that voted to remain in the European Union. It actually sent a bit of a shockin union. It actually sent a bit of a shock in the 2017 general election, a labourmp, matt shock in the 2017 general election, a labour mp, matt weston, won this seat from the conservatives and he isa seat from the conservatives and he is a very strong remain supporting labourmp. A is a very strong remain supporting labour mp. A fascinating picture here. The conservatives, i should point out, are not without some areas to salivate, becoming the Largest Party in stoke on trent. Who would have thought it . Areas to celebrate. Labour chose to launch their whole campaign for the local elections in stoke on trent so the coalition between the conservatives and the city independence in stoke looks set to fight another day. Bear in mind that the conservatives lost worcester overnight. That reinforces a place right. In many ways, not dissimilar to warwick, so that is possibly a picture. And very briefly, herefordshire, very interesting tussle with the conservatives under pressure. That is the picture here in the West Midlands. Lets go over to the east where wejoin andrew midlands. Lets go over to the east where we join Andrew Sinclair in Great Yarmouth stop the patrick, thank you. The politics of these have a ways been dominated by the conservatives. After all the counting is done at the end of the day, the conservatives will still run the majority of councils in this pa rt of run the majority of councils in this part of the country. But the conservatives are taking quite a hit at the moment. Overnight, they lost control of peterborough, basildon, southend. They failed to take their target seat of colchester. The big story of the night as far as we are concerned over here has been the success concerned over here has been the success of the liberal democrats, two very big scalps for them overnight, firstly, they took north norfolk, they doubled the number of seats they had in north Norfolk District Council and they are running that but the very big one la st running that but the very big one last night was chelmsford. Until yesterday, they only had five seats on the council and today they have 31 and they are now running the council. In the next few minutes, vince cable, the liberal democrat leader, will go to chelmsford to congratulate his troops. On top of that, the lib dems picked up seats all over the region does not gaining southend to help them take the council to no overall control, to ta ke council to no overall control, to take it away from the conservatives. Also worth noting that we have had 33 independent councillors elected so 33 independent councillors elected so far, and eight greens. It seems that if the voters are wanting to ta ke that if the voters are wanting to take it out on the main westminster parties over the handling of brexit, they seem to be voting more for the smaller parties or for the independents. A quick word about labour, they have held on to the councils which they already controlled, places like carlow, cambridge and we expect they will hold on to norwich this afternoon as they held ipswich last night. Like harlow. But labour are making few gains in any other part of the region and if we are getting close toa region and if we are getting close to a general election as many think we are, they should really be doing better than they are at the moment. That is the position in the east of england, now the john for the picture in brighton. Thanks, andrew. Wide open here, i think it is fair to say that National Political leaders will be watching brighton and hove quite carefully and 5pm, late results today. Leadership here has bounced around over the past decade or so. In 2007, the conservatives led, in 2011, it was the greens and in 2015 it became labour but onlyjust. Add to that the national controversies. An anti semitic row, here, one labour councillor resigning and going to the conservatives because she claimed she was bullied and other accusations, denied of course by momentum, that Party Members bullied labour councillors here. Labour has problems there, and brexit is a problems there, and brexit is a problem for the conservatives. All of this is leading to, yes, we have heard it from the others, an expectation that the smaller parties may do very well. The lib dems and the greens. This, in the south of england, is an area where they have done well in the past. The liberal democrat mp in eastbourne up the road, it has been a liberal democrat mp in lewis and of course the brighton and hove mp is caroline lucas, the only green mp in westminster. Some expectation the tories and labour will do badly today and the smaller parties will do well but we will find out at about five p m. Thanks to everybody, there. 5pm. I think we can see there. 5pm. I think we can see the lib dems leader vince cable, now, who is on a walkabout in chelmsford. The liberal democrats, as you can see on your screens, up 304 councillors, as things stand. There they are, waiting, those Council Workers waiting to greet Sir Vince Cable. He has been tweeting in the last short while, and i will pull it up to remind you of what he was saying, but he is talking about the lib dems being back in force as the lib dems being back in force as the third party in british politics, three Party Politics is back, in big cities and rural england, in leave and remain areas, we have shown ourselves the stronger is campaigning falls and the big winners of the night. Three Party Politics is back, declares vince cable. Of course, we are waiting to see the rest of the results coming in through the day. But perhaps an even bigger test for the liberal democrats will come in the European Elections when of course they will be up against the remain supporting change uk, the new party, fighting for the same voters, essentially. But for the moment, much to celebrate for the liberal democrats asa celebrate for the liberal democrats as a result of these local elections. We will have much more on the results in the next hour. They are constantly updating of course, many more still to come. We will keep you right up to date. But now, the weather with simon. The Bank Holiday Weekend is coming up the Bank Holiday Weekend is coming up and if you have got any plans for the outside, you might want to take note because it is going to turn much colder over the next few days. At the moment, quite a bit of cloud, thatis at the moment, quite a bit of cloud, that is the scene in gloucestershire, outbreaks of showery rain affecting northern parts of england. It will drift further south and east. Heavy showers in the far south east, and brighter skies in the south west. Brighter skies and a bit of sunshine in scotland but here, snow showers moving in. We have got a northerly wind. With that, the chillier weather. Temperatures 07 ten in northern parts whereas further south is holding on to milder conditions. Tonight, this band of cloud and showery rain continues to spread south and east and still wintry showers into the far north east of scotla nd showers into the far north east of scotland at the North Yorkshire moors. Look at the blue on the map, expecting some frost across the northern half of the uk. Further south, not quite as cold. Temperatures