split. the ukip vote is likely to split. what are the parties on the ground saying? what is labour telling you? labour is extremely upbeat and they have been all evening. they feel they are ona been all evening. they feel they are on a roll after the general election, having said that, talking to the local labour mp, he must be casting an eye at other parts of the country and observing what is happening there but in plymouth and in exeter, the only other set of elections here, labour cannot mathematically lose exeter city council. they have retained three of the seats already but were saying through the ups and downs the labour party have had, in parliamentary terms with the mp ben bradshaw and the city council, they seem to be teflon coated with massive majority in the council and a safe parliamentary seat with ben

bradshaw. thank you for the update. let's go to portsmouth next. i want to talk to portsmouth next. i want to talk to peter. the latest from you please. you're working your way down the coast i see. labour doing well here. this is a conservative run, but a minority conservative group here in the portsmouth city council. the liberal democrats had some hopes that they might get it back, those we re that they might get it back, those were definitely —— tonight. that vote down considerably. labour took quite a lot of those votes. which is the more remaining area of the city. in the north, and the area that baltimore leave, conservatives actually did quite well. they picked up actually did quite well. they picked up some of that bridges both. so did finish what labour is very please with their results. they won in places they have never won before. and that is on the back of my

plymouth, the polymer entry elections. where labour one enforcement south where they had never won before. just looking at the numbers on the screen as you are speaking, looking at that ukip dip of 23%, the balance of the votes, just a thoughts there aren't a little more from you on the way that vote has been broken up. it is split equally. i think you heard martin saying down in plymouth, and went to the conservatives and the strong leave every is, but in other places even the liberal democrats seem to be able to capitalise on seats that have been taken by ukip from them in the past. they were able to win them back. and ukip told us that they we re back. and ukip told us that they were getting people out the vote who have never voted before. i do those people had about that again this time, or else theyjust had gone back to the previous patterns. that is how it seemed to work. there is certainly something in the way that

legal to serve sided with conservatives in a way that hadn't done before, back in theresa may on the course that she is taking. but also maybe younger voters and the remain ever yet, certainly they were campaigning very hard and portsmouth, labour, they reckoned about four times the number of people on the streets. that they have been in previous elections. so the party failing to remotes revitalised, but they still have a small number of counsellors there. so it'll take a little while before they get close to that. they have had told this council the past. thank you, peter. —— they have held this counsel before. a quick thank you to claire and john because i think you're going to be live in this question. great to have you with us. nic, don't move! you're not going anywhere. i'm going to go to delhi because we've got the conservative mp minister culture

minister. thank you forjoining us. what is the latest in deadly. thank you for having me. —— and dudley. a marvellous night for the conservative party. winning season for labour and conservative party. winning season for labourand ukip. we conservative party. winning season for labour and ukip. we should retain control of the council and maybe even get overall control of the council. we're delighted to hear in dudley. as jeremy the council. we're delighted to hear in dudley. asjeremy corbyn came up to one of my wards gulasci liberal party local government campaign at the start. and the people have rejected his mission and we won that the very marginal war by 200 votes. it isa the very marginal war by 200 votes. it is a great night for us here in dudley. let's be clear. you are saying you have one? i'm saying that we will retain control of the council and we're hoping to win overall control. i think we will do it. one of the factors here, we've been discussing local versus

national and indeed international if you look at brexit clearly, what is your reading of it? certainly, we have one five or six seats off of ukip. but we have also one sees off of ukip. but we have also once these awful labour. so i think the you could vote has crumbled and that we have been the main beneficiary oh. but also we did take control of the council and i would like to pay tribute to the conservative leader and consulate patrick harley, he and the team had been a very good job of making a big impact on front line services in a very short space of time and people have noticed that. i think they want more of it. do you think they want more of it. do you think that the result is once again underlining his foot in the way this vote is breaking up? that you are... catching every? i could hear that one. so much wasn't here. —— i cannot hear that. i can hear you now. just wonder bring the way that

the yougov vote has broken up since last time, is thatjust underlining the fact that you are simply a feeling for the most part that those who bolted leave? is that fair to say? -- of the ukip both. yes, i think dudley within the relief oriented area. my constituency of star bridge support the by two thirds to one third. there is that factor. i think what happened was initially in dudley, when ukip took off they were taking seats off of the conservatives. but in later elections, they have taken more more votes off of labour. so i think those folks are coming back to the conservative party. that is a very good side. do will distrust the excellent performance of our counsel here in the last 18 months. that's what i want to point out the

excellent. a tribute to the way they have run the show. it has been markedly improved in a number of very highly visible area. suddenly ina number of very highly visible area. suddenly in a number of very highly visible area. suddenly my constituency. thank you. thank you. nice happy with us. there's a polymer murphy by election i want to bring up. that followed a recognition a few months ago. —— eight by election. sinn fein have held onto seat. not a surprise. that was what was predicted. a majority of nearly 8000 over the dup. the sinn fein candidate on a turnout of 55% taking 47% of the vote. a pretty convincing win for sinn fein. dup back on 24% and the sdlp on 18%. an apology by election,

pa rt sdlp on 18%. an apology by election, part of our rich mix of contest going on today. —— a by election. plus the hundred and 50 local authorities and four and half thousand councils seats. we've been joined in the studio now by liam fox the international trade secretary for the conservatives. don butler, the shadow of a minister for labour. nick rb is still with us. thank you. come again. they were quite feisty, the last two. laughter we were watching them. we will be watching you closely. blessed with the chemistry is light. when i going to interrupt one another. i'm already feeling a little twitchy. —— we are not going to. me and laura almost to leave the studio. but we are paid to say. it was early. first the point robustly about given where you are at the moment, imex for the

seven days in terms of council seats, were about a third of the way through now. —— 57 seats in terms. what is your reading of it so far?|j think that we are at the higher end of expectations. we have taken councils in peterborough, basildon, also taking seats from labour. the discussion has been about ukip, but labour in bolton, peterborough, 9010, cannock chase. what we are seeing is quite a complex picture. for the ukip perspective at least. not simply about leave and remain. that is a mistake being made in analysis. the voters have worked out that mr yunker will not be collecting the bin. they are fixated on local issues. what is interesting i think it's if you look at the pattern that we have seen, it looks like the places where you can did well are reverting to their previous party. where it was a labour ever get that when ukip is going back to labour and when it was conservative

