Mayoral election results: Labour win in London and West Midlands — as it happened

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Labour's Sadiq Khan comfortably won a historic third term as mayor of London. Labour also claimed victory in the West Midlands, where the Conservatives' Andy Street lost a knife-edge mayoral race to Richard Parker.

Sir Keir Starmer celebrates with Richard Parker, the newly elected mayor of West Midlands

JACOB KING/PA

Starmer: 'We want to serve our country'

Activists met Starmer with enthusiasm despite many having been there for more than 12 hours

JACOB KING/PA

Addressing dozens of enthusiastic Labour activists at the ICC in Birmingham, Sir Keir Starmer said: "What a way to the local elections in 2024, a general election year." (Hannah Al-Othman writes)

"We started in Blackpool with a 26 per cent swing, and we've ended in the West Midlands, with Richard Parker as our new West Midlands mayor, and plenty in between, of mayoralties and councils, and of course our police and crime commissioners."

No doubt aware that his position on the Israel-Hamas war had cost him up to tens of thousands of votes here, he addressed those who "may have voted Labour in the past, but felt that on this occasion that they couldn't, that across the West Midlands we are a proud and diverse community, and I've heard you, I've listened and I'm determined to meet your concerns, and gain your respect and trust again in the future".

Despite the fact that many activists have been at the ICC for more than 12 hours, there was still a lot of energy in the room for Starmer's speech.

"This is a very good set of result for us. It's evidence of the progress that we're making towards our goal, which is to win an election, not for ourselves, not for the Labour Party, but to have the opportunity to serve our country," he told The Sunday Times.

Sunak: 'Labour do not have a plan'

We will continue to take the fight to Labour, said Sunak

STEFAN ROUSSEAU/PA

Rishi Sunak has responded to the West Midlands result.

The prime minister said: "After a tough few years in the aftermath of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, we as a nation are turning a corner. Our plan is working with inflation more than halved, tax cuts worth an average of £900 hitting people's pockets, state pensions protected with our triple lock, our Rwanda bill signed into law, allowing us to start detaining illegal migrants ready for the first flights, legal migration down and defence spending boosted. We Conservatives understand the priorities of the British people and are delivering on them.

"It's been disappointing of course to lose dedicated Conservative councillors and Andy Street in the West Midlands, with his track record of providing great public services and attracting significant investment to the area, but that has redoubled my resolve to continue to make progress on our plan. So we will continue working as hard as ever to take the fight to Labour and deliver a brighter future for our country. It is as clear that Labour just don't have a plan. They have no plan to defend our nation, no plan to stop the boats and no plan to grow the economy. They are a soft touch and would take us back to square one.

"So by sticking to the plan we will secure our borders, grow the economy and create opportunities so everyone in this great country can thrive and prosper."

'I wish him strength and wisdom'

Andy Street said it had been his honour to serve the region

JACOB KING/PA

Andy Street thanked his fellow candidates for conducting a "courteous campaign", before congratulating his successor.

He said: "I wish him all strength and wisdom in the role … Sorry we couldn't make that hat-trick.

"It has of course been my honour to serve and to lead this place for the last seven years, I hope I've done it with dignity and integrity, and I hope I've bequeathed to Richard a combined authority and indeed a role which young aspiring leaders will want to aspire one day."

'Most important thing I will ever do'

Richard Parker promised to deliver jobs and fix the transport system

JACOB KING/PA

Richard Parker began his victory speech by thanking Andy Street for leading the region "through a number of great challenges" and for turning the authority "into the powerhouse it is today".

He added: "We have best interests of the West Midlands at heart".

Parker said that serving as mayor will be the "most important thing I will ever do".

"You have put your trust in me and I will repay that trust. I will deliver for you and your family."

"I promise you that I will deliver jobs. We will fix our public transport system, we will build the homes you need and we will give this region the fresh start it richly deserves."

He also pledged to "stand up for all of our councils in the face of unprecedented Tory cuts".

Richard Parker named mayor of West Midlands

Richard Parker has officially won the West Midlands mayoral race for Labour by 1,508 votes.