five or six. These are the temperatures in towns and cities are so the temperatures in towns and cities are so in the countryside, lower than that so you might wake up early on saturday to a bit of frost. Just like this picture, with the blue skies, some sunshine across many parts of the uk. Into the start of the weekend, a northerly wind bringing cold airfrom the the weekend, a northerly wind bringing cold air from the arctic and from iceland. All of us feeling the chill on saturday. A bright and sunny start for many. Drive almost as well but some showers affecting eastern parts of england and the far north east of scotland. Temperatures by the afternoon, 8 12 or maybe 13, perhaps 14 in the west country. Into sunday, high dominates things mainly towards the west, allowing that northerly wind but it is also bringing the settled feel. It is going to be another bright start on sunday. Again, a chilly one with patchy frost. More cloud developing as the day goes on. Another dry one for many, just a few showers in the far north. Temperatures, 10 13, way below the average for the time of year. Going into a bank holiday monday, there could be a few showers with some cloud but otherwise some bright and sunny spells. Temperatures on monday will be very similar, well below the average, about 9 13. A big contrast to last yea rs early about 9 13. A big contrast to last years Early May Bank holiday where we got to 28. 7 degrees. Goodbye. Youre watching a bbc news Election Special with me, joanna gosling, as we bring you the results of local elections, which have been taking place in england and Northern Ireland. Its bad news for both the conservatives and labour, as voters turn away from the two main parties. Sadly, the two parties have been published for the mass of bragg said. The message we are getting is all about brexit and the residents are telling us they are going to make sure there is some change because of their dissatisfaction over brexit. Because of their dissatisfaction over brexit. Its been a good night for the lib dems, greens and independent candidates. The lib dems have made significant gains in results announced so far. Im Annita Mcveigh live at westminster. They may have been local elections, but National Politics seems to have been a deciding factor for voters, with both conservatives and labour hit by an apparent brexit backlash. Jeremy corbyn cheered a win in trafford, a former conservative stronghold, but blamed other losses on government austerity measures. Im very sorry we lost them, we will fight back and we will win them back. Thats the whole point behind it. What we are doing here is putting forward an agenda of anti austerity and also pointing out that local authorites have borne the brunt of the austerity agenda foisted on them by the conservatives and the lib dems when they were in coalition together. Well be bringing you all the results, including full analysis of why the tories and labour suffered those losses and whats behind the gains for the lib dems, as the counts continues. Good morning. Welcome back to our bbc news special on the results coming in from yesterdays local elections. Voters have punished the conservatives and labour in early results in england, in what appears to be a protest against the deadlock over brexit at westminster. Overnight, it quickly became clear that the smaller parties, such as the liberal democrats and greens, and independent candidates were winning seats around the country. 113 of the 248 councils up for election have declared their results. Counting in the remaining authorities, as well as in Northern Ireland, will take place later. Lets take a look at the results so far. The conservatives are dying 446 seats, they have lost a quarter of the seats they were defending so far. The liberal democrats of the big winners, as you can see, up 304 councillors. They happen creased the number of seats they hold by 150 . They are talking about a revival of three Party Politics in the country. The greens have increased their share of the vote, and the independence amongst the night was not winners. Lets have a look at individual councils and the council is controlled by individual parties. Labour have lost two councils, the conservatives have lost 16. The liberal democrats have won it and there are an extra 800 councils. Some of the totemic results showed labour losing in previous strongholds, including hartlepool and alland strongholds, including hartlepool and all and the conservatives leaving losing some of their strongholds, as well. Lets hear now from vince cable. Hello, they are. The result here in chelmsford was one of the biggest u psets chelmsford was one of the biggest upsets of the night. The lib dems have taken an extra 26 seats to gain control of the council. Im here with vince cable, the lib dems leader. What do you think led to the result here . It spectacularly good, but its not just result here . It spectacularly good, but its notjust here that we have done massively well. The lib dems have been the big Success Story of the night and it is a combination of things. People are dissatisfied with the conservative government over the big issue of the day. It is good local campaigning, good commitment to local government and a very, very good team and a recovery of morale from the difficult days several yea rs from the difficult days several years ago. How big a factor was the bread is a deadlock . years ago. How big a factor was the bread is a deadlock . I think it has led to a situation where people are very fed up with the complete deadlock in government. Nothing being done about the future of the Health Service and social care, underfunded schools, knife crime, homelessness. We are very clear about the way forward. We want to stop brexit and we wanted peoples vote to let the people decide which we go on the matter. In places like chelmsford, they voted for leaving the European Union in the referendum. Are you surprised, do you think there has been a change in the public mood . We have done well across the country, in the west country, somerset and devon. We have done well in the north of england. A lot of the parliamentary seats that we lost in the last election look like they will come back to us. A very, very good story about the liberal democrats. We have been clear and honest about what we believe, we have been well organised and we have wonderful campaigners who put in an enormous amount of effort. Is thisjust a oneoff test vote, could you replicate this in the eu elections in a couple of weeks, when there will be other party is likely to spend your votes . I think the splintering of the vote isa i think the splintering of the vote is a problem, which is why i urge that we should all get together under the same banner. What people will do, they only have one vote, so they will get behind the strongest of the remain parties. We are very clearly the strongest of the remaining parties and we expect people will get behind us. Local results to necessarily translate into National Results . No, they dont, but in the past and we have done well locally they have been converted into parliamentary seats. Many of the areas that we hope to wind ina many of the areas that we hope to wind in a future general election