Budget and stay in a premier inn . To fall out over those topics and many more, my friday a team tv news legend Nicholas Owen ex bbc radio superstar liz kershaw and the founder of the electoral calculus polling expert martin baxter. So my reaction to todays Political Drama is coming in my friday feeling. But coming in my friday feeling. But first, the News Headlines and sam francis. Sam francis. Mark, thank you very much. Mark, thank you very much. And good evening to you. Its just gone 8 00 and we will start with the latest developments in the local elections. The conservatives have suffered their worst results in decades, conceding hundreds of seats to opposition parties across england. So far, labours gained more than 170 seats and taken control of now eight more councils in england. Sir keir starmer claims those gains are a direct message. He says to the Prime Minister as hes renewed demands for rishi sunak to call a general election. However, the a general election. However, the party failed to win back control of oxford after nine councillors there defected to independent last year over the labour leaders stance on gaza. Well, leaders stance on gaza. Well, the liberal democrats have also made some gains , with party made some gains, with Party Leader Sir Ed Davey pledging to make the conservative government. He says history people from around our great country have had enough of this out of touch conservative government. Government. Theyve had enough of being taken for granted and being let down. Its time for change. Anas sarwar. And across this country , sarwar. And across this country, from cheltenham to dorset, from west oxfordshire to here in winchester, so many people , winchester, so many people, including lifelong conservatives, are switching to the liberal democrats to make that change happen. That change happen. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister insists hes focusing on the job at hand after those disappointing local Election Results for the conservatives. The party have lost control of a number of councils and more than 350 seats across england. However the party have managed to retain tees valley, with ben houchen being re elected there. Rishi sunak has said that that result is evidence that people will stick with the conservatives. Come the general election. Keir starmer came here twice. Rachel reeves came here three times, but even they couldnt dislodge ben and the fantastic conservative team. Right. And they also threw a lot of mud. It needs to be said in this election because they were angry. Angry that ben has delivered more for this region in seven years than labour Party Managed in 30 years. Well, lets take a quick look at those latest council results from across england. As counting continues tonight. If youre watching on television , you can watching on television, you can see there the number of councillors confirmed so far fewer than ten councils out of 107 are still to declare tonight. Some will also follow into tomorrow, including the West Midlands. And the result for midlands. And the result for londons mayor in other news, the family of murdered schoolboy alfie lewis have thanked him for making them smile every day. He was stabbed to death by another schoolboy outside a Primary Schoolboy outside a Primary School in leeds last november. The teenager, who cant be named, was 14 at the time of that attack and hes admitted stabbing alfie with a 13 centimetre long kitchen knife in full view. The court heard of other pupils but he has denied murder. He instead claimed he was scared for his life when he pulled out the weapon, but that was disputed by prosecutors. Was disputed by prosecutors. Lord David Cameron has warned that the world is facing a Tipping Point and the outcome of the war in ukraine, he says, is crucial for western security. Crucial for western security. He, during a visit to ukraine, the foreign secretary said the uk will appoint a new envoy to oversee a plan to ramp up production of weapons. He says kyiv must defeat russia or else europe faces a very dangerous future. The kremlin, though, has accused lord cameron of direct escalation when he said that ukraine could use british weapons to hit targets inside russia. And finally, the latest russia. And finally, the latest from wales, where unions representing workers at tata steel say that talks over plans to shut down blast furnaces. There have broken down community, the gmb and unite say theres disregard for the impact of proposed changes on staff and local communities. It comes as the steel giant wants to switch to a greener way of working, resulting in the potential loss of 2800 jobs. Those are the headunes of 2800 jobs. Those are the headlines from the newsroom. Ill be back at 9 00 with another update. Until then, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the code on your screen, or go to gbnews. Com slash alerts. Now though, its back to. Mark. Back to. Mark. Well, a busy morning for mrs. Starmer, the leader of the oppositions wife, who hit john lewis early to measure up red curtains for number 10. Yes, labour has won control of a string of councils across england and wales. String of councils across england and wales. Among the key england and wales. Among the key council gains, labour took rushmoor in hampshire, which is bluer than a roy chubby brown stand up routine, and a council which the tories have run since mick jagger was a virgin. The mick jagger was a virgin. The real headache for rishi sunak is that six areas that overwhelmingly voted leave in the brexit referendum swung back to labour, including hartlepool, peterborough and thurrock and had labour won blackpool south in the by election with an eye watering 26 swing, normally tory high command quite like middle class swingers, but not today. But it seems that those who voted labour did so without any great enthusiasm. Yes, rishi sunakis any great enthusiasm. Yes, rishi sunak is beginning to look like a species so extinct. David attenborough will make a documentary about him, but