The final results from Sandwell were:

Labour — 31,561

Conservatives — 18,598

And the final results in the West Midlands were:

Andy Street (Conservatives) — 224,082

Richard Parker (Labour) — 225,590

Reeves congratulates Parker

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has congratulated Richard Parker on his "amazing victory" on Twiter/X — a further sign of Labour's confidence.

She posted a picture of the two of them and said he ran "an incredible campaign", signing off with: "The West Midlands has voted for change."

Labour claim win in West Midlands

Richard Parker is the Labour candidate

ANTHONY DEVLIN/GETTY IMAGES

Tory and Labour sources say Andy Street has lost the West Midlands mayoral election. The formal declaration is expected shortly after 8pm. The margin could be as little as 500 votes, it understood.

Richard Parker, the Labour candidate, and his supporters are gathering in front of the podium in the ICC as they await the official result. The mood among Labour activists is jubilant.

After a recount, Labour has won Coventry by almost 10,000 votes. In 2021, they were only 1.4 per cent ahead of the Conservatives there.

Labour won 32,704 votes, with Street picking up 23,237.

This could go right down to the wire. We've only Sandwell left to declare — where Labour won by 7.4 per cent last time, and where they did well in Thursday's local elections.

Of the 24 seats up for election, 22 were won by the Labour Party, and only one was won by the Conservative Party.

However, with 13.4 per cent of the population Muslim, the Birmingham result could be replicated and the independent pro-Palestinian candidate, Akhmed Yakoob, could also pick up votes in Sandwell.

Tensions high as West Midlands result draws near

With Andy Street almost 21,000 votes ahead and the two most marginal councils still to declare, the atmosphere inside the ICC is incredibly tense.

Labour, who were feeling confident initially, are reticent to make predictions, while the Conservatives also say they don't know which way it will go.

With a result expected imminently in Coventry — following a recount and almost eight hours after counting started — several miles away in Birmingham, everyone is waiting anxiously for a result.

Count Binface finds silver lining

Count Binface celebrates his small victory

LEON NEAL/GETTY IMAGES

Count Binface, a London mayoral candidate, had reason to be cheerful after discovering he had beaten Britain First's Nick Scanlon.

The satirical politician's manifesto included pledges to: reintroduce Ceefax, the teletext service, to all homes within the M25; have Claudia Winkleman's fringe become grade I listed; make Thames Water bosses take a dip in the river; rename London Bridge after Phoebe Waller-Bridge; and build at least one affordable house.

He said: "It looks like I have defeated Britain First in an election. Come on, you have to cheer about that … down with fascism, up with Ceefax, what can I say?"

Pro-Palestinian candidate wins 20 per cent in Birmingham

Akhmed Yakoob was beaten in Birmingham by Richard Parker and Andy Street

ANTHONY DEVLIN/GETTY IMAGES

In Birmingham, which at the last census had a 29.9 per cent Muslim population, Labour candidate Richard Parker won a 37.1 per cent share of the vote, down from the 48.2 per cent of first preference votes won by Labour's Liam Byrne in 2021 (Hannah Al-Othman writes).

Street's vote share was also down, slipping to 30.6 per cent from 39.9 per cent.

Sir Keir Stamer's response to the Gaza situation appears to have cost his party votes here, with independent pro-Palestinian candidate Akhmed Yakoob picking up almost 20 per cent of the votes in Birmingham.

Meanwhile, Andy Street has won in Dudley and Walsall, but with a reduced share of the vote compared to 2021.

Khan: 'It is the honour of my life to serve London'

Sadiq Khan opened his victory speech, saying: "Thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank you London."

"It's the honour of my life to serve the city that I love and I'm beyond humbled right now."

He promised "to repay the trust you've placed in me" and deliver a "fairer, safer and greener" city.

Khan described facing "non-stop negativity" during his campaign, and says he has "answered fear-mongering with facts".

He concluded, saying: "Our brightest days are still ahead of us."

Khan booed during victory speech

Nick Scanlon, a Britain First candidate, heckled Khan

TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS

Moments after Sadiq Khan's victory was confirmed, the mayor was loudly booed from the back of the Excel Centre.

Khan said: "Thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank you London." At that point, a man walked on to the stage and chanted "Khan killed London".

Jeers also came from the far-right Britain First party. As they left the building, one of them turned back and declared Khan a "scumbag". The mayor resumed his speech and said: "Its been a difficult few months. We faced a campaign of non-stop negativity."

