i was working in the office, we stopped for something to eat. there was no party, there was no breach of the rules, i'm confident about that. the police have obviously got to do theirjob. but, meanwhile, i'm in scotland because we've had a fantastic set of results, the best results for ten years, coming second in scotland. there's a smile on all of our faces and we've taken this council. so labour is very clearly back on the pitch and we're turning the corner and now we're marching towards that general election. in terms of the uk results, it was a bit of a perfect storm with you, in terms of the tories at the moment, shouldn't you have done better? we did really well. we won in the north, i was in cumberland, in carlisle yesterday, where we won. we won in the south in southampton. we took seats in london that people said we'd never take. we did really well in wales and here in scotland, best results for a decade. anas sarwar has been leader now for, what, 14 months and he's realy turned it around. we are back on the pitch, we are the alternative to the devisive snp here in scotland. has he turned it around or is it because of the tories and how much do you need them in westminster to be successful here? as we've campaigned across the uk, including here in scotland, people have been talking about this this afternoon — there's a positivity. they could see a serious labour party making a positive case, setting out the alternative. people wanted to vote labour and i'm really pleased that across the united kingdom, they did so. this is a turning point for the labour party. now we're utterly focused on that general election. meanwhile the mayor of london sadiq khan has said sir keir starmer has done nothing wrong and he should not resign. he was speaking during the first eid celebrations in two years at trafalgar square today. it was previously cancelled due to the covid pandemic. he told us how important it is to have the celebrations back in the square. the last eid on the square was in 2019. for 2020 and 2021, they were cancelled and it's lovely to welcome back diverse communities across london, but also across the country and tourists back to trafalgar square, celebrating our wonderful diversity. last night's elections didn't go so well in croydon. well, look, across london, we had brilliant results for labour, winning seats in central london, in inner london, in outer london, some of them for the first time ever, like barnet. westminster was formed in �*61i, the borough, our first ever victory, and wandsworth, our first win in 44 years. there are particular local issues in croydon, the council was declared bankrupt last year, so we can understand why we didn't win croydon. local issues in tower hamlets, of course, and so perfectly explainable. can i ask you to reflect a bit on sir keir starmer�*s position, what he did in durham, what's going on there? well, look, keir�*s quite clear — no rules were broken, no laws were broken. the police have said they will investigate, they've got to get on with theirjob. but it's quite clear, keir was working incredibly hard, he not unreasonably had something to eat and if the police want to investigate, good luck to them. has sir keir been a hypocrite? not at all. we got an easy compare and contrast. what keir starmer is alleged to have done is a million miles away from what we know our prime minister did do — making the rules, breaking the rules. a culture of bring your own bottle parties, karaoke machines, garden parties. a million miles away from keir starmer working incredibly hard all day and having some supper. diane abbott has said that sir keir might have to resign? well, listen, you know, i'm quite clearfrom listening to what keir starmer has said, no laws had been broken. but also, the police have to do theirjob and investigate, an allegation has been made. they'll do theirjob and i'm confident that the police will confirm no rules were broken. if sir keir does step down, would you like to replace him? no, keir�*s doing a really important job, as indeed i am. i'm working really hard to ensure there is a recovery in london, encouraging londoners back but tourists back from across the globe. keir�*s doing a really importantjob, making the labour party electable again and help win us the next general election, that labour will get the ultimate prize, which is being the prime minister of our country we desperately need — a decent prime minister, a labour prime minister rather than this shower. former shadow home secretary diane abbott says sir keir starmer should consider his position as labour leader if he is fined for breaking covid laws. earlier i spoke to leila nathoo about the pressure on sir keir starmer. it couldn't be worse timing for keir starmer. he wanted to talk about the successes that labour had yesterday, wanted to talk about where labour had made inroads in it being a turning point and instead he is now being hounded by questions about what he's going to do if he is fined by durham police and remember the it was a gathering that took place in the run—up to a by—election last year and he was filmed in an office of one of his mps, a constituency office of one of his mps drinking a beer. he has said repeatedly that he is confident the rules were broken. initially durham police looked at this and said they assessed no offence had been committed and then yesterday they announced that they were investigating following significant new evidence so i think this is awkward timing because it