have gone over to us. North and south, urban and rural, it is a good story and are treated as a brilliant success. Isnt thisjust a result of a collapse in the tory vote rather than a positive vote for your party . It isa than a positive vote for your party . It is a positive vote for our party, i wont be deflected by negative interpretation. The conservative party or doing nothing and making a com plete party or doing nothing and making a complete mess of brexit. Jeremy corbyn has been sitting on the fence for a couple of years over brexit so all of these factors are played in. Where we have thought strong campaigns, have good local council initiatives, we have also done well there. It bodes very well for the party. People have been writing us off in the past but we have demonstrated we are very much part of three Party Politics. You say you will stand down on your party leader, you will not change your mind asa leader, you will not change your mind as a result of the neighbours might victory . No, i have always saidi might victory . No, i have always said i wanted to make sure there is an orderly succession. Today is about celebrating a victory in essex. The vote of essex mild and essex. The vote of essex mild and essex woman has been seen as an important barometer of wider public opinion. We have a very happy vince cable here. There is no doubt that the lib dems have benefited from the public anger at the brexit deadlock, which has led to big losses for both labour and the conservatives both here and in other parts of the country. To give you a bit of context, the conservative home website is saying the last time the lib dems made net gains of over 100 seats was in 2004. The last time they made the interval for 300 seats was 1995. There was a risk that the party could fizzle out, but they did have a very good night. Lets take a closer look at the of those results with our political chris mason. Results have trundled in throughout the night. There have been smiles and cheers, a hold in the Battle Ground of swindon for the conservatives. And a gain in North East Lincolnshire, but elsewhere, not good news for them. The tories losing control in places like st albans, southend, broxtowe and peterborough. We can hazard a guess how this couple voted. But what do the results mean for the Prime Minister . I think she needs to take a look at how many councillors we have lost overnight, wake up in the morning and think about how she thinks the conservative party needs to put its best foot forward. These ballot boxes brought good news for labour where they took control of trafford in Greater Manchester. But the party lost control of councils in hartlepool and bolsover, a sense in some areas that it was not the night they hoped for. Its not looking good, this is going to be very difficult night for labour. Weve been out and about across the borough, and the message we get loud and clear is all about brexit. And the residents are telling us theyre going to make sure there is some change because of their dissatisfaction over brexit. We have one traffic to an overall majority. So far, its been good news for the smaller parties, like the liberal democrats and the greens, as well as local independents who are on the advance. The lib dems have gained areas like north norfolk, winchester, and the cotswolds. Actually feeling pretty buoyant, weve seen a lot of our vote coming out, and the National Picture is really tough for the tories. So smiling lib dems, and smiling greens as well. Weve had a very, very good night so far. Weve gained a lot of new seats and importantly, on a lot of new councils where people have never elected greens before and this is across the country in places you would not expect. However, there is a long way to go yet. This is a big set of local elections. And the parties are watching closely, peering into what it might mean for their wider fortunes. Here in the wee small hours, though, some cross party collaboration. Or perhaps commiseration. We are keeping a close eye on the councils that have not yet declared, one of the things to look for is turnouts. Looking at some of the figures, just hearing from our correspondent in nottingham saying that the mansfield Mayoral Election cutting has begun and that are not there is only half of what it was in 2015, 20 9 this time, 57 last time. They are starting their counting in Tunbridge Wells and in redditch. There is an update on the turnout figure, 31 . Counting is under we are looking at the turnout. The analysts are saying there is a plague on both your houses for both labour and conservatives. It is mainly rural constituencies that will be counted throughout the day andi will be counted throughout the day and i will say that will not likely fed with the conservatives. We have about half the picture so far. The full picture will unfold over the course of the day. Lets go over to Annita Mcveigh, whos in westminster. Itll be really interesting over the course of the day what the narrative is coming from this local election. You have the conservatives and labour are you have the conservatives and labourare blaming you have the conservatives and labour are blaming the handling of brexit in large part for their losses. You are seeing significant gains for remain supporting parties, like the greens, the liberal democrats. The independents are doing really well also. We havent had a full read of what the independent candidates poss s meanings are. Significant gains for remain supporting parties, too. Joining me now is our assistant politcal editor, norman smith. What is your take on the point i was just discussing, what will the big narratives be from this in terms of dissatisfaction with the handling of brexit or support for the remain position . The big story is obviously the brexit backlash from voters who are frankly fed up with the two main parties. They want brexit sorted. What we dont have, and i think that is the second big narrative, is what on earth will the two main parties do . They have struggled so far into the brexit quagmire they cant really see a way out. If you look at the conservative side, they are on course for a shatteringly bad night. I wouldnt be surprised at the last a thousand seats. Some tories will conclude from this the way we get this sorted is we do a deal with labour and we move on. Then you have other tory saying that if theresa may does that, it is a Ramsay Macdonald moment, she will not be forgiven. We are already hearing from brexiteers that she is the problem, she has to go. Theresa may finds herself hemmed in. Jeremy corbyn has lost in places he should never be losing. Hartlepool, barnsley, bolsover. For heaven sake, bolts over the loss control love leave supporting labour mps are saying it is obvious you have to do a deal with theresa may, put brexit to bad and the way to do that is to doa to bad and the way to do that is to do a deal. Some of the team Jeremy Corbyn agree with that. Probably more than half his party are passionately for remain. If you do that, that would cause civil war. There has been a swing up and the number of people for remain parties. They could conclude that the tide is moving our way, now its time to push for another referendum. Both of the main parties have been