Local elections results as they happened: SNP gains and Lib Dem resurgence as Tories take a bruising
Nicola Sturgeon hailed the seismic result and tweeted: “National/city trends aside, this result is seismic. For years, Pollokshields was the only Tory seat in Glasgow and it seemed we would never take it.”
Elsewhere in the city, leader Susan Aiken was overtaken by the Scottish Greens on first preference votes in the Langside ward.
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Hide AdMeanwhile across Scotland and the UK it was a damaging night for the Conservatives.
Alex Salmond’s Alba party have failed to secure any councillors
Local elections results LIVE: 2022 Scottish council elections as they happened
Blame on Boris?
A number of Conservatives have said that events in Westminster have played a direct impact on the council elections.
John Mallinson, leader of Carlisle City Council which will be replaced by the new Cumberland authority, told the BBC: “I think it is not just partygate, there is the integrity issue.
“Basically I just don’t feel people any longer have the confidence that the Prime Minister can be relied upon to tell the truth.”
In Portsmouth, where the Tories lost four seats, Simon Bosher the leader of the Conservative group said Mr Johnson should “take a good, strong look in the mirror” because “those are people that are actually bearing the brunt on the doorstep of behaviour of what’s been going on in Westminster”.
Ravi Govindia, leader of the Wandsworth Tories, said: “Let’s not be coy about it, of course national issues were part of the dilemma people were facing.”
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A Labour victory in the London borough of Barnet “does not bode well” for the Conservatives for a general election, a local Tory leader has said.
Barnet Conservative leader Daniel Thomas said: “I think this is a warning shot from Conservative supporters and I think our loss today is not only due to the fact that I have just mentioned but also a fair number of Conservative voters who just didn’t go out to vote, stayed at home.”
He added: “Clearly if Labour are to get a majority in Parliament they need to win Barnet. They won the council, if they win our parliamentary constituencies as well, then it doesn’t bode well for us to form a Government in future general elections.”
A look at some of the key results overnight...
Wandsworth is a long-standing Labour target in London and this year the party has finally won power from the Conservatives, who had been in control of the council since 1978 and had prized themselves on charging residents one of the lowest average levels of council tax in the country.
Labour kept its majority in Sunderland and lost just one seat, to the Liberal Democrats, who also gained a second seat from the Conservatives.
Labour also Labour took Southampton and have succeeded in winning control back from the Conservatives, though it has a slim majority on the new council of just four seats.
A Scottish Conservative source predicted “heavy losses” for the Tories in Scotland and insisted “it’s all down to partygate and Boris” reports the BBC.
Hello and good morning. Welcome to our live blog on what could be a significant day in British politics.
It is looking like the Conservatives are set to lose some seats across England as Boris Johnson faces a backlash from local Tory leaders as his party lost a flagship London authority to Labour and suffered setbacks across England.
While Sir Keir Starmer’s party gained ground in the capital by taking the totemic Tory authority in Wandsworth, there was a mixed picture elsewhere with the loss of Hull to the Liberal Democrats but success in the new Cumberland authority.
Council seats are up for grabs in Scotland, Wales and many parts of England, while there are elections to Stormont in Northern Ireland.