overshadows the election results and it also completely neutralises the line of attack that he has been employing on borisjohnson for his own behaviour in numberten, borisjohnson, the chancellor rishi sunak and pm's wife have fines for attending gatherings in downing street and the met is also considering further fines for other events in downing street too and the results are going to be a review that boris johnson is subjected by a senior civil servant and keir starmer has been going very strong on the attack over that and he for borisjohnson to resign as soon as he was being investigated over those passes and if he is applying the same standards to himself he should be resigning now or he should be addressing the question what he is going to do if he himself gets a fine so i think these are very very serious questions for keir starmer and at the moment he is not keen to address them and you can see is repeating the line he did nothing wrong and was working and there was no party and he stopped for a drink but i think sooner or later he's going to have to address these questions up front because they are following him around everywhere he goes. the education secretary nadhim zahawi has said the government must not be complacent after the conservatives suffered substantial losses in local elections across england, scotland and wales. the party lost almost 500 council seats, with the liberal democrats and labour making gains. leila nathoo has more. the full picture of elections across england, scotland and wales is now clear. and the losses for the conservatives have been significant, down almost 500 councillors, ii more councils now out of tory control. ministers say they are listening. very much around making sure we have the plan for recovery continues, that we continue to bear down on the household budget pressures. 22 billion in 12 months is what we're delivering now. we're not going to be complacent. we're going to continue to bear down on that, safer streets and of course the nhs backlog. these are the things that i think win us votes and that's what borisjohnson is very much focused on delivering. labour had hoped a national backdrop of rocketing living costs and fines at the top of government for breaking lockdown rules would send voters flocking their way. the party did do well, securing symbolic victories in london and gains elsewhere. but these were tentative steps forward, rather than emphatic strides. we know we've got to rebuild trust. we had a terrible near—death experience at the last general election, so we're not taking anyone for granted. but i think what we saw in the results on thursday is a firm foundation for going on to win the next general election. labour's successes were overshadowed by police announcing they were now investigating leader sir keir starmer for a possible lockdown breach of his own. it's definitely been a good morning for the lib dems, who tempted traditional tory voters away to add almost 200 councillors in england. conservative support also melted away in wales, with labour profiting. and in scotland, the snp increased its support again, forcing the tories into retreat. the snp is a party 15 years into government. so it's a big vote of confidence in our leadership of scotland, both nationally and at local level. i don't take it for granted, though. people want to see us deliver now. the reason we keep winning elections is because we work really hard, at elections, between elections, to deliver for scotland. votes are counted and the verdicts are in. it's only a snapshot, but for all parties, plenty to chew over. leila nathoo, bbc news. 0ur wales correspondent, tomos morgan told us how people voted across wales and the unexpected losses for the conservative party. after the brexit vote in 2017, i think it's fair to say that a number of disgruntled labour voters and brexit voters moved over and started voting tory. we saw that in the general election in 2017, the local election and general election after that, as well. but since the pandemic, things are beginning to change. last year, we had the senedd elections here in wales and mark drakeford's labour government exceeded expectations, really, did much better. and i think we basically mirrored that, really, here in wales with the local elections. what we didn't expect, potentially, was such a big downfall for the tories here in wales. they've done worse, losing all of the gains they made in 2017, losing the majority and the only councils they controlled, monmouthshire in wales. and, actually, now in monmouthshire, for the first time, labour is now the biggest party. that's the first time for labour there. labour, they took back control of two of the councils they lost last time around. they were unable to take the third and they did actually lose one as well, due to a local issue in neath port talbot. some of the other stories of the day yesterday were plaid — they've done from one council to controlling four. however, their overall vote share is down and they've lost six seats. so i think the question for them will be, if they can't take seats and can't hold onto voters in traditional labour heartlands, how will they be able to push forward in the next senedd in the general election? the other story, the lib dems taking ten seats in mid wales and also the greens, for the first time in wales, gaining eight seats across wales — the first time they've had so many in local elections. and in west dunbartonshire we heard from our scotland correspondent, alexandra