going back to conservative. that is what allah has said tonight that is trying to apply a lever main element of this that doesn't actually stack up. people are wondering. —— i think thatis up. people are wondering. —— i think that is what is being said tonight that is what is being said tonight thatis that is what is being said tonight that is trying to apply. it is not an unfairthing to that is trying to apply. it is not an unfair thing to make assumptions on. then you would expect them to have labour to do better. if that was the analysis in places like walsall or amber valley. which is not really happening. i think the ukip unwinding is a return to where it was pre—uk. ukip unwinding is a return to where it was pre-uk. i agree. i think some of ukip was coming back to the lib dems, we saw that last year for example in my seats in the general election. that doesn't make sense if the great issue undermined was the brexit issue because the wedding go to the lib dems at the other end of the spectrum. i think it is right they are going back with a came from. the big question earlier was and academic spectrum. if you're in

the business of 9010, or a disappointing result for labour, are people just justified. disappointing result for labour, are peoplejustjustified. in asking galicia is this where we should be. —— in the business of nuneaton. with the results like that, and will people's often is. is that fair? no, i get people's often is. is that fair? no, igeta people's often is. is that fair? no, i get a disappointing for nuneaton to be no overall control. and for those constellation that have lost their seats, those constellation that have lost theirseats, i'm those constellation that have lost their seats, i'm really sorry and i wa nt their seats, i'm really sorry and i want to thank them for their service and what they have done. it is really disappointing. but i don't think you can make an analysis of what is going on until we really see how it plays out at the end of the night. we can talk about the ukip fold. i think what is quite clear is the collapse of the ukip is saying again in the main conservatives. they are getting the ukip vote, at

least 2—1. that plays out quite clearly in the results that we have seen so clearly in the results that we have seen so far tonight. not in areas with ukip vote have come from labour before. that is the point. it is going back where labour laws posted ukip. those. going back. it is really a n ukip. those. going back. it is really an unwinding to what the position was. i don't think that is right. that could be the case but we don't know because it also determined by the turnout. it depends on what the turnout is. where we have seen higher turnout, possibly indicating that labour has done well in turning out more people who didn't vote previously. we need to look at it, as a whole rather than kind of making assumptions. we also define out these results came in to that a year before her labour lasted general election. —— these results came out into the 1a. if

they can't do better this time that will cause a lot of people... you cannot complain the general election with local elections. in 2014, labourdid with local elections. in 2014, labour did well. and we gained over 300 council seats. and when you compare election today, we need to compare election today, we need to compare it in 2014. and local election rather than... compare it in 2014. and local election rather than. .. viewers watching the screen thinking gosh, look, we've been talking about dozens look, we've been talking about d oze ns of look, we've been talking about dozens of ukip losses. it says ukip one and that is because i am told that they have won a seat and rb! think it is. who knows how many did wind up getting. —— and darby. that is the point i'm making. laura. i was going to say it is relevant to talk about how the ukip bow breaks down. as i think liam fox was hunting, unless we go down to a word by word level and look at exactly what is happening, and break out the turnout factor, it is difficult to

make big generalisations. but i think you train so far before we had to love the results, it is that labour is standing still and follow backin labour is standing still and follow back in some places. don butler, for many members, surely that will seem to bea many members, surely that will seem to be a disappointment. of course we to be a disappointment. of course we to be a disappointment. of course we to be careful about comparisons, but to be careful about comparisons, but to look like you're on really on the march to look like you're on the edge of a significant victory which was howjohn mcdonald described it at the end of april, that is not the set of results, is that? we always knew this was going to be a difficult election. but we didn't... that is not what people said. talking about no corner of london that can be turned red. exactly but the labour party is very ambitious. we set our goals very high. but we knew it was going to be difficult. you might not know that, when i going to take everything we talk about behind closed doors, we had out about behind closed doors, we had our game plan. we had a game plan. we knew it was going to be difficult but we were very ambitious. sorry. a

second declaration so and is willing to labour. this one of 4%. the second one of 4%john curtice think we'll second one of 4%john curtice think we' ll start second one of 4%john curtice think we'll start with the party would need to win wandsworth. a swing up 496 need to win wandsworth. a swing up 4% now and a third declaration says john, actually a small swing to the conservative. it is a complex pattern. what i will like to do at this point is to bring in the chair ofa this point is to bring in the chair of ajohn this point is to bring in the chair of a john landsman, john, a this point is to bring in the chair of ajohn landsman, john, a member labour. you have been waiting. thank you very much. good morning to you. good morning. it appeared to suggest that this point in the night that... you not going to be too happy with where you are. tell me where you are. i don't think that is true. in the general election last year, there were places where we didn't make progress. and places where we

fell back. but it didn't stop us overall. having a tremendous turnaround, the biggest underground ina turnaround, the biggest underground in a general election campaign in british history. it is still early in the night. we have seen results. more from areas where we expect to do poorly and what we did poorly in the general election. so obviously, it is disappointing, but the dropout in the disappearance of ukip as it plays out in local authorities, it can mean that labour votes increased, but not as much as the tory votes increase. because of the 2-1 tory votes increase. because of the 2—1 sled of ukip votes. but actually, the share of ukip vote, how it is allocated i don't think it is just how it is allocated i don't think it isjust simply how it is allocated i don't think it is just simply back to where it came from. we have seen massive terms between parties. i think and let

behind every is, i think that our working—class voters who have felt really badly let down by everybody. and they have therefore demonstrated their utter dissatisfaction with all politicians and they did that for voting for brexit and by voting a kind of anti—politics party. but ukip is now disappeared and the follow—up different in different places. one would look at the tally at the moment. about a third of the way through, down eight seats overall, we were talking about nuneaton, it's a major member said to you we are serious about testing for power we should be in this position would you say to them?” think if we are at the end is nigh down eight seats i will be very

disappointed. i don't we will be. it is very early days. we haven't had any significant results from london. a couple results and wards doesn't pay y°u a couple results and wards doesn't pay you what will happen in westminster. so it is very early days. —— doesn't figure. it is too early to say. it is. as you are right to say, this one of results still to come. are you concerned as a tonight, talking to you people during voting yesterday, are you concerned that the controversy are you concerned that the c0 ntrove i’sy over are you concerned that the controversy over anti—semitism in the party will have damage labour‘s prospect in some areas or not?” the party will have damage labour‘s prospect in some areas or not? i am concerned about anti—semitism. i'm concerned about anti—semitism. i'm concerned about anti—semitism. i'm concerned about it in the labour party but we are working on that. we are determined to work on that. i think we have yet to see, it will be