beaten about the head and i imagine will keep getting beaten about the head and the European Elections in a fortnight because none of them have a clue what to do, even withJeremy Corbyn trying to play down the results last night. I am very sorry be lost and we will fight to wind them back. We will point out that local authorities have borne the brunt of the austerity agenda which has been foisted on them. Of course we wa nted has been foisted on them. Of course we wanted to do better. Of course we did. We always want to do better, thatis did. We always want to do better, that is what we were in politics for. We will continue to do a campaign to keep things together. , hartlepool, why do you think you lost these places . Some of them are local factors. Some are probably disagreeing with both parties on attitudes towards the European Union. Our policy is that we are the only party that seeks to appeal to people however they voted in 2016 and we will try to defend jobs and working conditions in this country. Jeremy corbyn celebrating the wind in the trafford election. Where has the labour of the garden, and how that has an impact on the European Elections . If we look at the idea of a protest vote, ukip field and much fewer candidates in the local elections, so not an obvious place for the protest vote to go there, but in the European Elections we would have the brexit party and change uk supporting remain. All the narratives we have been talking about in the selection, the European Election will be a brexit election on stilts. Into the fray enters nigel farage with his brexit party. If you are angry about brexit party. If you are angry about brexit you dont have to think much, you will look down the ballot paper, c brexit, just take it. It will probably do pretty well. At the other and of the spectrum you have change uk are set up in despair at Jeremy Corbyns refusal to fight on that matter. The division and the polarity in british politics will be accentuated even more. What will be interesting is to see if the lib dems can cling on to the sort of upsurge they had because they will not have change uk piling in looking for exactly the same sort of boots. Although the lib dems have done well, they had to do well because if they couldnt do well today, they will never do well. They have the main parties id fly cold. They did the disastrously the last time. This could be vince cables swan song. It provides him with the moment, maybe not today, but the next few days we can say i brought the party back, now i will hand over. I wonder if he will decide he is going to step aside quite soon let somebody else come back in. Norman, thank you for your thoughts. When it comes to the results for the conservatives, as we have been discussing, the explanation for some of the losses that the conservative had overnight has been put down to a brexit backlash, that the party hasnt delivered on brexit, its handling of the brexit process. Some conservative voices are saying that lies at the feet of theresa may, her handling of all of this. Conservative mp priti patel has been reacting to the overnight results she said she thought the time had come for a change in leadership do you think theresa may needs to go . Ithink do you think theresa may needs to go . I think that is absolutely not the ultimate question and i will reflect a nd the ultimate question and i will reflect and playback many of the comments i have had on the doorstep over the last three weeks will i have been knocking on doors, people have been knocking on doors, people have very categorically said that she is part of the problem. So i think where we have to look at these results, look at our direction of travel Going Forward such a party, our Party Leadership under party nationally needs to look at the situation and make some very, very serious decision is now in terms of where we go. Where would you like to see it go . I think we need change. I dont think we can continue like this. I have been very clear, quite frankly. Many of my constituents have said to me we need to change of leadership and perhaps not the time has come for that. Joining me now is paul scully, conservative vice chair for london. Just picking up on what she was saying, bearing in mind the results, the losses for the conservatives, it is time for a change of leadership. This is a verdict on theresa may . Handling of brexit. It is a verdict on brexit as a whole, on parliament asa on brexit as a whole, on parliament as a whole. My view is we have got to get this done, that is what people want. If you look at what the labour leader of Sunderland Council said, the labour leader of pontefract, they said the brexit plan isnt working. If we do start looking at leadership issues, we have a six winter when the conservative party will just have a six winter when the conservative party willjust be speaking to itself Just Conservative Party willjust be speaking to itselfjust as the country wanted to speak to the country wanted to speak to the country and get done. You say get it done, does that involve a deal with labour, do you think . Talks will continue and that is the right thing to do. We are at an impasse at the moment and if we can find some way of cutting this across the line, all well and good. So much of the discussion is about the Customs Union and that sort of thing, that is about how we leave and not weather we leave. How do you explain in what would have been seen as conservative strongholds, how do you explain councils going over to liberal democrat control, are remain supporting party . What is happened in those cases is that professional people are protesting, effectively. Protesting about the establishment and the sense of disenfranchisement, rather than the specifics, i think. Why are they protesting with our remain party, rather than not fulton . Well, i think a lot of people have done that. The lib dems to work hard, campy a lot. Nonetheless, the lib dems can be seen nonetheless, the lib dems can be seenin nonetheless, the lib dems can be seen in certain areas as a protest vote, in general. He said the lib dems do well in terms of canvassing and working hard on the ground, presumably your councillors have been doing that, as well, in the conservative party. Is the message your gas and that they havent been able to get their local message across able to get their local message a cross over able to get their local message across over the noise created by brexit . The real regret of the 500 councillors that have lost, they would have been hard working local residents trying to do their best for the area. The efforts that they have done over a number of years is being lost because of the noise here, too many of my colleagues are just interested in theory rather than pragmatism and what is best for the country. Paul scully, thank you for joining the country. Paul scully, thank you forjoining me. I dont think there is anyone out there who would believe that the noise is going to stop as a result of these elections. If anything, we are still saying those votes coming in reflecting not only a split among politicians, but a split in the country as to what the next step should be on brexit. Rags are clearly the dominant issue in these so called local elections. But note tojoanna in the studio. Thank you. We are keeping our eye on all the comments. 