These tensions have been evident throughout the race, which Khan won by 1,088,225 votes, a majority of 276,707. He said his campaign has "answered fear-mongering with facts".

After thanking his wife and daughters, Khan gestured towards a future national Labour party "ready to govern again under Keir Starmer".

Coventry recount delays West Midlands result

The West Midlands mayoral result will be delayed for at least two hours, to allow for a full recount in Coventry. Bundle checks have been carried out across the region (Hannah Al-Othman writes).

Labour sources said that in most places, checks turned up either no discrepancies, or extra votes for Labour. However, in Coventry, there was cause for a recount.

But Labour remain buoyant, with one source describing the Conservatives as "desperate", and saying they are confident that Richard Parker will win.

Jess Phillips, the Birmingham Yardley Labour MP who has been at the ICC since this morning, also said that things are looking optimistic for Richard Parker, saying: "It's not the Labour Party who has asked for the bundle recount."

"I feel better than I did at the beginning of the day," she said. "The swings towards Labour and the results that we have do gives us reasons to be cheerful."

She said that while the results are positive for Labour overall, she added: "today it's not about the general election, it's about my area."

Final councils of the day announced

Stroud and North Tyneside are the final councils to declare results today. North Tyneside was expected to be an easy hold for Labour and so it proved, with the party retaining its 51 seats. In Stroud there was more bad news for the Conservatives, they won 20 councillors here at the last election but that has been cut to seven.

The Greens picked up nine extra councillors and are the single biggest group on the council with 22, though they have missed out on an overall majority, with Labour winning 20 seats.

The only council left to declare is Salford and that will not be until tomorrow.

Mayor's winning streak stretches back to school days

In the end the pollsters were right, the rumours were wrong, and Sadiq Khan became the Mayor of London for the third time. The Excel centre is waiting for the mayor to appear and take a victory lap (Will Lloyd writes).

Khan likes to say that he's never lost an election, a run that stretches back to standing to be a school class rep in Tooting, south London, when he was 11 years old. He's extended that run again, beating Susan Hall by eleven points and increasing his majority since 2021.

"Time to move to a village." That was the glum verdict I overheard in the City Hall canteen when it became clear that Khan had won. You might be able to guess that the words were coming out of the mouth of a man wearing a Reform Party rosette.

Labour win in Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton has declared in the West Midlands mayoral race, the second local authority to do so (Hannah Al-Othman writes from the ICC, Birmingham).

Labour's Richard Parker came top with 26,442 votes, with Andy Street, who was victorious in Wolverhampton in 2021, behind him with 18,582 votes. We are being told that bundle checks may still be ongoing in the West Midlands, in which a sample of ballot papers are checked to see whether there are any discrepancies.

Khan received 44 per cent of vote

Sadiq Khan has been re-elected as mayor of London, winning 44 per cent of the vote (Venetia Menzies writes). The Conservative candidate, Susan Hall, was 11 percentage points behind at 33 per cent.

In 2021, Khan received 40 per cent of first round votes and 55 per cent of second round votes. In this year's election, voters were only able to select one candidate.

Tories nervous in West Midlands

Labour sources have suggested the Conservatives have requested a recount in the white-knuckle West Midlands mayoral race, suggesting Andy Street may be facing defeat (Hannah Al-Othman writes from the ICC, Birmingham).

Victory declared for Khan

Labour's Sadiq Khan has officially secured a third term as mayor of London.

He secured 44 per cent of the overall vote, with Susan Hall receiving 33 per cent (Venetia Menzies writes).

Khan wins City and East as well as Barnet and Camden

London mayoral results for the City and East constituency have been announced, with Sadiq Khan winning 56 per cent of the vote (Venetia Menzies writes).

This is an 8 percentage point gain in comparison with his 2021 vote share. Hall came in second place with 20 per cent.

Khan has also won Barnet and Camden, with 43 per cent of the vote.

Conservative candidate Susan Hall won her fourth constituency, taking 42 per cent of the vote in Croydon and Sutton. Only two constituencies remain to be declared.

