Look at this, only three seats out of 34, a long way to go. in terms of the first preference vote share, we are looking at the conservatives down 16%. that is a really, really big loss. they won five seats from labour when these seats were last contested, and, funnily enough, it is the green party picking up there, despite the fact that this area is one of the strongest no voting regions of scotland in the 2014 referendum. and the green party is a pro independence party in scotland. still, a long way to go, something of a pattern, in the relatively few council areas we have got. stirling, here we are again, it has been home since 2003, and we currently have 12 seats to get to the winning post, six seats counted. one seat the conservatives have lost, would labour gain, the important thing is the change in vote share. and again, we have 7% down for the conservatives. the winners this time i of the greens, a bettor to the snp, a bit too the labour party, a
Biggest party and very interestingly, they suggest the dup and the cross community alliance party might emerge neck and neck in terms of first preference vote share. more on how the electoral system works later. at the other big story is the protocol, the northern ireland protocol, the post brexit trading arrangements for northern ireland. the dup, which at the last election emerged as the biggest party, is opposed to it, it says it undermines northern ireland s constitutional position within the united kingdom, and it wants to be rid of it. it says it won t go back into a power sharing government if its concerns around the protocol are not addressed. but for ordinary voters, is that the top priority? 0r voters, is that the top priority? or are they more concerned about the cost of living crisis, health, education, things that voters right around the uk are concerned about? that is one of the big questions we will be looking at today. in a moment, i will be talking to bbc