114 councils declared, 134 to go. Lets speak to the polling analyst professorjohn curtice. A plague on both your houses is the phrase that keeps being used for labour and the tories. There are a number of reasons for this. If you look at the results, not to the position in 2015, but of last year. Brexit was in the middle of its before the had been unveiled. Both party does not votes are down by six or seven points as compared to 12 months ago. They have both lost ground over the course of the brexit impasse. Where have they been losing votes . Impasse. Where have they been losing votes . Yes, in part it is amongst places where the leave vote was high in 2016. The conservatives in particular seem to have lost some, though not all, in the movements that happened in leave areas. It is not confined to leave voters. The other clear pattern is that voters seem other clear pattern is that voters seem to have taken out their disgruntlement on whatever party tends to be strongest locally. So the conservatories have been losing ground heavily in the south of england, labour in the north of england. Also we have seen this remarkable success of independence, tripling of the representation, often getting around a quarter of the vote on average. Therefore, a sense in which voters, when they have the opportunity, there is a credible local challenge to the whole of the party system, they seem remarkably willing to take it. The winner is the liberal democrats, the party of remain. This is one of the paradoxes. Although it seems to be voters in leave areas that have seemed the most likely to part from labour and conservatives. The lib dems and the greens have made the most games. When you look at the detailed result it is hard to find any pattern whereby the liberal democrats are doing better in remain areas than in leave areas. Probably the liberal democrat performance has more to do with the partial resurrection of their traditional role as the party of protest. When traditionally photos have been happy, traditionally photos have been happy, have not been traditionally photos have been happy, have not been happy, traditionally photos have been happy, have not been happy, they use the liberal democrats as a way of expressing that. The places where the liberal democrats have been doing well is where they were second in 2016. These bastions of liberal democrat strength are often more in leave areas than remain areas. The liberal democrats are winning back some of the voters that used to vote for them and were really unhappy in 2015 and 2017 but are finally beginning to come back to the party in places where the party has always had a degree of local credibility. Much more to do with pavement politics than the high politics of brexit and their support for the referendum. We like to try and clean stuff, but in terms of what it indicates for the future it is a lwa ys indicates for the future it is always ha rd to indicates for the future it is always hard to know. One quick question, vince cable says it is the return of three Party Politics, do you think it is right . return of three Party Politics, do you think it is right . I think it is fairto you think it is right . I think it is fair to say that this is the return of at least three Party Politics, but i suspect that on the 23rd of may we will discover there are more than three Significant Players and we may see the most fragmented British Election since the advent of British Election since the advent of british democracy. In the European Elections, we will see the brexit party and change uk. They are opposite ends of the politics of brexit was they have not stood in these elections, so it is a concert me changing picture, as it is today. We have around half the results in an we will keep bringing you the results as they come through the day. The headlines are a bad night for the conservative party and labour, and a good night for the liberal democrats. We will keep you updated. Now its time for a look at the weather with simon king. The headline in the weather is that it is getting colder. We will see temperatures well below for the next few days, just in time for a Bank Holiday Weekend. At the moment, it is cloudy out there with outbreaks of rain in central areas. That is linked to a cold front which is moving southwards. You can see these showers of rain moving south. Behind, still quite cloudy with showers and snow showers in the far north east of scotland. Seven to 10 celsius in northern parts. The south west, in the sunshine, about 14 or 15 degrees. Through tonight, we continue with showers in the north of scotland. Elsewhere, those generally clear away. But as you can see from the map, it will be frosty tonight in northern parts, but those temperatures not quite slow in the far south. Saturday starts largely sunny, far south. Saturday starts largely sunny, so far south. Saturday starts largely sunny, so out into the afternoon. The chilly weather will continue throughout the weekend. Goodbye. Welcome back to our bbc news special on the results coming in from yesterdays local elections. Thereve been big losses for the conservatives, losses also for labour, and the smaller parties have gained in what looks like a protest over the brexit deadlock at westminster. Overnight, it quickly became clear that parties such as the liberal democrats and greens, and independent candidates, were winning seats around the country. The liberal democrat leader has said its clear their party is the most dominant force for remain in british politics. 115 of the 248 councils up for election have declared their results. Counting in the remaining authorities, as well as in Northern Ireland, will take place later. We will be bringing you the results as they country. The conservatives have lost 453 seats so far. The liberal democrats have gained more than 300 across the country and taking control of several councils, largely at the expense of the tories. Labour have lost 75 councillors. Lets bring you right up to date with the latest results that weve had three. West oxfordshire is the latest council to declare, and its a conservative hold. 32 conservative seats there, eight liberal democrat seats and five labour seats. Four others. The other results that have come through, amber valley, that is a labourgain through, amber valley, that is a labour gain from the conservatives, labour gain from the conservatives, labour taking 25 seats there and the conservatives. Sorry, no, that result is wrong. Im looking at results coming through on the live page, but they seem to not be tallying with the headline. Just the overview is that the conservative party have so far got control of 37 councils and labour 14 councils. Well be returning to the Election Results shortly, but first a look at the rest of the days news. More than a Million People along Indias North East coast are sheltering in relief centres as the area is battered by the worst summer cyclone there for more than 40 years. Trees have been uprooted and electricity poles felled. Winds of up to 200 kilometres an hour have been forecast, as well as a possible storm surge. Ramzan karmali has the latest. Cyclone fani