Burnham: I will take a place-first approach

In his victory speech, Andy Burnham said he knew voters who usually support other parties had backed him in this election, and "in return I will always respect that and I will continue to adopt a place-first rather than party-first approach, which is the foundation of Greater Manchester's success".

He added that he would take the result as an "instruction to complete the building of a public transport system that befits a city region of our stature".

"And I will do it within this new mayoral term, uniting bike, bus, tram and train in a single integrated system," he said.

Recounts requested in West Midlands

The West Midlands race is looking very close. Agents in five out of the seven local authorities — all except Birmingham and Dudley — asked for bundle checks. Short of a full recount, this is where piles of votes are counted again, to check that no bundles have been missed (Hannah Al-Othman writes from the ICC, Birmingham).

These have been concluded, but it has delayed the results. We were expecting a declaration around 3.30pm, but this is going to come later.

Andy Street's share of the vote dropped by 5.4 per cent in Solihull, the borough where the Conservative candidate saw his best performance last time. We are soon expecting a result from Birmingham, which was Labour's biggest stronghold in 2021.

Khan unimpeded by Ulez controversy

The ultra low emission zone has turned out to be the great red herring of this race. Many expected Ulez to be a major problem for Sadiq Khan after he controversially expanded the zone last summer (Will Lloyd writes from the Excel, London).

Senior Labour figures, including Sir Keir Starmer, refused to say whether they thought Khan had been right to expand Ulez. Relations between Starmer and Khan were tricky, particularly after the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election. Labour narrowly lost that contest, with Starmer saying there was "no doubt" that Ulez was to blame.

The blame game is definitely over now, with Khan set to triumph over Susan Hall. "Last summer was difficult," said a spokesman for Khan. But relations have improved. The mayor's campaign team is a hybrid mixture of Labour HQ staffers and Khan's people.

A Labour source credited Sue Gray, Starmer's chief of staff, with bringing the two men back together again. "There is a growing recognition that some divergence between Starmer and Khan is OK." The Ulez row seems like a distant memory at this point.

Lib Dem councillors outnumber Tories

The Liberal Democrats have won more council seats overall than the Conservatives in the local elections, Professor Sir John Curtice said.

The elections expert told the BBC: "The Liberal Democrats now have 520 councillors and the Conservatives have 508. It is now clear to us with just the one council to go that the Liberal Democrats will end up having won more council seats than the Conservatives in these local elections.

"This is a simple headline way of underlining the way in which the results of those local elections have indeed been extremely disappointing for the Conservatives."

However, Curtice pointed out that this "probably says more about the problems that the Conservative Party faces rather than the Liberal Democrats having done particularly well".

Labour holds West Yorkshire mayoralty

Labour's Tracy Brabin has been re-elected as Mayor of West Yorkshire with 275,430 votes.

She became the first West Yorkshire mayor in 2021, having been elected as MP for Batley and Spen in 2016 after the murder of Jo Cox.

Hall wins two more constituencies

Susan Hall has won her second and third constituencies in the London mayoral elections (Venetia Menzies writes). She won 42 per cent of the vote in Brent and Harrow, with Sadiq Khan following in second place with 37 per cent.

She also won 39 per cent of the vote in Ealing and Hillingdon. Khan was close behind with 38 per cent of the vote.

Lack of Tory HQ support for Hall 'shocking'

"It was always a tall order" a City Hall Conservative said as the London mayoral election appears to slip away from Susan Hall (Will Lloyd writes).

The party source blamed "local activists" for hyping up her changes of victory last night, amidst a bleak national picture for the Conservatives. "The overall situation is infighting in the party — on the doorstep everywhere people say they've had enough."

One ex-cabinet minister laid the blame for Hall's likely defeat squarely at No 10. "The lack of support she'd had from day one is just shocking", they said.

Earlier, the prime minister's team admitted that he did not vote for Hall in London.

Burnham re-elected in Greater Manchester

Andy Burnham won 63 per cent of the vote

PETER BYRNE/PA

Andy Burnham, the Labour candidate, has won another term as Greater Manchester mayor with more than 420,000 votes (Venetia Menzies writes).

This equates to 63 per cent of the vote, with Conservative candidate Laura Evans trailing 53 percentage points behind with 10 per cent of the vote.

Burnham's vote share is down 4 percentage points in comparison with his winning vote share in 2021.

