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Local Elections 2018: Results liveblog

Sienna Rodgers

Welcome to LabourList’s local elections 2018 liveblog. Results will be coming in from local elections – 4,350 seats up in 150 councils across England – and the mayoral contests in Sheffield City Region, Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Watford. Refresh for updates.

17.15 That’s about it for interesting local election results, so I’m going to wrap up the liveblog now. In Haringey, the Lib Dems have eaten into Labour’s majority – they now have 15 councillors to Labour’s 42. There are just a few results left to declare now: Watford, Hackney, Lambeth, Lewisham, plus Tower Hamlets, which will declare over the weekend.

Labour has won Kirklees and Plymouth and made significant seat gains across London, but lost Derby, Nuneaton and Redditch. The Tories have gained four councils (Barnet, Basildon, Peterborough and Redditch) and lost five (Mole Valley, Plymouth, Richmond, South Cambridgeshire, Trafford).

The Lib Dems have been boosted, while UKIP has received a good kicking. Both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are upbeat, but the results have revealed problems for both main parties.

The overall results show Labour’s electoral power is strongest in metropolitan areas, however the party struggled to improve in towns and suburban areas – particularly the West Midlands and Leave-voting boroughs. Both the high watermark set in 2014 and the high expectations that built up in the weeks running up to polling day have hurt the coverage of Labour’s performance.

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16.40 The Lib Dems have won all three seats, previously Labour, in Haringey‘s Crouch End after sweeping Fortis Green.

16.20 The Corbyn-supporting grassroots campaign group Momentum, responsible for organising the Unseat events held across the country with Owen Jones, says it is “pleased” with the “healthy gains” made in the local elections.

Momentum’s national coordinator Laura Parker said: “This shows just how important it is to have an engaged, enthusiastic movement – people who will get out into the community and spread Labour’s message. 

“The untold story of the night is Labour’s significant advance on last year’s snap election result. According to the BBC, if this result was played out at a general election the Tories would lose 38 parliamentary seats, Labour would gain 21 and Labour would be the largest party.

“This represents a major step forward, and we’re very confident that we’re on track for a Labour majority at the next election.”

16.10 Labour and the Tories now have 15 seats each in Leave-voting Newcastle-under-Lyme, with eight more still up for grabs. All seats are up here, and it’s a straight up Labour-Tory battle. This is a very even race so far, with a split bellwether ward in Wolstanton. Last year, Labour’s Paul Farrelly held on to his parliamentary seat by just 30 votes.

15.52 Dan Jarvis wins the South Yorkshire (or Sheffield City Region) mayoral contest after second preferences are counted, with 144,154 votes to Tory Ian Walker’s 50,619. Meanwhile, the New Statesman‘s Dulcie and I are admiring how fresh and composed Huw is looking.

15.44 Labour holds onto Islington, Camden, Blackburn with Darwen and Crawley. At the moment, I’m trying to deal with the personal heartbreak of not gaining any seats in Belsize ward, Camden. It seems Labour didn’t manage to get out its core vote, largely based in four tower blocks that were evacuated after Grenfell due to unsafe cladding. The Camden results are good but I was expecting better. Unfortunately the Tory mantra “bins not Brexit” was an effective one in my borough, as those Camden residents not living in high-rise buildings still wanted to punish the council for its bi-weekly collection scheme brought in last year.

15.20 Labour/Tory marginal Walsall, near Birmingham, was a Momentum target with 28 Labour councillors and 25 Tories. The Tories now have a majority on the council with 30 seats after winning in Bloxwich East, Brownhills, Rushall-Shelfield and Short Heath.

15.16 In Stamford Hill West, Hackney, the Tories have gained from Labour. That’s another bad result in an area with a large Jewish community.

15.10 Everyone is getting excited about John Curtice’s projection of yesterday’s results. According to the BBC’s projections, mapping the local election results onto a theoretical general election produces a hung parliament with Labour as the largest party.