a small number of councils where it could have a factor but we have yet to get those results. i think we have to wait and see. thejewish community, people both in different ways, and there are a lot of other communities in those authorities as well. let's wait and see. could the party of hamlet live differently in the last months. i think we all recognise that we could act independently differently. we should've acted quicker and more decisively. but we are now, i know every simple member of the national executive committee which amman is determined to deal properly with this issue, and we are discussing education and training and rolling that out. and the party and also discussing that a momentum. we made a very clear statement for a momentum which has been well—received i think by very

widely. and were going to do with that. but it may well take time to repair all of the relationships. but we will do it. good to talk to you. thank you for coming in. john landsman there, the chair of momentum and a member of the labour nec. a result from dudley, i think the final. i counsel. —— hunt counsel. 35 apiece for conservative than labour. if we look at the difference from last time, this will show you what is happening. the conservatives gaining 78 ukip down seven. quick word on that. dudley is the party of the country that is critical because it's in the midlands marginal of that fascinating to see that direct switch, ukip down 74 but we had a very delighted margot james driscoll

believed the majority had taken. that isn't what transpired in the end. still, we see labour following back there. not the kind of result they want to see. and of the four paula murphy seats, it is worth pointing out dudley, with the blair yea rs, pointing out dudley, with the blair years, there were all labour. —— in the four polymer to receipts. and they should have the well—written majority. —— still have a wafer thin. it is critical territory for both parties. the tories might be disappointed it didn't take it about half an hour ago. they thought they had it. yet again, labourand half an hour ago. they thought they had it. yet again, labour and losing overall control. still a lot to go. we still know my news yet from trafford. let's talk about trafford. we arejoined by graham brady has think. the chairman of the backbench 1922 committee. good morning to you. thank you forjoining us. good morning. what a a picture and trafford ? morning. what a a picture and

trafford? as far as i can see, very disappointing for us. i think we've lost overall control of the council. it isa lost overall control of the council. it is a town so we held for 14 yea rs, always very it is a town so we held for 14 years, always very marginally. last time we held by the majority of three across trafford. and number 299 votes i think across four wards the major difference. and i look that we lost that overall control and disappointing for me and will be for a lot of trafford residents. what are the factors in this the you think? what are they feeding in this result? it is very hard to tell. i've been listening to a lot of your comment every early in the debate about brexit and so on and i don't think it's been a lot of bad feature brings on the doorsteps and trafford in recent weeks, i think it's a very marginal counsel, very divided politically, in my own constituency we have seen again from the greens

in the conservatives and one from billable democrats. so no headway from labour. —— from liberal democrats. the council as a whole it may be that labour has gained something and other parts of the burrow. i haven't got all of the results yet. quite a mixed picture. overall, i don't think that people in trafford always understand quite how marginal it is, some of the things we have an trafford which are so things we have an trafford which are so good, notably the fact we have the best state education of the whole country, which is written by the other parties, is something perhaps should've played more in the local elections. would you say should've played more, you mean the party should've made more of it, your party? well, perhaps we should've made more of it but i think maybe he should've been more of the forefront of people's minds because i don't think people would have voted for parties like the greens which would get rid of our

grammar schools and trafford, had they known the there were so committed to getting rid of them. but we can talk about those things, the really important things for me and for conservatives and trafford is that we dust ourselves off and get up and win the next time we have a local election. i know that you are very firmly underlining the local, but i want to know given the turbulent times, and given that our dear weeks have been turbulent for the government as well, not least with the way the rest controversy, on top of the brexit turbulence and debate around the pattern of brexit, do you honestly think a local election can be kept separate from all of those things? —— when the rest controversy. very largely i think. i spent a lot of time knocking on doors in my own constituency in particular. the last two weeks in particular. and i have heard personally a mention of those

national issues where it would be brexit or windrush, so i think mostly these things are forced on local issues. i've heard a lot more about potholes and i have about windrush. just a quick note about thejohn curtice windrush. just a quick note about the john curtice is windrush. just a quick note about thejohn curtice is telling us that so thejohn curtice is telling us that so far, for wards have been declared trafford and his calculation is that there is a swing to labour in those words of over 10% and he says as you say, there seems little doubt that the conservatives will lose control of this counsellor and what as john points out as a predominantly remain both to gabrielle. the swing of over 10%, does the magnitude of that swing surprise you? 10%, does the magnitude of that swing surprise you ?” 10%, does the magnitude of that swing surprise you? i don't know the number set, i will look at that. what i say in terms of leave over many, last year we had a general election, my vote went up, fisher and the local election, labour has

made no headway in my constituency. —— fischer in the local. the lib dems have lost a seat. i don't think is being played out on that territory, it is far more about local issues. and i think my concern is that many of my constituents now are going to potentially face the consequences of a less competent counsel, as we had 14 years ago when the conservatives took control from labour, when they squander the reserves , we labour, when they squander the reserves, we had very poor financial management and poor management of the council, and of course now we also faced the threat to our schools which are the best in the country. graham brady, thank you forjoining us. graham brady, thank you forjoining us. what is happening and wants work? the conservative mpjustine greening is in 1's work. —— in wandsworth. thank you forjoining us. wandsworth. thank you forjoining us. can you give us an update on what is going on there in your

patch? it seems at the moment that the predicted labour landslide to ta ke the predicted labour landslide to take over wandsworth isn't going to happen. a lever on site. quite a mixed picture here. —— a labour on—site. i think labour will become sissies but the rhetoric that we've heard from them over the last weeks and months hasn't really will come through. —— will pick up some seats. they were on a pass of the —— we wa nt they were on a pass of the —— we want a positive campaign, and taking people's parviz amid the mars and thatis people's parviz amid the mars and that is what we're delivering on being ina that is what we're delivering on being in a day out in the local community and i think at the local council people look to our track record and compare it to labour councils around us that were delivering less for charging several hundred pounds were. and simply decided to stick with a better offer from wandsworth conservatives. decided to stick with a better offer from wandsworth conservativesm decided to stick with a better offer from wandsworth conservatives. it is all down to that again. the theme we