West Midlands race could go either way

Professor John Curtice confirmed that the West Midlands mayoral race really could go either way. The polling expert told the BBC: "In the West Midlands mayoral race, results in Solihull have been declared.

"They show a 5 per cent swing from Conservative to Labour. Labour need a 4.5 per cent swing to win the mayoralty.

"The early intelligence that this contest is too close to call is, on this evidence, correct."

Labour strengthen grip on Warrington council

While the focus is on the mayoral races in the capital and the West Midlands, there are still a handful of councils to declare their results.

One of those is Warrington, where Labour has increased its majority after six new councillors were elected. The number of Conservative councillors fell from 11 to one. The Liberal Democrats picked up four new councillors.

Labour appears to close gap in Solihull

In Solihull, Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street received 35,289 votes, while the Labour candidate, Richard Parker, won 11,728 votes (Hannah Al-Othman writes).

At first glance, the gap between Labour and Tory in this Conservative stronghold appears to have narrowed — Street won 67.6 per cent of first preference votes here in 2021, and Labour won 15.4 per cent.

Solihull is where Street saw his most convincing result when he was last elected. There are six local authorities still to declare, and the race still looks like it may be too close to call.

London voters formed a 'progressive alliance'

A win for Sadiq Khan in London is what Labour are briefing. "It looks like it's possible that Sadiq has done better than anyone could have expected", said a source (Will Lloyd writes).

Under the new first-past-the-post voting system, painting Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate, as a dangerous "hard-right" politician was part of the strategy. Would left-wing Greens and Liberal Democrat voters let their city fall into the hands of Hall? The answer seems to be no.

"Voters are getting savvy" pollster Luke Tryl said. In London they appear to have formed an organic "progressive alliance" to keep Hall out.

Counting for Havering and Redbridge continues

PETER NICHOLLS/GETTY

Susan Hall has won her first constituency, with seven areas now having declared results (Venetia Menzies writes).

Hall won the outer London constituency of Bexley and Bromley with 54.5 per cent of the vote, a 0.1 percentage point drop in comparison with the Conservatives' 2021 vote share.

Sadiq Khan came in second place with 24 per cent of the vote, a 0.1 percentage point rise versus 2021.

The result leaves Khan's lead in the contest at just over 172,000 votes and a Labour victory looks assured.

Khan has won Enfield and Haringey with 50 per cent of the vote, up four percentage points in comparison with 2021. Hall came in second at 25 per cent.

Ulez row 'not a big factor' in London vote

Professor Sir John Curtice said it appeared the controversial expansion of the Ulez scheme was not having a major impact on the vote in London.

"The South West London result is the first declaration from an outer London constituency," the polling expert said.

"It is a constituency in which the Conservatives were ahead last time but Labour have won this time. It looks as though outer London is swinging to Labour in much the same way as inner London, and that the Ulez row is not going to have a significant impact on the result of the mayoral election."

Swings to Labour 'across London'

Party political party agents oversee the categorisation of disputed ballots at the ExCel Centre in London

LEON NEAL/GETTY

Judging by the wide grins on their faces as they walk around City Hall, Sadiq Khan's team increasingly believe that he has secured a historic third term over the Conservative candidate Susan Hall (Will Lloyd writes).

Khan won 83,792 votes in Greenwich and Lewisham with Hall on 36,822 and Zoe Garbett of the Greens third with 11,209. In Merton and Wandsworth Khan won 84,725 votes and Hall 50,976, with Lib Dem Rob Blackie in third place with 13,153 votes.

Both constituencies saw the Green vote fall compared to the last contest in 2021. Squeezing their vote and that of the Lib Dems was exactly what Khan's team hoped he would do. A Labour source said that it looks like there have been swings towards the mayor and Labour across the city.

Five out of five wins for Khan so far

Sadiq Khan has won all five of the London constituencies which have so far announced mayoral election results (Venetia Menzies writes).

In the North East, he has secured 61 per cent of the vote, up nine percentage points in comparison with the 2021 vote share. Hall came in second with 16 per cent of the vote.

In West Central, Khan won 43 per cent, with Hall coming in second at 35 per cent.

Khan has also won the South West constituency, receiving 37 per cent of the vote, with Hall behind at 33 per cent.