LAB – 283 seats

CON – 280 seats

LD – 22

OTHERS – 65

14.57 NEC member Eddie Izzard has tweeted a video for members to congratulate activists and commiserate with candidates. He’s also asking for feedback about what went well and where the party can improve.

14.46 Matt Zarb-Cousin, Corbyn’s former spokesman, defends Labour and Momentum’s lack of expectation management, which he describes as a “price worth paying” for activist mobilisation.

14.42 ICYMI:

14.40 TLDR: this time, the polls were right. It looks like the Tories and Labour are neck-and-neck in terms of vote share.

14.15 Dan Jarvis didn’t get over 50 per cent of first preference votes in the Sheffield City Region mayoral contest, but obviously he’s going to win. Turnout was low at 25.36 per cent.

First round results:

Dan Jarvis (LAB) 122,635 (47.99 per cent)
Ian Walker (CON) 37,738 (14.77 per cent)
Hannah Kitching (LD) 27,146 (10.62 per cent)
Mick Bower (YORKSHIRE) 22,318 (8.73 per cent)
Rob Murphy (GRN) 20,339 (7.96 per cent)
David Allen (ENG DEM) 14,547 (5.69 per cent)
Naveen Judah (SAVE NHS) 10,837 (4.24 per cent)

14.10 Conor Pope, former LabourList staffer, now Progress deputy editor, has written up his thoughts on the local election results. Conor hits back at the assertion that the problem is with the expectations set for Labour: “the problem is not with the expectations – it is with the not winning”.

13.31 Not local election results exactly, but The Guardian‘s Aditya Chakrabortty says Claire Kober, who resigned as leader of Haringey Council after a row over a controversial development scheme, has found new employment with a housing regeneration company. Lara McNeill, NEC youth rep, has called it a “disgrace” and says Kober “will have affected Labour’s vote in Haringey”.

13.20 In case you missed it, as I did, leader of the Basildon Labour group Gavin Callaghan stepped down after it was revealed the Tories took the council from no overall control. Callaghan said: “Basildon Labour’s inability to win in Pitsea South East and Laindon is something I take full responsibility for.”

13.15 All is not well in Birmingham, where the boundaries have changed and all seats are up. The Tories have gained seats in Hall Green South, Sutton Roughley, Rubery and Rednal, Allens Cross, Highter’s Heath, Sutton Redicap, Frankley Great Park, Perry Common and Castle Vale – all outer wards. Labour’s control of the council isn’t threatened, but these results reinforce the message that the party isn’t finding success in the suburbs.

13.05 The Local Government Information Unit have sent out a statement neatly summarising the results so far. Chief executive Jonathan Carr-West said: “We’ve seen an entrenchment of the status quo with Labour doing well in cities and the Conservatives doing well outside them. Not many councils have changed hands and in real terms it’s fairly level pegging between the two main parties.

“But this is playing worse for Labour because expectations had been raised that they could take major targets like Wandsworth, Westminster and Barnet. They had to talk up their chances in those races to get their vote out but in terms of expectation management that has now backfired.”

12.57 101 of 150 councils have declared. According to PA, here’s the situation as it currently stands:

CON: 31 councils; 892 seats (-26)

LAB: 52 councils (-1); 1,444 seats (+59)

LD: 4 councils (+1); 327 seats (+40)

GR: 22 seats (+7)

UKIP: 3 seats (-47)

IND: 58 seats (-57)

LIB: 1 seat (-1)

Ratepayers and Residents: 41 seats

NOC: 14 councils

12.52 Final result in Tower Hamlets, where Biggs has won it for Labour:
John Biggs – 44,865
Rabina Khan – 16,878
Ohid Ahmed – 11,109
Anwara Ali – 6,149

12.50 Corbyn tweets a video from his morning in Plymouth.

12.41 Labour members are still talking about Livingstone’s appearance on Sky News. Labour and UNISON activist Jack Phipps sums up much of the party’s sentiment in his tweet:

12.37 Labour has gained control of Kirklees, a Momentum target. Previously under no overall control, the party was two seats short of a majority until now. A great result.