hits land, battering indias east coast. This is the town of puri, home of the jagannatha temple. It has been standing here for over 850 years. Officials may have been braced as fani headed up the bay of bengal. But with winds expected to reach speeds of 220 kilometres an hour and 100 Million People in its path, precautions were taken. Many in the most exposed areas sought safety. Around a million have been evacuated from low lying regions. Hundreds of emergency shelters have been set up and schools and universities closed. Now we are rescuing the pregnant women and the lactating mothers, particularly old people, because they are more prone to danger, so we are trying to lessen the human casualties. Forecasters tracked fanis progress as the eye of the cyclone approached odisha state. This storm system has a number of hazards attached to it. We have got torrential rain, 200 300 millimetres on this, and ahead of the storm, we will get a storm surge working in across parts of odisha, west bengal and even into parts of bangladesh. That poses the threat of some significant flooding as well. Officials have been using these forecasts to help them plan operations. Thousands of relief workers have been deployed and the government has set up a relief and rescue fund worth over 150 million in anticipation. But those officials are warning that many homes and infrastructure caught in the cyclones path are likely to be completely destroyed. Ramzan karmali, bbc news. Our correspondent, rahul tandon, is in bhubaneswar, the capital of odisha, which is right in the path of the storm. This is the fury of nature in one of indias poorest states. The cyclone hit this area at around 8am local time. Over the last hour, we have seen the wind speeds increase dramatically. In puri, where the cyclone came in, speeds are up to 210 kilometres per hour. On thursday, one of the largest evacuations that this area has ever seen took place. The authorities used tractors, boats, cars, any form of transport they could find to get people to safety come into the temporary shelters. The first part of the work has been done but when the cyclone passes by, many people will have seen their lives destroyed. Their land will have been destroyed by the cyclone and their fishing boats will also be devastated. The work that this cyclone will leave behind will start when it passes from this area in a few hours time. A second man has been charged with the murder of 14 year old jaden moodie, who was knocked off a moped and stabbed in east london. Jaden, from waltham forest, was found injured in leyton, following reports of a road crash. 21 year old Yousuf Dubbad from east london is expected to appear at Thames Magistrates Court later today. 18 year old Ayoub Majdouline from the wembley area has already been charged. The case is due to be sent to the old bailey on tuesday. New research has found that people receiving effective treatment for hiv cant pass on the virus to their sexual partners. A study, published in the lancet medical journal, looked at nearly 1,000 gay male couples and discovered no cases of hiv transmission over eight years. The researchers say its a powerful message, which everyone should be aware of. One and two pence coins are to remain in circulation, after the treasury confirmed it had gone back on plans to get rid of them. The chancellor, philip hammond, said even though technology had transformed banking, it was important to give people a choice and help those who rely entirely on cash, particularly the elderly, vulnerable and those living in rural areas. A bbc investigation has found that an increasing number of councils across the uk, have decided to ban, phase out or limit the use of a controversial weedkiller, called glyphosate. One manufacturer, monsanto, faces more than 11,000 lawsuits in the united states, over claims its use contributed to cancer. The Company Denies the allegations and says its products have been used safely in more than 160 countries around the world. Jayne mccubbin reports. This is the product which is under the spotlight around the world. So, stuart, glyphosate. Glyphosate. You just refuse to use it now . I do, yes, ifeel its unsafe. Stewart has been a groundsman in inverclyde for 30 years and for those 30 years every spring and summer until now he handled glyphosate weed killer virtually every day. It was the news reports from america that first put this on your radar . It was, yes, and it got me concerned. There are about 800 Academic Studies that say you are wrong, there isnt a risk. There are also studies out there saying that there is a risk. They used to say smoking was safe, they used to say asbestos was safe, we all know its not safe. This is the level of mistrust manufacturer monsanto faces along with owner bayer. Company accounts show today in the states they are facing over 11,000 lawsuits, but what is the extent . Monsanto told us there is no evidence councils which choose to move away from glyphosate are enhancing safety. With more than 800 studies agreeing it is safe when used as directed. But this paper by the World Health Organization concluded it was probably carcinogenic to humans. The study which was quoted very widely was a hazard assessment, so potentially everything is a hazard. Glyphosate was in the same category as hot drinks and red meat. It is how you use them. Monsanto say the critics are wrong, they remain confident in the science and regulatory record of their products, confidence is not shared by all. Jayne mccubbin, bbc news. In thailand, preparations are underway for the coronation of king maha vajiralongkorn. It starts this weekend with a lavish three day ceremony. This morning in bangkok, the day began with a procession, which brought the kings name plaque, horoscope and royal emblem from the temple of the emerald buddha to the royal palace. As the day continues therell be further elaborate ceremonies. Actor peter mayhew, who played chewbacca in the star wars films, has died at the age of 74. The 72 actor played the wookiee warrior in the original Star Wars Trilogy in the late 1970s and early 80s, as well as some later films. Paying tribute, harrison ford, who played chewbaccas companion, han solo, described peter as a kind and gentle man, possessed of great dignity and noble character. Back to the local elections in england now weve heard from two Party Leaders so far this morning, Sir Vince Cable and Jeremy Corbyn. Sir vince said the liberal democrats are now a dominant force to stop brexit, while the labour leader has played down suggestions that his party had a bad night. Labour has taken full control of the former tory Flagship Council of trafford, gaining six seats. The tories lost nine councillors, with the liberal democrats adding two seats and the greens one. It is the first time labour has taken control of trafford since 2003. Labour gained ashton upon mersey, which has always voted conservative while the greens took a seat from the tories in altrincham. Our Political Editor for the north west, nina warhurst, explained more. What a morning it has been in trafford, a borough of Greater Manchester. For 14 years, trafford, a borough of Greater Manchester. For14 years, it trafford, a borough of Greater Manchester. For 14 years, it