Khan takes North East London

In another result from the 14 constituencies in London's mayoral race, Sadiq Khan has held the North East area of the capital. The swing to Labour from the Conservatives was 6.9 per cent.

Khan received 127,455 votes — or 61.7 per cent — while Conservative Susan Hall received 34,099, or 16.5 per cent.

Labour increasingly confident of victory

Labour sources are increasingly confident that Sadiq Khan has won a historic third term as London mayor.

Results already declared from across the capital suggest there has been a 5.7 per cent swing to Labour.

Party sources say it is possible that Khan has done better than anyone could have expected.

If Khan beats the Tories by more than 4.7 per cent he will have not only won a third term, but increased his lead from his second term.

Khan wins two more London areas

In West Central London, Khan has secured 43 per cent of the vote, with Susan Hall on 35 per cent. In South West London, the mayor received 61 per cent against just 16 per cent for his Conservative rival.

Labour says West Midlands race still too close to call

Andy Street arrives at the ICC in Birmingham

ANTHONY DEVLIN/GETTY

Labour supporters say that they think the West Midlands mayoral contest is on a knife edge, with the result too close to call. The Conservative incumbent, Andy Street, who is running for a third term, has arrived at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, but is not on the counting floor.

Overall turnout in the mayoral election was 29.81 per cent, down slightly from 31 per cent in 2021. It was lowest in Birmingham, at 28.47 percent, although there were no local council elections in the city.

Labour's candidate, Richard Parker, has just arrived at the count. The pro-Palestinian independent, Akhmed Yakoob, whom Labour will be concerned about losing support to over Gaza, has also arrived at the ICC.

Call a general election, mayor tells prime minister

Steve Rotheram has been re-elected in Liverpool

@METROMAYORSTEVE

Steve Rotheram has accused Rishi Sunak of "squatting in Downing Street".

The re-elected mayor of the Liverpool City Region said: "The prime minister is squatting in Downing Street and I say, come out and face the voters, Mr Sunak, call a general election, we're ready when you are, but whilst we're waiting our work will continue unabated."

He added: "This result isn't just a rejection of the Tories, voters in our city region aren't easily kidded, it's a ringing endorsement of what we're doing locally too, and they weren't hoodwinked by pie-in-the sky populist pledges.

"It's no less dishonest, you know, to promise to deliver undeliverable things locally than it is to advertise to £350 million a week for our NHS on the side bus if we left the EU.

"It appears that for some, mud slinging and smear tactics are still the weapon of choice in the armoury of the deceitful and desperate."

Labour mayor re-elected in South Yorkshire

Oliver Coppard romped to victory

REX

Oliver Coppard has been re-elected as mayor of South Yorkshire, securing 50 per cent of the vote, a seven percentage point rise in comparison with his vote share in 2022 (Venetia Menzies writes).

The Conservative candidate, Nick Allen, received 16 per cent of the vote, a one percentage point fall from his 2022 result.

Turnout was 27.6 per cent, 1.2 percentage points higher than in 2022.

Khan secures big wins in first areas to declare

Khan appears on track for victory

THOMAS BOWLES PHOTOGRAPHY

Results have been announced for the mayoral elections in two London constituencies, suggesting Khan is on track to hold his position (Venetia Menzies writes).

He won 52 per cent of the vote in Greenwich and Lewisham, despite this being an area divided over his decision to expand the Ulez scheme last summer. Conservative candidate Susan Hall trailed on 23 per cent, with the Green candidate, Zoe Garbett, in third with 7 per cent of the vote.

In Merton and Wandsworth, Khan secured 48 per cent of the vote. Hall received 29 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats' Rob Blackie in third place on 7 per cent.

Steve Rotheram re-elected as Liverpool mayor

Steve Rotheram has been re-elected as mayor of Liverpool City Region, with 71 per cent of the vote (Venetia Menzies writes). This is 13 percentage points higher than his vote share in the 2021 election.

The Conservative candidate Jade Marsden trailed in fourth place, with just 4 per cent of the vote, 16 percentage points less than her vote share in 2021.

The Green party candidate came in second place at 10.4 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats close behind at 10 per cent.

Steve Rotheram posted on Twitter/X: "Thanks to the people of the Liverpool City Region for putting your faith in me once again. I promise I won't let you down. We're taking back our future."