12.25 By 80 votes, Labour wins Skircoat ward in Calderdale for the first time ever. Also gains Luddendenfoot and holds marginal Elland.

12.19 I hear Labour has wiped out the Greens in Norwich, so that’s nice.

12.16 Livingstone’s Sky News appearance prompts criticism from across the party.

12.14 Catching up with the mayoral contests: Labour’s Damien Egan has won in Lewisham, John Biggs has just won Tower Hamlets for Labour on the second count (he failed to get 51 per cent of first preference votes), Lib Dem Peter Taylor has won in Watford and Rokhsana Fiaz has won in Newham.

12.09 A Labour candidate in the Barnet ward of Hale, which the local party was hoping to gain early on in the campaign, has tweeted her reaction to the disappointing Barnet results. Young activist Rachel Megan Barker blames the national party and reports that “on every single round I’ve doorknocked for the past year on this campaign, the Labour leadership came up”.

12.06 Theresa May has visited Wandsworth to congratulate the local Tories there. The PM said: “We’ve seen other success in London. We’ve held Hillingdon, Barnet, Westminster.” Now that’s a low bar. Those councils have been under Conservative control for decades.

12.00 Many Labour members are feeling a bit glum about the results. But, as Philip Cowley points out, this is actually a great performance in London. As I wrote, bleary-eyed, in the morning email today, taking control of Westminster and Wandsworth should never have been the standard for what would make a good night for Labour.

11.53 Right, back to results. I’m hearing that all three of Labour’s target gains look very close in Kirklees, erring on the side of marginal defeats. Labour has taken Town Close in Norwich from the Greens. Calderdale samples suggest Labour has gained one from the Tories but lost one to the Lib Dems.

11.50 After promising to wear a Trump hat if Labour didn’t win Barnet, Matt Zarb-Cousin has actually gone and done it. Guido has the ‘scoop’. I myself placed a bet on taking Barnet last week and now owe Stephen Bush £20, so cheers Matt for making me feel less silly about that.

11.45 ICYMI – click here to watch Jeremy Corbyn’s earlier reaction to the results. The Labour leader said: “The story of the night is that UKIP has collapsed across the country, that we’ve gained Plymouth, we’ve also put up our vote in a lot of other places and gained wards we’ve never held before.”

11.35 Sienna here – I’m back. Ken Livingstone was on Sky News this morning – just before me – and I gather his contribution was unhelpful to the much-needed discussion around antisemitism and the Labour Party. “I want to do everything I can to get Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street,” he said. Perhaps… don’t appear on Sky News?

10:40: I’ll be signing off from this (brief and quiet – at least on the news front, Twitter is wild with debate) coverage and Sienna should be with you for the final third of results.

For now, it looks like Barnet is – rightfully – at the centre of debate, and the Labour Party will need to look in at itself and confront antisemitism. Debates on what exactly Brexit and UKIP’s collapse means for Labour will also continue to ignite your social media feeds. Keep an eye out for some post-mortems here on LabourList. For now, it’s goodbye!

10:34: Norwich is announcing now – and it looks like Labour have held two of its wards so far.

10:32: There’ll be a lull in news – bar Norwich- until midday. We should then get some news from Haringey and Crawley.

08:40: Looks like the count is beginning soon in Kirklees, which is currently NOC. It’s expected to be close, and Labour would need three gains to gain overall control.

08:10: Jade here! I’ll be taking over the liveblog for a bit while Sienna gets some shut-eye.

Whew, what a night. Corbyn is currently talking in Plymouth, where we gained control of the council. Learning about the rest of the night has certainly left me a bit deflated. But it’s not over yet! Norwich, Haringey and Crawley kick off after 9.