was a lonely blue island in a sea of red, we should which to no overall control last year and is now firmly in control of labour. Labour made six gains at the expense of the conservative party, and one with ashton on mersey, a board which has never before not been blue. On top of those six losses, there were two micro losses to the liberal democrats, partly possibly because this is a borough that voted to remain in the referendum of 2016. Then interestingly further south there was a game for the green party. All of altrincham, all three councillors, belong to the green party. We spoke to graham brady, the chair of the 1922 committee, where altrincham is his constituency. We askedif altrincham is his constituency. We asked if he was concerned. He said that it had been worrying him. But other matters, such as green belt building and austerity measures were also factors. They need to think ha rd also factors. They need to think hard about what the message is and to form a conservative heartland like trafford. From former conservative heartlands like trafford. Lets go over to Annita Mcveigh, whos in westminster. Joining me now isjo swinson, the deputy leader of the liberal democrats. So far we so farwe are so far we are up 302 councillors, we have gained nine councils to be in control of. This is an amazing result, we are absolutely delighted to see so much result, we are absolutely delighted to see so much success result, we are absolutely delighted to see so much success for hard working lib to see so much success for ha rd working lib dem to see so much success for hard working lib dem councillors and campaigners up and down the country who deserve this result because of the work they have been doing in their communities. How did the figures sit with the targets you had . This is beyond what we had hoped. Obviously it is wonderful and he want to exceed your own expectations, but us making triple figure gains would have been a good night. Last year for context, figure gains would have been a good night. Last yearfor context, we made 75 net gains will stop when we are still on more than 300 so far, and gained nine councils, that is fantastic. We now control. We now control chelmsford council, for example. You have done incredibly well there is a remain supporting party. That is a picture reflected in other areas as well. What is going on with the vote . This is interesting. 80 of the councils up for elections were in leaf areas. We have done well in those areas as well as remain areas. We have clarity, even in leaf areas, there are many people who want to stay in the European Union and that clarity is respected. This is about more than brexit was up people look at the Television Screens with dismay, at the rambling between the government and the labour party. People want improvements to their lives, things are hard out there. Liberal democrats are prioritising thoseissues liberal democrats are prioritising those issues and getting things done, and it is Community Politics which we are famous for is what people are responding to. You say that people are responding to local issues rather than brexit . It is both. I know when i was campaigning in places like st albans, very much a remain area where people are angry about brexit and they want to support the liberal democrats because we want to stop brexit. Do you think it is a protest vote in some senses . It is people saying they want to stay in the European Union and the best way to make that clear at the ballot box is to vote liberal democrat and they have the opportunity to do that in three weeks as well. But there are also places where it is about. I was down in somerset recently, and the liberal democrats are regenerating in chard, with a new legislative, making a difference, in contrast to what the conservatives are doing. The choices about local communities and the issues that affect peoples lives are foremost in many people pot mines at local elections were stop some people will say the liberal democrats are looking at an open goal with these elections, and you had to do well. And you are doing well. The real test will come in the European Elections, when you are fighting for the same votes with chains uk. People cant have it both ways we re chains uk. People cant have it both ways were stop those same people used to the results we had to say that liberal democrats are nowhere, they are not coming back. People have predicted the demise of the liberal democrats since before i was a member. For 20 liberal democrats since before i was a member. For20 years, liberal democrats since before i was a member. For 20 years, they have said they are not coming back. We are fighting back, we do come back because the values we hold dear are ones that do resonate and they do drive our campaigners forward to make the case and work for their local communities. We are fighting back and we are the sluggish choice for remain votes at the European Elections were stop we do need to Work Together to stop brexit. There isa Work Together to stop brexit. There is a danger for you Work Together to stop brexit. There is a dangerfor you and other remain supporting parties of a fragmentation of the vote, surely . We think it is a shame that those discussions were not able to yield a more positive outcome in the timeframe available for the European Elections and we are what we are. That is a shame, but we need to go forward with a strong liberal democrat message, which is saying that we are the party who will stop brexit. How important is the vote you have secured in these elections and securing, with votes still to come in, in being a platform for the liberal democrats in the European Elections, not only against brexit supporting candidates but against change uk and dates as well . These elections are hugely beneficial for us, they are huge springboard. It is about the direction of travel. We have more lib dem councillors, we have more lib dem councillors, we have 100,000 members up and down the country. We have an energised base will stop that is a great position to be going into the European Elections with. People might be tired after the last two weeks, have a cup of tea and get back on the doorsteps because we have another election in three weeks time and we need to say that we need to stop brexit for the benefit of the uk, and that message needs to be put out there more than ever. Thank you for your time. You certainly need a lot of stamina at the moment, i bit more than a of stamina at the moment, i bit more thana cup of stamina at the moment, i bit more than a cup of tea or coffee. Plenty of caffeine. For the moment, back to the studio. More from here very soon. Lets look at how the elections have played out in south east england our Political Correspondent ellie price is in thanet. Give us the view from there. The view is they have just started counting. To start with some context, cast your mind back to the last time these elections were held, four years ago, last time these elections were held, fouryears ago, ukip last time these elections were held, four years ago, ukip are riding high stop nigel farage was down in the patch every week, because he was standing for the parliamentary seat here. He did not make it, the conservatives pipped