replacing sunak with starmer is like replacing your rubbish boyfriend with someone. Even worse, someone with tattoos who rides a motorbike and still lives with his mother. And lives with his mother. And looking behind the headlines. Its not all great news for labour turnout across the board was anemically low. Where is the fervour , the excitement about fervour, the excitement about a Labour Government that we saw in 1997 before the blair landslide and other smaller parties did well, particularly the greens, god help us and the liberal democrats remember them. The other winners were independent candidates, proving that much of the public have had enough of everyone. Forget about tory or laboun everyone. Forget about tory or labour. Just the word politician is a turn off for many. Labour have also been stung by their support for israel following the october 7th attacks. Labour saw support dip in some of its traditional heartland areas, with large muslim populations losing seats in newcastle and overall control in oldham. The overall control in oldham. The british muslim vote is going to be a key electoral factor in the years ahead. And what about reform uk . Well, as predicted, theyve made things worse for theyve made things worse for the tories as election guru sir john curtice points out in the telegraph today. In those areas where reform fielded a candidate, the conservative vote fell more quickly than harry kanein fell more quickly than harry kane in the penalty box. But whilst things look terminal for rishi sunak , let me issue a word rishi sunak, let me issue a word of caution. Turnout was low, which means its all to play for among the dont knows. In fact, among the dont knows. In fact, a dont know Prime Minister leading a dont know government made up of dont know mps would be the most Popular Administration in 100 years. But heres the point governments generally lose by elections , and generally lose by elections, and whilst local elections should be about potholes , Street Lighting about potholes, Street Lighting and bins, they often serve as a chance to give the incumbents a bloody nose. Now, of course, the bloody nose. Now, of course, the tories have suffered more than a bloody nose. But in a few months time, when the country goes to the polls, will support for reform uk fall away and will moderate minded and undecided voters baulk at the idea of listening to sir keir starmer. Wang on for five years. On papen wang on for five years. On paper, the tories face certain defeat at the next election, but the scale of that defeat is yet to be decided. Id never met a to be decided. Id never met a sir keir starmer fan , so why are sir keir starmer fan, so why are the tories standing by and letting him scoop the top prize . Letting him scoop the top prize . Stop the boats, tackle the nhs, sort out that waiting list, turn the economy around and anything is possible. But right now those red curtains are heading straight for number 10. Unless the tories pull themselves together. Tv news legend together. Tv news legend Nicholas Owen, bbc radio superstar liz kershaw and the founder of the electoral calculus, martin baxter, on my friday friends, martin baxter. Whats the headline from todays . I think the headline is that labour have got a very large amount of grudging support. And and that and that earlier and that earlier when and that earlier when you mentioned what drinks labour should be having i think is probably not good enough for champagne, but certainly prosecco. Right. And the conservatives are the worst it could have been tap water. I think they get an upgrade to filtered tap water. Yeah. So its not quite as bad as it could be in for the conservatives. And not quite as good as it been could have been for labour. Yeah, well, the tories have got themselves in hot water with red wine in the past, so best to stick to the tap water or maybe the slimline tonic. The bottom line is that you mentioned people have begrudgingly voted labour in the last 24 hours. I do not feel that this is 1997 and the excitement around tony blair really . Yeah. Yes. I mean, that really . Yeah. Yes. I mean, that could be right in other words, be right. In other words, the popes are catholic. Voters believe themselves in the word so. So do you think if youre rishi sunak sat in your number 10 office tonight, is there a of for hope him . Theres two chinks, i suppose. A lot of his voters havent gone to labour as such. Theyve gone over to reform and the or the apathy party. If he can pull those back, if he can make our people think theres a reason to vote conservative, then then there could be hope. The, the overall the figures from the local elections were not as bad as they could have been. And so there is theres a little bit of hope, or at least that its not a catastrophe coming down the track, but but how does he win back disgruntled conservatives . Because hes been trying for a year and hes not got very far. Nicholas owen well, yes, a lot of tory traditional tory voters probably not voting at all, isnt it . Judging by those figures today, yes. Lots of traditional conservative supporters staying at home. Yeah. And they will vote. They will vote conservative in november, wont they, nicholas . Theyre not going to vote for keir starmer. I would have thought they would vote. This is not to say i dont. I agree entirely that keir starmer is the you know, next pm. Lets get used to that idea, but i its not quite as disastrous for the tories certainly as labour would like to make out as ever. No liz kershaw, labour did well yesterday, but could have done better yesterday. Today. Today. Well, yeah. With the votes yesterday and the results today. Sorry. Yeah, well a couple of things. First of all, as you mentioned, the word kicking , i mentioned, the word kicking, i was brought up in a household where my mum was a councillor for 50 years, and it was just received wisdom that if she was laboun received wisdom that if she was labour, if the tories were in government, youd not win. You government, youd not