07.46 I’ve sent my morning email, which you can read here. Now, sorry readers, there’s a lull in results and I need a bit of shut eye before doing Sky News.

07.36 Barnet candidates and Labour activists in north London on how antisemitism affected results:

06.30 Apologies for the liveblog gaps, I’ve been on LBC talking about what the results mean for Labour and whether Theresa May should be cracking open the champagne. (She shouldn’t.)

It doesn’t look good for Barnet at all – and as that is where I set the bar for a “good night for Labour”, it’s a massive disappointment.

05.37 As I said was likely at 02.27, Labour has held East Finchley but lost in Hale ward – “badly”, says a source. That makes it very difficult though not impossible to take control of Barnet. Child’s Hill will be the deciding factor.

Labour consolidates in Leeds, gaining two seats from the Lib Dems in Weetwood ward, and in Brent, where it has won all three seats from Tories in Brondesbury Park.

04.43 The Tories have held onto Wandsworth, where Labour was hoping to make enough gains that the council would come under no overall control.

04.20 Jon Ashworth is joined by James Cleverly on BBC News. “The picture of the evening is pretty good for Labour,” says the Shadow Health Secretary. “We’re coming for Iain Duncan Smith.” He lists Chingford, Putney, Swindon and Plymouth as the areas where Labour has made progress, but admits the Derby and Nuneaton results are disappointing.

04.15 Another gain for Labour in Wandsworth, St Mary’s Park. It’s getting tighter. Two recounts are currently underway. In Camden, Labour has just won three seats from the Tories in Swiss Cottage ward, formerly a Conservative stronghold.

04.08 Those Derby results:
C 8, Lab 5, LD 2, UKIP 2
C gain 2, UKIP gain 1, Lab lose 3
New council: Lab 23, C 20, LD 5, UKIP 3

04.07 On BBC News Dawn Butler says Labour’s problems with antisemitism persisted because the general secretary Iain McNicol failed to implement the Chakrabarti report recommendations. “It wasn’t a failure of the leadership.”

04.01 A lot of uncertainty in Barnet, as Hale candidate Rachel Megan Barker suggests in her tweet. It’s on a knife-edge. Barry Rawlings says we’re unlikely to know which party has taken control of the council (if any) until 5.30am due to recounts and split ballots.

03.55 Labour has lost control of Derby, which is now under no overall control. At 23.16, I said Derby looked close and Labour could lose its very narrow majority – and so it is. This is largely down to local issues, as I hear the council is not well-liked.

03.51 Woah, we’re halfway there.

03.48 It’s tight in Wandsworth, where Labour is up by 9 points in the first few results. The Tories have been in power here since 1978. In the run-up to polling day, Labour activists on the ground were telling me Shaftesbury looked good, and Labour could take St Mary’s Park and Southfields wards. The Tories have just lost West Hill ward.

03.28 Confirmed: Labour gains four seats in Plymouth, taking control of the council. This is unusual in that the borough voted Leave, but it’s one of those results that consolidates the progress already made in June last year. This is the first council gain of the night for Labour.

03.20 Labour Party activist John Lehal has shared his 3am thoughts on the results so far. “I’m dismayed that so far Labour have only gained Plymouth Council after a quarter of seats have declared,” he writes.

03.10 This is where we are right now. Overall, it’s basically the same set of results that the 2017 general election produced. Plymouth is a prime example: Luke Pollard gained Plymouth Sutton and Devonport in June, and Labour has taken the council tonight. Labour is doing well in metropolitan areas, but it looks like the swing is 1 per cent Labour to Tory elsewhere and the Conservatives are the main beneficiaries of UKIP’s dramatic collapse.

03.02 Tory MP Johnny “MPs shouldn’t get a vote on planned military action” Mercer is looking absolutely miserable in Plymouth, where Labour now has control of the council.

02.59 Woo! Three Labour gains in Chingford (spells trouble for IDS) and Labour takes Westminster‘s Maida Vale from the Conservatives.