Labour and Tories both predict Khan has won

Counting is underway in the Excel Centre in east London

THOMAS BOWLES PHOTOGRAPHY

Both parties believe Sadiq Khan has squeaked through and is on course to win a historic third term as the mayor of London.

Labour's London team is looking "confident" at the counts, according to sources.

Figures close to Susan Hall told reporters on Friday that there was a chance of the Tory candidate being crowned the winner when the results are announced in the next few hours.

However, there has been a shift in the wake of the turnout results being published, showing that it was not as low had been initially feared in Labour circles.

Counting well under way in West Midlands

Votes are counted in Birmingham for the West Midlands mayoral election

GETTY

Voting is well underway here at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham in the West Midlands mayoral race, with a result expected about 3.30pm (Hannah Al-Othman writes).

The result in the police and crime commissioner election is expected up to an hour before that, which is a straight two-horse race between Labour and the Tories, unlike the mayoral election, which has six candidates.

Activists from both parties seem quite buoyant this morning — Labour no doubt heartened by some strong local election results, while the Conservatives will be hoping to replicate their success in Tees Valley, where the incumbent Tory mayor managed to hold on, despite the national swing.

Tories don't deserve to be in power, says Starmer

The Conservatives no longer deserve to be in power, Sir Keir Starmer said, as he celebrated a Labour mayoral victory in the East Midlands.

Speaking in Mansfield alongside the new Labour mayor, Claire Ward, the Labour leader said: "I think the message here is very, very clear, and I think across the East Midlands there has been a sending of that message to the government, which is we are fed up with your division, with your chaos, with your failure.

"Fourteen years, and I am sorry, I don't care which political party you support, if you leave your country in a worse state then when you found it."

• 'He owns this now': Tory rebels lay down their arms

Why does counting in London take so long?

Sadiq Khan and his wife Saadiya voting on Thursday

REX

Londoners may be wondering why the Mayoral count takes so long in the capital, when polling stations closed on Thursday night.

This is partly explained by the sheer size of the city, with more than 3,600 polling stations across Greater London. Ballot boxes are then transported to 14 counting centres where thousands of staff begin the process of verifying that the number of votes received accords with the number recorded by individual polling stations.

The verification was carried out on Friday. The count of the actual vote allocation started on Saturday at 9am. In the past machines were used, but it was decided a manual count would be carried out this year, partly to minimise the risk of the process being hacked, and partly because there had also been the prospect of a general election being held on May 2, and having two counting methods could have led to delays.

Results are expected from midday, with a clear winner expected to emerge by 1.30pm.

Tory infighting 'risks losing party the general election'

Tobias Ellwood deplored anonymous Tory briefings

ISABEL INFANTES/AFP

The former defence minister, Tobias Ellwood, blamed anonymous briefings for sowing division within the Conservative Party as MPs awaited the full local election results.

"It not only damages our election prospects but also individual prospects for MPs as well," he told Times Radio.

"Let's recognise where we are: discord and dismay and ill-discipline doesn't win us votes. It doesn't appeal to the general electorate. If we continue backbiting, we lose the election from within, not because of anything that is happening from an economy or policy perspective."

Who is Susan Hall? The Tory candidate who is taking the fight to Sadiq Khan

Susan Hill has managed to close the gap on Sadiq Khan

PETER NICHOLLS/GETTY IMAGES

A self-confessed "bruiser" who has worked in a mechanic's garage and a beauty salon, just who is Susan Hall, the 68-year-old who has emerged as a genuine threat to Sadiq Khan's bid for a historic third term?

Charlotte Ivers spent some time with the Conservative candidate to find out.

• Meet Susan Hall, the Tory mayoral candidate who is taking the fight to Sadiq Khan

How difference in turnout across capital threatens Khan

The variation in voter turnout across London constituencies for the mayoral election has left the Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan in a more uncertain place than polls had previously suggested (Venetia Menzies writes).

Across the city, voter turnout was 40.5 per cent, 1.5 percentage points lower than last year. But high voter turnout in outer London, where Conservatives had a higher vote share in the 2021 elections, will benefit their candidate Susan Hall's chances of unseating Khan.