win. You know, youd lose seats in rochdale and vice versa. So thats the first thing. Secondly, i think only 30 of the boroughs were voting for councillors yesterday. I know we all we could vote for in leafy northamptonshire was a new police and crime commissioner. More on that exciting result last year. Yeah. And, and also people vote, with their hearts in a, in a by election in a local elections like this and by elections perhaps. Yeah. But when it comes to whos going to be in government and they go in the box, you know, the booth and pencil and piece of paper , its pencil and piece of paper, its all about the wallet. Thats its the economy , stupid. And its the economy, stupid. And theyll just people, you know, people be shy tories or whatever. But i think at the end of the day with if inflation is going in the right direction, then and we get a few people on a plane to rwanda agree with it or not, itll be a major symbolic event , then i think symbolic event, then i think that, people will come out. I mean , as you say, more people mean, as you say, more people stayed more conservative, stayed at home yesterday than than voted for reform , than switched voted for reform, than switched to reform. People just decided it wasnt worth it. Ive never seen our village also deserted. Is that right . And by the way, it was a bit ridiculous. Ive lived there 31 years. Its a population of 1200. Past sport, please. And this guy thats known me for 30 odd years studied this passport and then kept i was like, oh, come on, you know why he studied it . Why . Because your mugshot is so beautiful and he couldnt take his eyes off it because nothing beats liz kershaw in a photo booth. Yeah. Yeah. Nicholas. No a couple of results still to come, which are crucial to this whole thing, i think northamptonshire crime commissioner. Who are you getting, inspector clouseau. Thats a very important. But lets say sadiq khan in london. Oh, yeah . How is he going to get on . Thats going to. Oh, and a e street in West Midlands. Andy street. Now there are noises. There are noises that, susan hall is doing better than expected and that khan is under pressure numbers wise. Dont know if thats Wishful Thinking or not. We wont find out till tomorrow. Any clues on that at all . Any clues on that at all . Theres some suggestive turnout figures that turnouts a bit higher in the outer boroughs than the inner boroughs, and the outer boroughs, obviously a bit more ulez worried about sadiq khan, but which, of course, we saw in uxbridge, when the tories hung on to that seat. Yeah, indeed, indeed. But, the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but thats the way to bet. And so id still bet on sadiq khan, but it might bet on sadiq khan, but it might be closer than people think. And ben houchen getting it, that that was a stunner, wasnt it . Was andy street in the West Midlands is more of a, could go either way because hes personally popular there and the gaza muslim voter issue, plays against labour as we saw. Well, this is a new headache for keir starmer, a new electoral constituency that he had taken for granted, which was the british muslim vote. Nicholas yes, thats absolutely that. And it was it was rochdale, i think, isnt it, where oldhams, oldhams, oldham , labours lost oldhams, oldham, labours lost oldhams, oldham, labours lost oldham but kirklees had lost seats in rochdale as well, that is going to be very, very difficult situation for him. I mean one thing, that one, his me, Nicholas Owen is actually the idea of a Labour Government with a very slim majority because i think that would place power in the hands of the likes of diane abbott, potentially, john mcdonnell, richard burgon, rebecca long bailey. Richard burgon, rebecca long bailey. The corbynites long bailey. The corbynites would be sort of the erg times 100 for Labour Government, wouldnt they . Well, i dont know about that. Its also the other view, which im interested to hear what people think, that even with a very, very big majority, that also makes trouble because people think, we can get on, we can have all our plots and its not, you know, we cant were not, you know, we cant were not going to topple the Prime Minister or anything, but we can make life very difficult for him. Trade unions out there expecting to get their dividend from when a Labour Government comes in. All sorts of big sort of outside forces are going to come to bear on keir starmer when hes Prime Minister. Would you agree with that, liz . Well, theres i think the big issue here is we can tinker about with who lost. Theres so many seats in oldham who gained them or whatever happened in seaside. The big thing going on and you you mentioned powerful forces is that our democracy is under attack. Two reasons George Galloway is the most dangerous man in britain. He is harvesting , supports for another nations business. Is using ideology as a weapon, is using race. Im talking very personally because i come from rochdale and hes putting neighbour against neighbour and hes dividing like not not like , you know number 35 not not like, you know number 35 is a tory. I wont speak to her. Its its, its race. And because you think hes leveraging the british muslim he is of course hes and the british muslim vote, which used to be got to labour. I know that from my mums days canvassing or what have you because it the labour Party Represented working people, people who were being exploited in factories or whatever. Now its a different matter because the, because the communities are being whipped up to, invest more in whats going on at the far end of the mediterranean than they are in rochdale. So thats the first thing. And the second one is intimidation of mps. Why is it that 70 . I think around 70 so far . Tory mps are leaving before the next election. Its not because they think, oh, were going to lose. No. You know, people have have faced that forever. Politicians always backed themselves. They are being i went out for a coffee with an mp the other day because i wanted to support something.