02.50 Labour has now gained three seats in Wandsworth, but would need 12 to gain control. As I said, the reasonable expectation is for Tories to lose control of the council.

02.43 Labour activists at the Camden count are a little cheerier now. Our best local journalist, Richard Osley of the Camden New Journal, offers an update:

For context: Swiss has been solid Tory for some time and Highgate is where Green star Sian Berry splits many ballot papers. It seems Fortune Green may remain a split ward as Lib Dem Flick Rea, who has been on Camden Council since for 32 years, looks likely to win her eighth election.

02.32 Tories keep saying the words “peak Corbyn”, as Justine Greening has just now. I’m not actually sure what they’re trying to accomplish by saying this. The Labour leader is popular with metropolitan voters, and the Tories need to improve their performance in metropolitan areas.

02.27 I’m hearing mixed messages from Labour sources in Barnet – but that’s because it’s very tight. They think they’ve lost in Hale, while West Hendon and Child’s Hill are too close to call.

02.25 Dudley is hung. It’s a volatile council, and the residents voted 68% Leave in the EU referendum. Labour has lost ground here since it won control in 2012 and it is currently run by the Tories supported by UKIP. Dudley North’s Labour MP Ian Austin now has a teeny tiny majority of just 22. The Tories did well here at the general election, so will be disappointed not to have taken the council this year.

02.23 Graham Brady tells the BBC it’s “deeply disappointing” that the Tories have lost control of Trafford. I bet he’s disappointed: Brady, the chair of the 1922 committee, is MP for Altrincham and Sale West with a slim majority of 6,426. It doesn’t look good for him next time.

02.16 Momentum founder Jon Lansman is on BBC News looking incredibly stylish as usual. He describes the results as “disappointing” but says “the disappearance of UKIP… can mean the Labour votes increase but not as much as the Tories”.

02.10 Dawn Butler and Liam Fox are up on BBC.

02.07 The Tories are on course to take Dudley, but have lost Trafford where Labour has achieved three impressive gains from Conservatives.

01.52 McDonnell says on the BBC that he would like Labour to be doing better, but concludes the party has made “steady progress” tonight.

01.50 I’m hearing that Labour have gained three councillors in Queenstown, Wandsworth, and has won Drake ward from the Tories in Plymouth.

01.37 Over in Southwark, very safe Labour, turnout seems to have been lower than expected, there are more split ballots and the Lib Dems are doing better than expected.

01.35 ConservativeHome founder Tim Montgomerie on the possibility of Tories losing control of Trafford:

01.32 Claire Perry is extremely tiresome.

01.25 Labour definitely has not won Westminster, I hear. This doesn’t come as a surprise to me – the ward boundaries are very difficult.

01.22 I hear Hillingdon looks bad. Like, losing seats bad. To be fair, it was a soft target and the campaigning culture there isn’t up to Labour’s normal standards.

01.18 Sadiq Khan is in Wandsworth speaking to BBC News. “Four years ago, we got the best results in London we received since 1971.” The aim was to “keep what we had and make some progress as well,” he adds.

01.09 Still too close to call in Barnet, but Labour sources are saying they might gain a couple of seats, which is all they need (though Brunswick Park is looking very close). No clear picture from Wandsworth yet.

00.59 Andrew Fisher, Corbyn’s policy adviser, points out that while the Tories have held onto Swindon, Labour won the popular vote.

00.55 47 per cent turnout in Tachbrook, Westminster – one of Labour’s target wards.

00.51 The Tories have held onto Swindon. This Labour target is a Leave-voting bellwether council, where Labour needed to gain three seats for control. It has gained one. Yes, the government’s voter ID trail was here, but it indicates the Tories are doing well in Leave areas.

00.44 Confirmed: the Tories have gained Basildon from no overall control.

00.42 Bigly turnout in Chingford. Gains in those wards mean Iain Duncan Smith’s seat, so heavily targeted by Momentum, could be at risk in a general election.