had all along and in previous years when i've been reporting from wandsworth myself on ice 25 years ago the same thing, the efficiency of local services don't say anything, leone. ilook of local services don't say anything, leone. i look so young, thank you very much. you say all the right things. i is saying an area like wandsworth, which was so massively in favour of remain in that referendum, that has not been a factor at all and people voting conservative, people clearly voted ina certain conservative, people clearly voted in a certain way in the referendum? i wouldn't say that's not been a factor at all, i think it has, has not helped our vote, no doubt about that, i think perhaps the most interesting thing from my perspective as there's been a really high turnout. i think it is great to see a brand—new generation of young voters not voting in local elections. as well as the general elections. as well as the general election like they did last year. but what i am proud about is the fa ct but what i am proud about is the fact that to me like as local conservatives we are getting some of that vote coming to us as well. that

is because we are making sure that we are on the doorstep, working on theissues we are on the doorstep, working on the issues that really count of people. and the campaigns we are running a really positive campaigns about what we're trying to achieve together has attained and that is what people seem to be responding to positively. we had three really tough years as monday conservatives and we lost mps in the 2015 election and we lost mps in the 2015 election and we lost mps in the 2015 election and we of course lost mayor election. labour was really trying to keep up the momentum on that progress tonight. it doesn't look to me, still a lot of us to come through, like a menace to do that. maybe we are beginning to see something i can to pink corbyn happening. —— to peak corbyn. something i can to pink corbyn happening. -- to peak corbyn. you another other london conservatives have been working very hard in re ce nt have been working very hard in recent to keep back a lever surge but the film that your party

nationally has understood the challenge from changing demographics? let's see what the results and that we may see london has a lubricity, and what you're trying to do is stop the slide. they think the national party understood that challenge ? think the national party understood that challenge? i think we have talked in london that we were successful one we are positive and talking about were trying to accomplish for local communities and when we are open and available party andi when we are open and available party and i think that is probably where the weather in london were cities around the country where it seems to me that is what younger people, by that army in a bind and a 45, i looked for what the —— by that i mean anybody under 45. thank you for joining us. i will bring injohn curtice. i'm wondering before we take a break for the latest news, can we have your

thoughts on where we are with these results. over a third of the way now. the first thing to remember is the ukip vote is well down which means everybody else is gaining to a degree but the crucial thing we have discovered outside london is across the piece, the conservative vote is going up more than the labour vote. in 2014 the labour party did slightly better than the conservatives. therefore this is all of peace with the message of the opinion polls which is the labour party seems to be ahead. in london it looks as if there is a swing to the labour party but it looks on the early evidence it is not a dramatic swing and a game therefore yes we have evidence remain voting areas including london and trafford, is

where the labour party is doing better and the conservatives doing worse and in leave voting areas that is where the conservative party is advancing in the same way as the general election including not least because generally it is the conservatives profiting more from the ukip decline than the labour party. your key ward statistics are on the screen. labour up six, conservatives, eight, lib dems, three, ukip down 18. green standing still. john had a point, we are not looking at dramatic swings between any of the three big parties. they are allupa any of the three big parties. they are all up a bit and can claim making progress but under the first past the post system it is the relative performance and by that criterion labour have probably come

up criterion labour have probably come up short so far of the expectations many seem up short so far of the expectations many seem to have in advance of the count on thursday. in the hour coming up, what are the results, outcomes you expect that will give you reliable pointers? in truth, we need to know more about london. the first signs are that the swing in london is to labour but probably not big and therefore not much may happen in terms of council control. we will look at how well the lib dems do. we spent the first half of the night looking at outside the capital, predominantly in leave voting britain. and as compared with four years ago, a small swing to the conservatives, now our attention will focus on the capitaljust to

see how much swing there is and a swing that so far looks as though it will be to the labour party. thanks. we will catch the news in a moment. a comment from my guests. it is still a mixed picture. we had gains for conservative councils we are delighted with. disappointed at trafford, please with dudley. they mixed picture, making advances and for a government eight years into office it is not a bad position. graham bradley mp talked about labour councils going bust many years ago. northamptonshire, a tory council, went bust recently so really he should retract that. trafford was an outstanding result, labour winning trafford was an outstanding result, labourwinning in trafford was an outstanding result, labour winning in wards we have not won before, an interesting result

for labour. dudley as well. margot james looking overjoyed they had won dudley and the results are they have not it is a hung council and the seven ukip councillors went straight over to the tory vote and i think labour has done really well. we had to move against us at the general election in dudley and so comeback and winning seats in the locals is a great achievement. what are your thoughts? i have just heard from colleagues in the count at we are on course to take richmond which is remarkable. we hope to make gains but i do not think we seriously expected to win the council which augurs well for kingston. i think we can draw from this that we have turned a corner and beginning what

will be a long road to where we were in the past. i was interested in the idea of peter jeremy in the past. i was interested in the idea of peterjeremy corbyn. it has been part of the narrative of british politics since the general election labour had a surgeon done remarkably well. — — election labour had a surgeon done remarkably well. —— peak corbyn. there has been the belief they are gagging to have an election and if they had an election now it is inevitable they would be bound to win. i think this is a reality check. when you look at the key swing seats particularly outside london, they have not made the ground expected. it is not in labour's interests to press for an instant election. i think what you are failing to understand is the enthusiasm we have with foot

soldiers and membership, and membership of over 600,000 who are going out and talking to people we have not spoken to before. it is that enthusiasm, especially from the young people, they want a labour government. i salute that. that enthusiasm does not appear to have turned into overwhelming results anticipated. i would turned into overwhelming results anticipated. iwould hesitate turned into overwhelming results anticipated. i would hesitate to prey on lib dem data analysis, particularly after paddy ashdown and his hats. we have nevertheless detected clear signs the labour levels of supported activity in london would not being matched in other parts. i think that has been borne out but we have not seen any london results. you mentioned

richmond, it is early days. we will see. the signal you have, 28 needed for a majority and we only have six results in. we could look at the latest tally. you are up three, that is the point? tories down three. i am hearing from both sides of the main parties in richmond, lib dems and tories, tories confident they have lost it. -- lib tories confident they have lost it. —— lib dems confident they have won it. it is a first step back towards building. they will be delighted but it has not been a sudden transformation in their fortunes.” do not often say this on air but it is to 30 8am. —— we canjoin mike