him to the post. The realities of government for ukip here seemed rather stark and there were a number of defections and last year a mass exodus of ukip councillors left the party over a row about the local airport here. In this election, you dont need a crystal ball to wait for the count to be over to discover that the vote will collapse. They have only managed to field three candidates here in thanet. The question will be not what happens to ukip, it will be what happens to their voters and where they go here in thanet. Thank you. And for the view from north east england lets go to richard moss in newcastle. Anything expected imminently, richard . Probably another few hours away from results here, but this is the first time this election has been held for a metro mayor, like andy burnham in manchester. Far less power, it has to be said was not a huge geographic area, right up to berwick. It is a contest that has raised some questions, all the candidates are men, all five, which raises the question of why none of the parties have found a woman to stand. There are questions about what this might result in because the leading candidate, jamie driscoll, is a big wheel in momentum, a big Jeremy Corbyn supporter, has talked about radical socialist policies. Others have characterised that pretty colourfully, the conservatives called it trying to create venezuela upon tyne, which is very dramatic. He is spoken about regional banks and energy companies. So that more is spent on the local economy here. We expect a declaration at around 2 30pm. We expected to go to a second count, where the two leaders in the contest will have a second choice count as well. Thank you. Lets go back to westminster for reactions. Joining me now to discuss the results so far of the local elections, im joined by polly mackenzie, chief exec of demos and former special adviser to nick clegg, sienna rodgers, editor of labourlist, and joeyjones, who is a former spokesman for theresa may. Welcome to all of you. Vince cable declaring in chelmsford little while ago, and on twitter that three Party Politics is back. Is he right . The liberal democrats have done well in coming back up from an enormously low base of 2015, where they were punished for that crime is in the public eye of the coalition. We have had this massive question since then,is had this massive question since then, is it possible for the lib dems to recover . What the result seems to suggest is that, actually, because of the massive mistakes of the other two parties, they have shaken off some of that toxic branding. What we have seen overnight is that people are really unenthusiastic about what is on offer from labour and the conservatives. The followup question is, is that a positive vote for the lib dems is a remain party, ora for the lib dems is a remain party, or a protest vote . I think its probably a combination of both. The two parties our not managing together any enthusiasm, it is likely an anti politics despair vote we are seeing. We are seeing some losses that labour are disappointed about, they would have been doing better if it hadnt been for brexit and this friend sitting thatJeremy Corbyn has been engaged in in the view of many. Absolutely. Brexit has impacted the labour vote. The interesting think about this vote is it is further entrenching the division in the party. Everyone is saying, this result is proving my view right. We have got to scrap any anti brexit message, as some labour membersaid anti brexit message, as some labour member said saying was Jeremy Corbyn saying that the message has been drowned out by brexit, which has been the dominant issue. Does that mean that labour will think that Jeremy Corbyn will think that he needs to get a deal done with theresa may so they can get past exit to start tackling issues like austerity . This is jeremys problem, which is getting more intense was not pierce meant to respect the will of the membership. The membership is remain, so many his mps, but his allies in the shadow cabinet and himself, they are pro brexit. Theresa mays problem with these results, there is discussion of 1000 seats lost, will be get to that, we will see. It is a bad day for the conservatives, isnt it . It is. Everybody will go out saying this result proves me right. The Prime Minister will probably say that her argument that people are sick of brexit and they want to get this done has been vindicated as well. She will see a Silver Lining there. For me personally, there is one thing that has made my eye roll to the back of my head in the past few weeks is that the position of the british people is clear, the british people want back and then they want what i want, unite . People are saying, this proves my point. To be honest, the british people want a bunch of Different Things and the one thing that unites them is that they are all to some great going to be disappointed. The one thing i draw out of these results is telling in terms of the ongoing the cozy agents between labour and the conservative party, is that people in the labour high command thought that a tory collapse would hand them a free pass to downing street, they have been proven wrong here. Labour is being just as badly damaged by what is going on in westminster as the tories and they cant waltz into downing street. How damaged is theresa mays position by this . Downing street. How damaged is theresa mays position by thi57m is as bad as it has ever been. The only reason she is only still in there is because none of the potential candidates who are doing this beauty contest for the leadership really want the current conundrum to have to deal with for themselves, so they are not willing to precipitate that upon her. That may continue to be the case after the European Elections. The talks will have to either break up or come to some sort of resolution before the European Elections happen, and this will concentrate minds within downing street, within government but also within the leadership of the labour party as to whether or not they need to find a compromise. Just a thought, we have only got a little minute. With that vote going to remain parties and what is that leave us . Remained voters dont feel represented by either of the parties was up even though the majority of the labour vote is remain, it is used to say, you voted for a brexit party. The labour membership is saying, the fact that remain parties won here means we should have more ofa 90 won here means we should have more of a 90 brexit message, but then the euro elections, the brexit party could do well. What you take from that . You will get a big brexit vote in the european votes, but there is no outlook for those parties in a general election in a first past the post system. Polly says its a mess will stop it is good to hear your views, but it is good to hear your views, but it is clearly still very divided. Thank you all. Much more from westminster throughout the afternoon. Say. Where it seems that voters have decided to punish both the main parties. Good afternoon. Weve had about half the results in, and so far they make grim reading for both labour and the conservatives. Instead, its the liberal democrats who are celebrating. How does it feel to be part of a liberal democrat