00.32 Recap: Labour hold Wigan, South Tyneside, Harlow, Tameside and Sunderland. Tories hold Havant and Castle Point. Labour has lost overall control of Nuneaton. John Curtice says there’ll probably be a small swing from Labour to Tory outside of London, and the Lib Dems aren’t doing too badly.

00.28 Good news. I’m told it looks like there will be at least three gains for Labour in Plymouth, so it’s set to take control of the council. Marginal Plymouth is a Labour and Momentum target currently under Tory control. As I said earlier, Labour only need to gain two seats – target wards are Budshead (Tory majority over Labour of 131 in 2014), Ham (UKIP majority of 52), and Moor View (UKIP majority of 159).

Also, a couple of turnout figures:

00.21 McDonnell’s reaction: 2014 set a high watermark, the trend here is the same as the general election.

00.15 Labour has lost control of Nuneaton and Bedworth. This isn’t good – as I said earlier, it’s a Labour/Tory bellwether, described by Laura Kuenssberg as an “important barometer”. The Tories have managed to draw support from former Ukippers in this Leave-voting area. But don’t despair, the night is young.

00.08 The People’s Chancellor has just suggested this results night will be boring. Scandalous. Everyone around the table takes it personally.

00.06 “It’s John’s election to lose tonight,” says Claire Perry.

McDonnell snaps back: “This is going to be a really boring night if we just spout what central office tells us.”

00.04 Labour could take Welwyn Hatfield. That’s not so surprising: Grant Shapps’ majority was cut from over 12,000 to 7,369 last year.

00.00 John Curtice klaxon!

23.59 This is the picture so far:

CON +6

LAB -4

LD +2 UKIP -6

GRN 0

To be honest, that doesn’t mean much at this early stage. Aside from the fact the Greens and UKIP are both going to fail. Don’t Panic.

23.55 Trafford Tories were confident earlier, but I’m now hearing Labour has gained a minimum of four council seats in the Greater Manchester council. Trafford is where Corbz launched the local election campaign, and Momentum’s Unseat tour led by Owen Jones dropped by too. Labour did incredibly well here in the mayoral election when people turned out for well-known Anime Andy. But, like in Westminster, Labour voters are in the wrong places, concentrated in the northern parts of the borough. I haven’t been hopeful about Labour’s chances here, but the Tories only need to lose two seats for the council to come under no overall control.

23.51 Hurrah, the BBC results programme has started! John McDonnell is joined by Tory minister Claire Perry. And a Lib Dem is there too.

23.48 Laura K’s early summary sounds about right. The Tories have gained Arbury (Nuneaton and Bedworth) from Labour. Labour has controlled the Labour/Tory bellwether since 2012.

Chances of gaining Plymouth aren’t bad, though. It’s Leave-voting, but Labour only needs two seats and the party did well in the general election there last year when Luke Pollard gained Plymouth Sutton and Devonport.

23.41 The Mirror‘s Dan Bloom says Sadiq is on his way to the Wandsworth count, which suggests the London mayor is expecting a good result for Labour in his old borough.

23.36 Sorry folks, I’m just watching Question Time now. I usually avoid it of course, because life’s too short to put oneself through such misery, but I’m waiting for the BBC to start its local elections coverage due to start in a few minutes. Currently fascinated by comedian guest Matt Forde’s Remoaner rant.

23.32 Everyone is laughing at David Lidington on Question Time. Meanwhile, I’m starting to wonder why I am surrounded by dozens of target council ward maps that I printed out earlier.

23.29 Labour activists and candidates are generally offering rather negative reports… but cheer up, comrades: Survation’s Croydon poll is good for Labour in London.