embley. coming up a summary of the main stories. we start with the latest on the local elections. the first results are being declared in local elections across england. with 50 of 150 council results confirmed it seems ukip support has collapsed. the conservatives have gained two hung councils — labour have lost just labour have lostjust one. with the details, here's our political correspondent jonathan blake. his report contains some flash photography. celebration in swindon and relief all round for the conservatives. they held onto a council that was a key labour target. i'm delighted we fended off a significant challenge from the labour party. they worked hard in six of our seats and they brought in a lot of people and spent a lot of time and money and effort in trying to take some of those

seats and they have not taken one from us. reasons to be cheerful for tories in essex, taking basildon councilfrom no overall control. but this election night is a marathon not a sprint. this is local democracy in action with voters across england having their say. one by one, paper by paper, the crosses are being counted and those who set and those you set and spend your council tax are awaiting the voters' verdict. in london, labour is strong. the mayor came to see once were. tonight he did not so sure of taking it. i have lived in ones with all my life and have never heard of labour council. we are working in wards that have never had labour

councillors knocking on doors, where residents have not received a labour leaflet. any government can expect a kicking in mid—term local elections, but there are early signs the conservatives are picking up votes from ukip, whose support has collapsed all over. i have brought my passport. i had better check. yes, it is my passport. here in gosport and a handful of other places, voters had to bring id as part of a trial scheme to cut fraud. there were claims some people were turned away, but most did not seem to mind. i am all right. i've got a driving licence and buss pass. more than 4000 seats, 150 councils and mayors elected, too, this is the first broad test of political opinion since last year's election. but will it bring upsets? or will things broadly stay the same? a nervous night for some. for everyone, a long few hours ahead. and just to bring you an update from northern ireland — where the parliamentary seat of west tryrone was being contested. sinn fein held on to that seat.

the latest, more from our colleagues working on the website. you'll find more analysis — and a guide to all the local elections — that's all at bbc.co.uk/news — or download the bbc news app. spain's prime minister has promised that there will be no impunity for members of the basque separatist group, eta, even though it has dissolved itself and formally ended its violent campaign. mr rajoy rejected eta's request that its prisoners be moved to jails in the basque country, closer to their families. the home office has announced afghan interpreters who worked for the armed forces and have relocated to the uk will be able to apply for settlement free of charge. in a statement from the home secretary sajid javid — the offer of abolishing the 2000 plus fee will also apply to family members.

supporters say up to 150 afghans, who risked their lives working with british troops, face being sent home at the end of their five year visas. donald trump has admitted that he reimbursed his lawyer for buying the silence of a porn star over an alleged affair. mrtrump said the payment of $130,000 — made before the 2016 election — was designed to stop stormy daniels making false accusations. president trump denies having an affair with her — and also denies illegally using money from election campaign funds to pay her off. now back to election 2018. quite a chunk of results in already from the areas outside london. we have 150 council is being contested. those results coming in overnight and in the morning. 4500 individual

council seats. most results so far are from outside london. we expect some of the london results. i want tojoin tim some of the london results. i want to join tim donovan some of the london results. i want tojoin tim donovan in some of the london results. i want to join tim donovan in wandsworth. to give the latest picture on the london scene. hello, tim. thank you. we have more of the picture. but it is still confused. we have had a safe conservative area that has stayed conservative, and a conservative area where labour have won two seats, queenstown in battersea. if they were to improve on that, and 8% swing, and! they were to improve on that, and 8% swing, and i think they have just taken swing, and i think they have just ta ken another swing, and i think they have just taken another here, that would mean three seats they have gained. they need 12. in spite of that sadiq khan here earlier was downplaying chances of taking this council. in 2014 in

london, labour did remarkably well. labour made massive gains in terms of councillors and councils. the objective now is to keep what we have. the best result since 1971. and to make progress. i think it is possible to win more councillors across london and have better results than 1971 but we will have to see what the count behind me brings him. we heard the dreaded r word, the possibility of a recount. what is happening in the meantime, in westminster, >> carolyn: ‘s. tim, there is a result coming through. this is maida vale ward, i believe, somewhere where labour have some hopes. so far this council has never been anything but conservative

controlled and it does not look like that will change. labour said they had given tories a real fight but they are saying they will probably not gain control of this council. carolyn, thanks. it is that time in the evening when we battle the tannoy. any quieter in barnet? yes, it is quieter because they are still counting. a lot of nervous faces. this is the most marginal seat in london. labour would have it as a top target. the conservatives held on with one seat last time. i spoke to the conservative leader with a quietairof optimism. to the conservative leader with a quiet air of optimism. he said it was too close to call. the turnout about 43%. it seems more turned up

in conservative areas but it will come down to three of 21 wards and we will not have decorations for some time yet. what about the lib dems? i am hearing here that it is looking good for the lib dems trying to take back for the lib dems trying to take back for the lib dems trying to take back for the conservatives but mark can fill us in. yes, it is turning yellow here. out of 18 wards they have called two and the lib dems have turned over three of the six available. they have a 21 majority to turnover to take back the council and they said privately they can do that. and that is another one declared. a good night for the lib dems. i think it looks like the lib dems are taking richmond. labour are still in play here and maybe other places? they are in play in the marginal wards. labour getting a bigger swing in

marginal wards them wards safe for either parties. it means a chance it could yet be better for the labour party damn first we thought. 8% could yet be better for the labour party damn first we thought. 896 to ta ke party damn first we thought. 896 to take queenstown, they do that and a couple of other waltz... 6.596 in bedford. we will have to wait and see until the more marginal wards are in to see if there are greater swings in them to labour. we are in recount territory in a couple of wards. see you later. welcome back. covering the local elections in england. a lot of results coming in and we are still waiting for big london results that

will have a big impact on the big picture. we can look at the tally. labour on 654... labour on 654. .. no labour on 654... no change. earlier we reported losses but labour, as we stand, on no change which has changed the balance a bit. the tories have gained 50. the lib dems have gained 18. 14 for the greens. ukip down 77. two for ukip, both in derby. 43 for independents. what we make of that? so far, still much to go but so far not seeing labour making the games they hoped for.

