Local elections 2017 Live: Results from across the country

Counting gets underway. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

12.40: More on Labour defeat in Glasgow

The decades-long domination is ended. Our story

12.30: Tory plans changing in the North East?

Ruth Davidson’s party are buoyed by the results so far in the North East of the country, and will be looking ahead to the General Election confident that their message is getting through as they target a number of SNP seats in that area.

The Conservatives have at least one Councillor in every declared war so far in Aberdeenshire, and are represented in all but two of the wards so far in neighbouring Aberdeen City.

12.00: Update - Labour lose control of Glasgow City Council

The biggest news of the day by far - the Labour party’s near 40-year reign at the city chambers looks set to end as initial results show the party now can’t win an overall majority.

11.55: First full council results in

Just like in the Independence Referendum, the counters at Clackmannanshire Council have won the race to be the first to completely declare.

The central Scotland local authority has 18 councillors, and with all the results in it looks like Labour are the big losers of the day.

The SNP stayed static with 8 councillors, Labour lost 3 and now have 5, and the Tories gained 4 seats to finish on 5 councillors too.

The horse-trading will now begin in earnest, with the SNP (who have refused to do any deals with the Tories) relying on Labour support to take control of the administration.

11.30: Tories notch wins in surprising areas

It is already looking like a Conservative surge could be the story of the morning, as Ruth Davidson’s party look set to make gains in some surprising wards.

They topped the poll in Motherwell West and in a stunning result, look to have gained a seat in the previously alien territory of Shettleston in Glasgow’s East End.

11.10: “Rubbish Party” candidate elected

We do love a candidate who offers something a bit different from the usual party politics. Step forward Sally Cogley, who has just won a seat in East Ayrshire representing ‘The Rubbish Party’ which campaigns on ending fly-tipping and cleaning up dog muck.

Ms Cogley, who now represents Irvine Valley, did have one of the better slogans of this campaign: “Vote Sally for a better Valley.”

11.00: Results coming thick and fast

Ward-by-ward results are coming in across the country, and we will do our best to give you an overview of how council control is potentially shaping up - our aim in this blog isn’t to give you each ward as its announced, although we will publish our complete list of results when they are complete.

10.50: SNP v Tory battle heats up in Aberdeenshire

Banff and Buchan has a large SNP majority in the Westminster seat, but the Tories believe they have an outside chance of nicking the seat reckoned to have the highest proportion of Scots backing Brexit.

Aberdeenshire counts will be worth a watch today, then, and the first results from Banff and District show a seat each for the Tories, the SNP, and an Independent.

10.40: Bad morning already for Labour

Some, though not all, local councils in England were up for grabs last night, and the early results show that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party are in for a torrid time.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell was already partly blaming the huge swing to the Conservatives on the negative media coverage of his beleaguered leader, which is a sure fire sign that things are not going well across England and Wales for Mr Corbyn.

Some brighter spots are expected later in the day with mayoral elections in Liverpool and Manchester expected to be hailed by the party as a sign things aren’t all bad.

10.25: All counting now underway

Unlike the overnight counts, there will be little delay this morning as all 32 local authorities have got their counting underway. The SNP are already feeling bullish at the Glasgow count at the Emirates Arena, according to our reporter on the ground there Chris McCall.

10.07: Welcome and background

Voters went to the polls on Thursday to elect 1,227 councillors across the country’s 32 local authorities.

The ballot will determine which political parties can form council administrations either by securing majority or minority control, or by agreeing coalition deals.

The election uses the single transferable vote (STV) system, which asks voters to rank candidates in order of preference, with three or four councillors being elected to serve any one ward.

Counting of the ballots is expected to get under way at around 9am on Friday with the first results expected at about lunchtime.

A fuller picture should emerge by late afternoon, however it could take several days for coalition administrations to be formed.

The local government election took place just five weeks before the General Election, and will provide an indication of support ahead of the Westminster poll.

The SNP is hoping to oust Labour from power in Glasgow City Council - Scotland’s largest local authority - where their rivals have been in charge since the authority was set up more than 20 years ago.

After winning overall control of two of Scotland’s 32 local authorities in 2012, the nationalists are also seeking to increase the number of town halls which are under their command.

The Scottish Conservatives will aim to build on their success at last year’s Holyrood election which saw leader Ruth Davidson win a constituency seat in Edinburgh.

The Tories, who returned one councillor in Glasgow in 2012, will also hope to boost their numbers there after returning two regional MSPs for the city in the 2016 Holyrood poll.

The Liberal Democrats and Greens - who are fielding a record number of candidates in Scotland - are also hoping to make gains.

Meanwhile polls have warned that Labour, which won a majority in four councils five years ago, could be facing ‘’heavy losses.