LAB: 50% (+16)

CON: 37% (+4)

GRN: 4% (-5)

LDEM: 4% (-2)

UKIP: 2% (-13)

23.22 As we might expect, Labour is holding onto wards in Sunderland – but there’s also been a gain from UKIP in Frynera ward, Basildon. That suggests the Tories aren’t taking all UKIP votes, which is incredibly encouraging.

23.16 I’m told Derby is looking close, such that Labour could lose its very narrow majority so the council could be under no overall control. A Labour/Tory marginal elected in thirds, Tories recently won some otherwise reliable Labour seats there. The council is locally not well-loved.

23.10 A result! Hmm… The UKIP vote has collapsed towards the Tories in this Sunderland ward.

23.08 Some good news! After winning the borough for the first time in 2014, Labour is expecting to make gains in Redbridge, where UKIP and the Tories have effectively merged (a number of Conservative candidates were UKIP members until recently). Hopefully those gains will also be made in the new Woodford wards that cross Wes Streeting’s Ilford North constituency and Iain Duncan Smith’s marginal Chingford and Woodford Green.

22.59 Turnout is also reportedly down in Basildon, where the Tories are expected to take control thanks to UKIP switches.

22.57 In Camden, north London, Labour seems to be feeling glum. Reports are coming in that the two Labour seats in Fortune Green, my own ward, could be taken by the Lib Dems. I was out in the target Camden ward of Belsize last weekend and it seemed positive, but forecasts are now gloomy. I’m also told Warwick ward in Westminster, while not a target, has a disappointingly low turnout of 24 per cent.

22.46 Big sigh. News in from the Hillingdon count: sampling is “bad” in wards that Labour should be winning. Hillingdon, in London’s zone six, was a Labour and Momentum target. But sympathetic voters are unfavourably distributed in terms of ward boundaries, and the borough voted to leave the EU. Many will be disappointed if we don’t make headway here, particularly as Boris Johnson’s marginal Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat should turn red at the next general election.

22.41 Havering, Norwich, Bexley are all reporting low turnout. That’s usually bad news for Labour. Party sources say they are expecting to make significant gains but to fall short of the incredibly high expectations set for Labour during the campaign.

22.35 Right, everyone is tweeting and Whatsapping me from the pub and I’m extremely jealous. But it’s been truly heartening to see the outpouring of solidarity between Labour activists today. When polling day comes and factionalism is put aside, the Labour Party shows that its energetic campaigning culture is second to none.

22.32 The traditional election night battle is on between Geordies and Mackems – who will declare first?

22.28 I’ve yet to see anyone post a more impressive #LabourDoorstep step count than Young Labour chair Miriam Mirwitch. If you can beat that, let me know.

22.26 Folks over in RBKC seem pretty confident, which is incredibly exciting. It would send a clear message that the Tory government’s lack of action over unsafe cladding after Grenfell is unacceptable.

In Reading, a Labour/Tory marginal, I’m told the Tories were basically absent from several wards. Apparently they didn’t even bother with literature in key areas such as Battle.

Remember, if you’ve got any tips, canvassing stories, jokes you’re happy for me to steal… slide into my DMs.

22.10 It seems Barnet is too close to call. Looks like Labour is hoping for historic gains in those key London seats – Barnet, Wandsworth, Westminster, Hillingdon – but taking control is a stretch too far. Bazza G is currently on Sky News managing expectations.

22.05 Labour candidates and activists have done a sterling job, racking up tens of thousands of steps on the doorstep today. As expected, however, I’m hearing that both turnout and confidence are low in Wandsworth and elsewhere. In Kensington and Chelsea MP Emma Dent Coad is hoping for “a handful of gains tonight in wards that we have never won” – certainly not a majority – but turnout doesn’t seem to have dipped.

22.00 Hello! Sienna Rodgers here, editor of LabourList. Welcome to our local elections liveblog. Polls have just closed across England, but there are no exit polls tonight. All the more reason to stay tuned (keep refreshing the page) as I try my best to keep up with the results coming in.

Tags: Labour Party / Labour / Local elections 2018 /
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