Unlike previous years, the majority of election counts will be taking place on Friday morning, rather than at close of polls this evening. Here is a run down of when we expect the counts to start. In most cases, results will be announced immediately following the count.
Those councils that I highlighted earlier this week as the ones to watch for Labour are in bold.
Counts starting 10pm Thursday 2nd
Doncaster (mayoral)
Dorset
Essex – we hope to win back some of the 12 seats we lost in 2009.
Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Hertfordshire
Lincolnshire – we hope to win back some of the 15 seats we lost in 2009.
Somerset
Staffordshire – we lost control here in 2009. To win control back, we need to gain an additional 29 seats (there are counts taking place on Thursday and Friday in Staffs, so we should expect some results from the early hours of Friday morning)
Counts starting between 8.30am – 10am Friday, 3rd
Bristol
Buckinghamshire:
Cambridgeshire
Cornwall
Cumbria – currently NOC, we would need an additional 21 seats to take control.
Derbyshire – we lost control in 2009 and need to win just 9 additional seats to take back control. We should take the council here.
Devon
Durham – Labour controlled; we need to retain a sizeable majority here.
East Sussex
Isle of Anglesey
Isle of Wight
Isles of Scilly
Kent – we hope to win back some of the 18 seats we lost in 2009.
Lancashire – we lost control here in 2009 and will need to win 26 additional seats to take back control of the council.
Leicestershire
Norfolk – we hope to win back some of the 19 seats we lost in 2009.
North Tyneside (mayoral)
North Yorkshire
Northumberland – currently NOC, we expect gains here.
Nottinghamshire – we lost control here in 2009 and need to win an additional 18 seats to take back control of the council.
Oxfordshire
Shropshire
Staffordshire – see above.
Suffolk – we hope to win back some of the 18 seats we lost in 2009.
Surrey
Warwickshire – the Tories took the council from NOC in 2009; we need to win 22 additional seats here to take control of the council.
West Sussex
Worcestershire
Counts starting 1pm Friday, 3rd
Northamptonshire – we hope to win back some of the 14 seats we lost in 2009.
Wiltshire
Tune into the liveblog at 10pm tonight for full coverage of the elections and some predictions on results.
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