they hoped to be in a better position than at this stage in the night. the conservative side in a slightly better position than they might have expected at this stage. this is partly because everybody, the main parties, lib dems, tories and labourare gaining the main parties, lib dems, tories and labour are gaining because ukip has pretty much disappeared from the electoral map but that said, the last time they were contested was four years ago and voters are making a choice of the parties in front of them. we heard john mcdonnell saying it is about the fact ukip has gone to the tories but these elections we re to the tories but these elections were four years ago. voters have made their minds up recently. in terms of where we thought the big parties might be at this stage, labour are not as far forward as we might have expected. the point made

by the chair of momentum, he seemed assertive in saying the campaign had been one matt healy thought was a solid campaign —— had been one macro that he thought was a solid campaign. he will make a point about the standing of the party, which he needs to make as a politician. in this comparison with what happened in the general election and this point made byjohn mcdonnell repeatedly about the high point of 2014, do they have a point?“ repeatedly about the high point of 2014, do they have a point? if they are saying it is a decent performance, they are saying it is decent for labour to be level pegging roughly with the tories and if they are, they are not automatically on course to win a general election. however you want to spin it. this is relative and we can make comparisons, but the fundamental truth is that whatever reason you want to find, if you

accept it is decent and the status quo, roughly the same as the tories, thatis quo, roughly the same as the tories, that is somehow good enough and for the huge numbers of new labour volu nteers the huge numbers of new labour volunteers it is not good enough for them to be level pegging with the tories. they are impatient for a labour government and these results so far at labour government and these results so farat 2:52am, labour government and these results so far at 2:52am, not a single council gained for the labour party so far. the labour party are the largest group in trafford and we have won seats we have never won before and we are the largest group so we can before and we are the largest group so we can form a coalition with maybe the green party that have two seats. that is a big coup for the labour party. i think you will find in wandsworth, we have gained council seats in wandsworth we have not held for 28 years. we are making

progress, gaining in areas where we have not gained before. but the conservatives are making more games, it is relative. the ukip is giving the conservatives that boost, because of the collapse of ukip. the conservatives that boost, because of the collapse of ukipm derby, we are told the labour leader of the council has lost the seat in derby and they may be on course to lose control there. if that is the case, a place like derby, some of your colleagues told me last week those were the places where labour needs to be seen to be doing well.” think they would have told you it has always been marginal. it was a tricky seat to win. that does not ta ke tricky seat to win. that does not take the need away. to the leader of derby council i am sorry he has lost his seat and i want to thank him for his seat and i want to thank him for his service and i hope he wins his

seat next time. it is notjust in the seat like that you have not gone forward , the seat like that you have not gone forward, you have fallen back. we hear whispers from derby but in places where you hoped to make gains you have fallen backwards. we look to make gains everywhere, we knew it would be tricky but we went in with high standards. we over performed in 2014, gaining 300 seats, we did not expect and in 2017 we did well in the general election when everybody thought we would bottom out. we knew it was going to be tricky. when you think about where labour has come from in the polls and what has been against us, we have to wait and see at the end of the result before we make the analysis of everything and say overall it was a win, we have to wait until the end of the day. i am sad and sorry for the people who

have lost their seats. i am sure they will come back. we are the largest party in trafford and we did not expect it. in hammersmith and fulham, a 7.5% swing from conservatives to labour, asjohn curtice says is one of the stronger results for labour so far. in london it looks mixed. illingworth looks like labour are sliding backwards. it may be a mixed picture across london. you have to try not to extrapolate too much from local to general elections. but labour are not doing better overall and perhaps a little bit back from 2014, which was a year before they lost a general election. as another element of complication, if you take place like swindon, not all seats were up.

they were up in thirds and labour saying they are doing as well as the conservatives in swindon but most of the best conservative moors were not up the best conservative moors were not up for election in swindon. which suggests we might be pulling ahead in places like that. it take further analysis ward by ward. it is not like all—out elections, we are only seeing certain seats being fought. the west midlands. the scorecard for the west midlands. so far labour 97 seats, down eight. this is a crucial electoral area with lots of seats that will determine the outcome of the next election probably. the conservatives gaining 26. with that in mind and to talk about dudley and the rest of the west midlands, we

can bring in patrick burns. dudley, tell us about dudley, a hung council. it remains no overall control which does no justice to what was a dramatic night, despite the empty tables now. we have seen high tension. the result has been a 35- high tension. the result has been a 35— all draw if i can put it like that between labour and the conservatives. i talked to a local mpjames conservatives. i talked to a local mp james morrison he conservatives. i talked to a local mpjames morrison he says they are confident with support of an independent conservative and remaining ukip councillor, the minority conservative administration here will remain in effective control of the council, even though it has no overall control. jeremy

corbyn paid two visits to dudley, so important is this, in terms of not just an important metropolitan authority but pivotal as an electoral area in terms of the wider parliamentary map. this isjust one of those places where elections are won and lost. at the moment, one has to point out because of the ukip collapse, 2014 base year, when ukip built up something of a local stronghold, that has gone, losing all but one of the seven seats they defended, including that of bill lethbridge, the mep who has been forthright in his attack on the party leader, saying he never got out of london stop this underlines again how strong is the leave sentiment in this part of the country which in the general

election propelled the conservatives to victory in the former relatively safe seat of walsall north. can we look around the region. nuneaton, what happened there? that is a similar factor. what happened there? that is a similarfactor. the decline what happened there? that is a similar factor. the decline of what happened there? that is a similarfactor. the decline of ukip, another gritty industrial area, where you did build up significant support before the 2015 general election. what happened was the conservatives made nine gains, largely at the expense of ukip switching back to the conservatives. we knew we could not assume votes would go back to the parties they had come from in the first place, while ukip were on the rise but this seems to be a trend here that it has been to the conservatives' advantage. presumably on the back of

leave sentiment. the switch of nine seats to the conservatives in nuneaton and bedford left the labour group one seat short of retaining an overall majority in in important constituency another place on the famous list of swing seats which a lwa ys famous list of swing seats which always have a bearing on general elections. i watched to ask you about walsall because that is another hung council of course. it is another hung council, it is one where labour had needed just three more seats to win that one, to win o overall control but in the event it is the conservatives who are now the largest party in walsall, it has had a pretty chequered history of swinging between one party and the other and the conservative former leader is very confident that he again will be the effective leader of walsall council. this is interesting side line on this, because the one person we haven't

mentioned so far is andy street, the conservative metro mayor for the west midlands who wasn't standing in these election, is the most interested bystander of all, he has to operate with a leadership board of council leaders in the seven metropolitan authorities that comprise his metropolitan combined authority, and, that has been a 5—2 imbalance towards labour council leaders and they did the wart his initial plans to raise a mayor of london precept, so he has been very keen to try and get a few more tory faces on there to add to the two, he has a third one, so, i think he might be one of the more pleased conservatives and i can tell you as well there have been a lot of happy conservative faces here as the count broke up after a dramatic evening. good to talk to you patrick.