mackenzie. well, there were gains in scotland for the snp, as you heard there, but also for labour, for the liberal democrats and for the greens. a very different story for the scottish conservatives. here, they lost more than 60 councillors across the country. the snp remains the largest party — there was no surprise there. they had their best ever local election after 15 years in government. now, labour has overtaken the scottish conservatives for second place. so big disappointment there for the scottish conservatives. their leader, douglas ross, he said he believed that public anger over partygate had a part to play in that. he also said today that he was determined to win back trust and votes. it was a good day for scottish labour here in west dunbartonshire. they took overall control, but they are still some way behind the snp. if you'd like to find the result in your area, head to the bbc news website or app — and enter your postcode. you'll also find plenty of election analysis, and the latest reports from our teams around the country. some breaking news. it has come into is in the last few minutes, all women, children and elderly people have been evacuated from the azovstal steel plant in the southern port of mariupol and ukraine, according to ukraine's deputy prime minister. she wrote on the telegram messaging service, the part of the mariupol humanitarian operation is over. you may remember ukraine announced yesterday an evacuation plan from azovstal and other parts of mariupol for today. earlier, russian backed separatists in the durness region said 50 civilians had been evacuated from the steel plant —— donestk. it is worth a minute the operation to rescue to be a strap there began a week ago, coordinated by the united nations and the red cross —— rescue those trapped there. it is not clear how many people are still trapped inside the steelworks, but a glimmer of good news, according to ukraine's deputy prime minister, that all women, children and elderly people have been evacuated from that steel plant. ukraine has said it has recaptured five villages north—east of kharkiv continues a counteroffensive against russian forces. the ukrainian military city could make it impossible for russia to use their artillery on the city. moscow succeeded in making small advances in the eastern donbas region, others have been as costly. the taliban have ordered all women in afghanistan to wear a veil over theirfaces when in public. the taliban claim it's just "advice" but specific punishments have been set out for anyone who doesn't comply. activists have warned that years of progress on women's rights are being rolled back. the last time they were in power, the taliban made women wear the all—encompassing burqa. it was one of the measures most closely associated with their regime. after taking power last august, however, they held off on issuing any new laws on what women should wear — until now, that is. today, they decreed that all women must cover their faces with a veil in public, and they laid out an escalating series of punishments for any woman not complying, beginning with their male relatives being talked to at home. then, if a woman still isn't complying, those male relatives being summoned by taliban officials, then potentially being jailed for three days and taken to court. now, this is a conservative country, and many women already wore a face veil of sorts, but in kabul and other big cities, as you can see from this clothes market, many women cover their hair but not their faces, and women's rights activists, as you can imagine, have reacted to this decree with dismay. they see years of fragile progress on women's rights being rolled back. remember, teenage girls are still not allowed back into the classroom in most of the country. many female employees have been told not to return to their offices. across the world, the majority of muslims don't believe it's a compulsory part of the religion for women to wear a veil over their faces, but here in afghanistan the taliban seem adamant on imposing their interpretation of islam. despite having initially appeared more lenient, their hardline ministry of vice and virtue, which issued this decree today, has grown increasingly active in recent weeks. chelsea have agreed terms on the 4.25 billion pound sale of the club. it'll be sold to a consortium led by todd boehly, co—owner of the la dodgers baseball team. the club was put up for sale before previous owner roman abramovich was sanctioned for his alleged links to russian president vladimir putin. for more, i spoke to nizaar kinsella, chelsea correspondent for news website goal. chelsea just wanted this sort of sale process over. you know, you've got to remember that this has been going on for over two months and, you know, almost represented an existential crisis from when roman abramovich was sanctioned. the club couldn't bring in certain money and revenue. so it was all about getting to this point. and we've got here. and i think that right now, you know, a lot of people around chelsea were just fed up. theyjust wanted it done. and now there's somebody coming in. clearlake capital, the us investors, they can look forward to a new future. well, let's come on to what they might be able to look forward to. but before we do, tell us a little bit more about this man. what do we know about him? yeah. he's he's a big sort of sports administrator. he owns the la dodgers, which is a really successful baseball team in the us. he owns other