English local elections: Labour hold North Tyneside mayoralty; votes counted in Runcorn byelection and council races – UK politics live | Politics
Labour has narrowly held the mayoralty of north Tyneside, less than 500 votes ahead of Reform
Ben Quinn
Labour’s Karen Clark won with 30% of the vote, compared to Reform on 29%, with the Conservatives on 21%.
The result came ahead of increasing jitters that Nigel Farage’s populist right party would pull off one of the surprises of the night in what would be a major steal from Labour.
Nevertheless, Reform’s gains appears to have been largely at the expense of Labour.
Reacting on BBC, Science Minister Peter, said: “A win is a win. We understand these are parts of the country that have real desperate need for change.”
“This is a good result for Labour. It shows that Labour is still in contention in parts of the country where we keep on being told that we are not.”
Key events
The full North Tyneside mayoral result is in: Labour hold
Karen Clark (Lab) 16,230 (30.22%) John Falkenstein (Reform) 15,786 (29.39%) Liam Bones (C) 11,017 (20.51%) Chloe-Louise Reilly (Green) 3,980 (7.41%) John Appleby (LD) 3,453 (6.43%) Cath Davis (Ind) 1,780 (3.31%) Martin Uren (Ind) 1,460 (2.72%) Lab maj 444 (0.83%) Electorate 159,717; Turnout 53,706 (33.63%)
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said there was a “seismic shift” in politics taking place, PA reports.
He told Sky News that Reform was “absolutely smashing it” in Lincolnshire, with Dame Andrea Jenkyns on course to win the regional mayoral race and the party set for “very good” results in the county council contest.
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice during the count at Grimsby Town Hall, Lincolnshire, for the Greater Lincolnshire Mayor election. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA
He said: “There’s no doubt in my mind, I think Andrea Jenkyns has won this race in Greater Lincolnshire for the mayoral and I think we are going to have a very, very good night in terms of the county council.”
Mr Tice said the Runcorn and Helsby by-election was “very, very close, nip-and-tuck, way too close to call”.
He said there was a “seismic shift going on tonight in British politics, where Reform is is taking huge chunks of votes and seats from both the two main parties”.
Josh Halliday
More from Josh Halliday, who is reporting live from Runcorn:
Farage is expected to arrive at the Runcorn and Helsby byelection count imminently. I asked a Reform official whether that means they’ve won, and he replied with a broad grin. Labour figures, meanwhile, are looking pretty grim-faced. There’s still no sign of their candidate.
Local elections 2025: full mayoral and council results for England
Keep an eye on the all the results as they come in with our live update tracker below.
Robyn Vinter
The Doncaster mayoral count has just begun.
A total of 32% of the electorate turned out to vote, which is up from 28% in 2021. Postal vote turnout was 61%.
This could be an upset for Labour, with Ros Jones, the incumbent who has won three mayoral elections, facing a hefty challenge from Reform.
The younger party has a younger candidate in Alex Jones (no relation), an inexperienced politician in his 30s who works as a model and a forex trader.
Whoever wins here is likely to take the full council, votes for which are being counted tomorrow, with the result arriving early evening.
If Reform take Doncaster council, it will be the first time Labour has not been the largest party here since it was established 50 years ago. In a solid red heartland, such a seismic shift would tell Keir Starmer everything he needs to know about how the public think the prime minister and his cabinet is performing.
Josh Halliday
Nigel Farage is believed to be on his way to the Runcorn and Helsby byelection count - perhaps the strongest signal yet that Reform UK expects a narrow victory over Labour. The result would be a huge blow to Sir Keir Starmer in one of the party’s safest seats.
Labour has narrowly held the mayoralty of north Tyneside, less than 500 votes ahead of Reform
Ben Quinn
Labour’s Karen Clark won with 30% of the vote, compared to Reform on 29%, with the Conservatives on 21%.
The result came ahead of increasing jitters that Nigel Farage’s populist right party would pull off one of the surprises of the night in what would be a major steal from Labour.
Nevertheless, Reform’s gains appears to have been largely at the expense of Labour.
Reacting on BBC, Science Minister Peter, said: “A win is a win. We understand these are parts of the country that have real desperate need for change.”
“This is a good result for Labour. It shows that Labour is still in contention in parts of the country where we keep on being told that we are not.”
Josh Halliday
We think a result might be fairly close in the closely watched seat of Runcorn and also in Helsby. “It’s very close,” says a Reform UK official, although they definitely look the happier of any of the contenders right now.
Candidates have just been summoned to examine some of the spoiled ballots - those which haven’t been counted as a valid vote - and one observer notes: “I’ve seen more drawings of penises than I’ve ever seen in my life”. Another said there was a lot of “four letter words” directed at the parties.
Ben Quinn
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice says he has ‘no doubt’ his party’s candidate has ‘convincingly won’ one of the biggest prizes of the night - the mayoralty of the newly created Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority.
Reform’s candidate, Andrea Jenkyns, has yet to arrive at the count centre here in the town of Grimsby.
He was much less bullish about the Runcorn by-election, saying he was “hearing some encouraging things.”
To be clear, we don’t yet have results from Greater Lincolnshire or Runcorn.
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Hertfordshire County results:
Votes for six of Hertfordshire County Council’s 78 seats were counted overnight by Broxbourne Borough Council, which traditionally is one of the earliest to announce general election results.
Conservatives won four of the seats and Reform UK the other two, on a turnout of 27.64%. The full results for Hertfordshire are not expected until late on Friday afternoon.
The Conservatives previously controlled the council with 43 seats.