a look at the west midland and some rather intriguing outcomes, talking about labour challenges and the way this night is progressing i want to go to plymouth, and i want to bring in the conservative mpjonny mercer who is there for us. thank forjoining who is there for us. thank for joining us. who is there for us. thank forjoining us. what is does the battle look like there? well, it has not been a great night for the conservatives in plymouth. we have lost control of the council. i think across the country, clearly it has not been a good night for labour but challenging down here, we have seen gains across the city for labour, and they now have control of the council. what are the factors at play there, do you think? it is clear to me, the biggest factor in this city is defence. it always had been, it is something i work on in london, and i have made very public my concerns about the handling of defence at the moment, and you know

what the vision is, this is a proud military city. we won't hang on to places like plymouth. that is why i pushed so hard on it in london and clearly i need to redouble my efforts. why you finding it difficult to get your message across? well, i think clearly we are in interesting times, brexit and priorities elsewhere and have the band width to tackle other issue, i understand the notion in other parts of the country defence polls rather lower than people would like. that is hot the case in plymouth. there are issues here, in plymouth a lot the other factors are heading are issues here, in plymouth a lot the otherfactors are heading in are issues here, in plymouth a lot the other factors are heading in the other way. life chances are improving, our economy is booming, but, you know, we have to get the keyissue, but, you know, we have to get the key issue, particularly round defence, it is a proud military city andi defence, it is a proud military city and i am determined to keep it that way. what were you asking your

collea g u es way. what were you asking your colleagues in government in government about defence which they are not doing? i have talked since i came in round a positive broad vision for the modern defence, if we manage the process by reducing capabilities and not setting out what a credible vision is for a modern military people, you know you can't argue with the fact you go round the doors and people think the military is reducing, the reality is it is the other way. we have a good story to tell. we have world leading capabilities but if we don't win it it won't happen. and, you know we need to do bet on that in london. my tea m need to do bet on that in london. my team here have worked really hard, they have done an outstanding job. it has been difficult. it is one year, plymouth is always going to go from one to the other, and i will make sure it returns next year. are you saying that basically when you have made representations to collea g u es

have made representations to colleagues in whitehall and other parts of westminster, they have not been listening to you, is that what you are saying? no i am not saying that, i am saying there is a lot going on in government at the moment and defence is a challenging area, and defence is a challenging area, and across the country it is not, you know it doesn't poll particularly high, it comes in at nine or ten, particularly high, it comes in at nine orten, in particularly high, it comes in at nine or ten, in plymouth that is different. and you know, plymouth has gone the other way from the rest of the country. it has been a positive night for the conservative, labour were talking about the gain, the massive gains they were going to make, ithink the massive gains they were going to make, i think that are delusional and it has been proved that across the rest of the uk, but down here in plymouth it is a very particular city, it is a very proud city and you know, we need to get basic things right, particularly round defence. very good to talk to you. good to talking on our election special. i am good to talking on our election special. iam bound good to talking on our election special. i am bound to turn to liam and say, what are we to make of that? this is the conservative mp

basically saying, you know i am not putting words in his mouth, saying he is not able to get the result he feels is necessary for the party in that city, is that fair? i should declare an interest, he was my deputy in the coalition at the ministry of defence. if the question was about defence and it wasn't about other issues we would be doing very well. because we have seen an up very well. because we have seen an up lift in the defence budget, we have seen two new carrier, we have, are renewing our nuclear deterrent, so there is a lot of money going into defence, as i say, there is a danger in looking at a single area of policy and saying that has been the determinant because that is what mps like to talk about. it clearly defence is a big issue, down there, but as i say, if that was the issue, and we have an increase in our defence budget which a lot of our countries that are defence partners in europe would love to have, i think the message is a positive one. that is what your colleague was

saying, he was saying plymouth is a city with a military history and people aren't convinced there that the government is getting it right on defence. he was talking about reducing capability, it is not to do with investing in new weaponry it is that sense of reduction of capability, which senior military officer, let us face it have been talking about over the last three or four year, it is reduced capability which i think successive defence secretaries and ministers have bought into. isn't that fair? no, there have to be change, one of the big areas we face is on cyber security. that will require us to spend money on a lot of things we can't see, but which are in fact the biggest threats that we face and we have to have a proper debate about this, defence is an underdebated subject in our politic, but you are looking at a country that is one of the few maintaining 2% of gdp on

defence spending.” the few maintaining 2% of gdp on defence spending. i think probably what is making life difficult for jonny mercer is constant threat of more cuts to the army, cuts to the royal marines and so on. it may well be what liam is saying that investment is going into other things that are more pertinent and thatis things that are more pertinent and that is the appropriate thing to do. that may be true but it doesn't alter the mainstream political headache, if you are in a defence city like plymouth and are reading these things. jonny mercer's suggest is they are feeling them in their lives and believes in that city your party has been punished.” lives and believes in that city your party has been punished. i think the navy does still feel this. what do you say to him? he is saying the boss class in the party are getting this wrong. one of our main aims was to preserve the navy's capability by providing the two new carriers, that we re providing the two new carriers, that were under threat before the

coalition government came in, there was a possibility of them not happening, to maintain the upgrading of submarine programme and to renew our nuclear deterrent. they were major elements for the navy that we re major elements for the navy that were protected. just an update on richmond, because we were talking about it earlier, so let us have a quick look at this, because we have 12 out of 54 seats declared and lots of tips now that the liberal democrats are looking confident there. there are nine seats, the tories on two, greens on one, what does it mean in terms of gains, early days, so five gains so far, six crosses to the conservatives and one gain for the greens, with that in mind, just in this part of london, i would like tojoin sarah alanywho is for us, was mp for richmond park. sarah, thanks for joining u how do you see things in richmond? it is going very well. we