sports teams as well. he's got a lot of investments through a through a company called eldridge capital. that's his own company. and yeah, he's really into sport. he's been trying to buy a premier league club for a long time. he tried to buy chelsea in 2019. he did his due diligence there. that sort of helps him in this process because he knew what he was getting himself in for. he knew what roman abramovich's chelsea was, and he knew how to win this process. so, you know, by sort of, you know, a sort of twist of fate, he's able to go back to the club, buy the club for 2.5 billion. and, yeah, he wanted to invest in english football and he's got it. you know, the us, a lot of us billionaires are involved in the sport now and he's just the latest one. and i think that what he wants to do is, is something maybe akin to liverpool, you know, go from chelsea, free spending, not very profitable era to still being successful but moving towards a more mature proposition. today is the 15th anniversary of the rotary young citizen award — which celebrates remarkable young people across great britain and ireland who have made an outstanding contribution to their community and taken on important responsibilities at a very young age. this year introduces the first—ever young environmentalist award and the child of courage award honouring two youngsters who are helping make a difference to others despite having to face extreme health problems and difficulties themselves. i spoke to the recipient of the child of courage award, 17—year—old areeb, earlier. yes, it wasjust midnight and i was just going to the bathroom and suddenly ijust collapsed because i couldn't breathe. and as soon as the ambulance had come, they checked my vital signs and my oxygen levels were as low as 47%. and they immediately rushed me to the ambulance, immediately rushed me to the king george's hospital, the local hospital. a few days later, became even worse and i was taken to the royal hospital in cambridge. and you were extremely ill in hospital, weren't you? did you understand just how ill you work? not really. i never thought something like this could happen to me. because half of the time, i was asleep, i had no sense of reality or what was going on around me. it was very frightening. i bet it was. because you had a special treatment, didn't you? which i think it only given as a very last resort, which does give us a sense ofjust how seriously ill you were. well, yes. i was on extra oxygen. and i was on that life support machine twice. gosh. and i know you suffered nerve damage when you were ill, and you had to relearn all sorts of skills, didn't you? tell us what you had to relearn. well, i had to relearn lots of things. i had to learn how to walk, i needed to learn how to talk again, how to eat. and i found it very difficult, especially as soon as i woke up. i felt very paralysed, i couldn't move a muscle. i was in bed unable to do anything, really. gosh, so how long has it taken you to relearn to walk and talk and eat? well, i'm able to do those things now, but walking is still a bit of a difficulty for me. i still find it very difficult, i get very breathless. i'm on the road to recovery. and the point is that you had not been vaccinated for covid, had you? at that point, a vaccination was not being offered to your age group, is that right? yes, the vaccinations weren't available for my age. however, the irony is a few days later, they were. and he really think if you had been vaccinated, and you really think if you had been vaccinated, you would not have had to go through what you have been through? yes, i really do. i do believe the vaccine helps people a lot. i want to know, i hope you don't mind me asking, you finally got better, you finally got home, what was it you were looking forward to? what were the sorts of things that you were keen to do? i was just looking forward to return to my normal life again and doing the things i love, like i love going on long walks. and as of recently, i have been able to do that. as well as travelling. i'm able to do those things now, and doing those things make me so much happier. because now i realise that all of these things are a luxury and not everybody is able to do these things. yeah, i can see in your smile how happy you are. just a final thought, am i right that this is now influenced what you might want to do as a career? yes, it has. even though as a child i was always saying that i wanted to be a doctor when i grow up, i still wasn't 100% sure. but ever since this experience, i feel certain that i want to pursue this career. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich... some places have seen more saturday sunshine than others. quite a lot of cloud across northern and eastern parts of the uk. tonight, areas of cloud likely to drift westwards across england into wales, some of the cloud likely to linger across eastern scotland and at the same time, cloud will roll towards northern ireland and the far west of scotland, a bit of rain here by the end of the night. temperatures for most holding up, relatively mild, quite chilly for some eastern parts of scotland and eastern england. tomorrow, a bit cloudy and murky to start, could hold onto some mist and fog for some western coast, but we will see some good spells of sunshine, small transracial error, and some extra cold into northern ireland, —— temps are struggling for the east coast elsewhere. 18—20 . that will sink further eastwards towards the middle part of the week.