Turnout was highest in Bexley and Bromley, at 48.4 per cent. In the 2021 election, the Conservatives secured 55 per cent of the vote in this constituency, 31 percentage points ahead of Labour's 24 per cent share.

However in the inner London constituency of City and East, which includes Barking and Dagenham, City of London, Newham, Tower Hamlets, turnout this year was only 31.2 per cent, the lowest in London. Labour had a 20 percentage point lead on the Conservatives in this constituency at the last election.

Johnson attempted to use magazine as ID

Boris Johnson jogging near his home in Oxfordshire

LEON NEAL/GETTY IMAGES

Boris Johnson has thanked three villagers who turned him away from a polling station on Thursday for attempting to vote without valid ID.

Johnson said he attempted to use a copy of Prospect magazine as a form of identification, but was turned away by local electoral officials.

The former prime minister wrote in the Daily Mail: "I want to pay a particular tribute to the three villagers who on Thursday rightly turned me away when I appeared in the polling station with nothing to prove my identity except the sleeve of my copy of Prospect magazine, on which my name and address had been printed.

"I showed it to them and they looked very dubious … within minutes I was back with my driving licence and voted Tory."

The requirement to provide photo ID was introduced by Johnson as part of the Elections Act 2022.

Tactical voting threatens further Tory pain in general election

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer with newly-elected East Midlands mayor Claire Ward on Saturday

PA

The Conservatives are on track to lose 500 seats in the local elections — and tactical voting means there could be more pain to come at the general election, says the polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice.

Projected national figures show that, if there had been local elections in every seat, the Conservatives would have ended up with only 25 per cent of the vote, nine points behind Labour.

Downing Street will be hoping for good news today from the West Midlands, but the local elections affirm the consistent message of opinion polls: that Rishi Sunak has failed to make significant progress in his quest to narrow Labour's lead.

• John Curtice: Tories in a desperate search for the silver lining

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Local election results so far demonstrate Rishi Sunak has "very little to show" for his efforts to rebuild the Conservative brand following Liz Truss's premiership, Sir John Curtice said.

The election expert told the BBC: "There is nothing in these results to suggest contrary to the opinion polls that the Conservatives are actually beginning to narrow the gap on Labour, and that so far at least, Rishi Sunak's project which has tried to recover from the disaster — from the Conservatives' point of view — of the Liz Truss fiscal event, that project has still got very little to show for it.

"That in a sense is the big takeaway.

"Now the Conservatives, as when all parties do badly in elections, they always want you to focus on the exception rather than the rule, and Tees Valley and probably the West Midlands are the exceptions not the rule."

Downbeat Khan battles view that London 'life is getting worse'

Sadiq Khan cuts a sadder figure than he did in the post-Brexit period, when he was as much a national spokesperson for remainers as he was a London mayor (Will Loyd writes).

Khan's sadness is mirrored by the city at large. Polling by Lord Ashcroft at the end of 2023 showed "a very widespread view that life in the capital had got worse overall in recent years".

Large majorities of Londoners said that crime, traffic congestion, housing availability and the cost of everyday living were all getting worse. Do London's voters hold Khan responsible?

That ought to have been the terrain that this vote was fought over. Instead, the contest has been defined by a series of increasingly ugly clashes between Khan and Labour and Susan Hall, a former leader of Harrow Council, and the Conservative Party candidate.

The expansion of Ulez has proved highly divisive in outer London

ALAMY

Houchen's victory provides chink of light for beleaguered Sunak

The prime minister hailed Ben Houchen's victory despite a big swing away from the Tories

MOLLY DARLINGTON/REUTERS

While yesterday was a difficult day for Rishi Sunak, some relief will have come from the fact that the Conservatives managed to hold on in Tees Valley — a key general election battleground where Labour had been fighting a hard campaign (Hannah Al-Othman writes).

However, the result came amid accusations that incumbent Ben Houchen had won by effectively distancing himself from the national party, and had run as a "quasi independent".

As he took to the podium, there was no blue rosette on his lapel and there was no mention of the prime minister or the Conservative Party in his victory speech.

Although Houchen won a third term as mayor, Teesside saw a swing of 16.5 per cent to Labour, which if replicated at a general election would big wins for Sir Keir Starmer.