are very richmond? it is going very well. we are very confident, in fact we are going to call it. we think we will ta ke going to call it. we think we will take control of richmond council. that is confidence. that is confidence. so what accounts for it? well, what for the success we are having? yes. . a range of different things, the voters are feeling disenchanted with the tory, they don't trust them think more, they are finding at local level the tories aren't listening on important issues and i think obviously brexit issues and i think obviously brexit is playing a bit of a part. they don't trust the national government and the way that they are managing the country at moment. when you look at the results further afield, what kind of night do you think is go to be for the liberal democrats, as we have heard from nick and others, before him, it is a challenging period for the partyt and there has been quite a bit of

questioning around vince cable's leadership, what would you say about that? i haven't actually paid a great deal of attention to what is going on round the country, my focus has been here in richmond. i would say we are showing in richmond we are coming back, that people want to vote for us again, they are, they trust us, they put their faith in us, we have a strong record of local government in this part of the country and people are coming back to us. so in areas like kingston and other airs to us. so in areas like kingston and otherairs in to us. so in areas like kingston and other airs in london, the prospect fors the party are, do i take it thatis fors the party are, do i take it that is another one of yours? yes. i think it is, yes. yes. yes it was. soi yes. yes it was. so i was asking about places like kingston. yes. yes. i have been out in kingston, the richmond park constituency covers that, we are

feeling, they are no counting there until tomorrow, so we won't know that until tomorrow but there is a lot of confidence in kingston, it has been good on the doorstep. i am looking forward to seeing how well we do there as well. good to talk to you, thank you forjoining us in richmond. nick, iam bound to you, thank you forjoining us in richmond. nick, i am bound to say i think you are about to be politely replaced but you have done a good stint for us, it is nice to see you. thank you, i think we can take encouragement from these votes. i think encouraging sign, it will be a long way back but we have to rebuild ourselves from the bottom up and i think vince cable can view this as a first test that he has passed and he is helping us get back in business. there is richmond, eastleigh.! is helping us get back in business. there is richmond, eastleigh. . do you think he will be leader for a

lot longer? 0 i think he will lead us into an election. eastleigh, cheltenham, encouragement in various parts of the country, and you know, after all those years of being battered in local government, to be able to come out of this seeing we are taking first steps forward is encouraging. it is the extent to which the party can define itself sharply so it gets to the position where you know, as all parties will know voters can hold on to something quickly, it is that kind of ambiguity plus the coalition experience which has been so damage fog it were party. i wouldn't disagree with you. politics very dominated by brexit, the areal represented was a leave area and in a sense, represented was a leave area and in a sense , you represented was a leave area and in a sense, you know, and until the brexit issue is done and put to bed, reconnecting with people and some so those areas is going to be difficult but in other areas like richmond

where it was heavily remain, people are warming to that. but we, i mean vince struggles to get heard on radio or the television on anything other than brexit. people in north devon say why do people talk about it all the time in the answer is parliament and the westminster village and the political media focus on that almost to the exclusion of all else. liberal democratses are dying to come and talk about brexit because they are the only party calling for another referendum. it is good for us because it is the one thing people know that is clear, it is different and makes sense and in areas like richmond and kingston it is popular. thank you very much. we will see you next time. i want to go to leeds, and i want to talk to the labour mp hillary ben who is waiting to talk to us. your ta ke who is waiting to talk to us. your take on labour's performance so far?

good morning to you, huw. good morning to you, huw. good morning. in leeds we are having a very good night and a very good morning, i have, i have gota a very good night and a very good morning, i have, i have got a lot of feedback delayed of what i am saying in my ear. soi in my ear. so i apologise if it don't come across awfully well. we are doing well in leeds. overall it is a mixed night. when we fought these seats previously we did very well, and just listening to the last contribution, i heard, there is no doubt that the echos of the brexit referendum are being felt in the results we are seeing up and down in this country, i see the conservatives look like they have lost control of trafford. other plays they haven't done as well as we hoped and i think it is not surprising brexit is having an impact, because here we are, huw, we are nearly two years on from the

referendum and the government cannot still agree among itself how it wa nts to still agree among itself how it wants to trade with our largest nearest and most important trading market, and that is is a sign of the government's failure, its lack of leadership and weakness, and i think we see that reflected both in the results tonight, but we will see that going forward. no question about it at all. it has ban pretty lively debate because of course we have had lots of guests says this is simply the nitty gritty with people worrying about local circumstances, and brexit really in remain or leave areas hasn't been an impact on this result. so, are you questioning that? well, no, yes, i am not sure about that. a gentleman i met last week said i used to vote ukip but i am voting labour this time because i voted to leave the european union, he said, and that has been dealt with, so where the former ukip vote

has gone, in parts of the country it appears tonight, and this morning, that where there was a heavy leave vote that has gone more to the conservatives, i think you are right, of course people are voting for local councillors on local issue, that the big questions are social care, investment in our schools, and our roads, but people also have an eye to the big issues like the health service, because we know it is in difficulty, and looking to the medium and longer term, how we sort out our leaving of the european union, and what kind of economic relationship we will have, will affect everybody and ultimately if it adversely affects the economy that will hit the amount of money available and councils already have to deal with huge reductions and a lot of people have said we have had enough of that, we want investment in the future in our community, and we wa nt in the future in our community, and we want a deal as we leave the european union, huw, that is going to be good for business and ultimately for the jobs of many people in this great city of leeds

and all over the country rely on because we live by trading and selling service, and we are coming to the end of this negotiation, we have hardly begun to talk about that, and that is because the government can't agree among itself. that is an ultimately that is a failure of leadership on the part of the prime minister, and the conservatives. a direct question about labour, so if someone is watching thinking how does labour get to a position where it wins a general election, if it is not gaining control of any councils, indeed if it is losing control of places like nuneaton, how does that happen, what would you say to that person? welll happen, what would you say to that person? well i would say first of all look at the good result we had last time when these seats and councils were being voted on, so you need to recognise where you have come from, and of course, we have to win people's trust and confidence, you look at the national polls huw and we are kind of level pegging with the conservatives, i don't myself think that we are going to

have an election, a general election any time soon. what we have to continue to do, as the labour party, is to stand up for the things we believe in, people know we will invest in and protect the national health service, we know we are a party that is rooted in equality and making sure we have a fairer society, and people know we are a party that is fighting for a deal when it comes to the leaving of the european union, which will protect jobs and investment in the future of our economy. and in the end, people will make a judgment when the election comes, but i think it is a good night, with some gains and losses, but the general election outcome will be determined whenever that comes and we will continue to fight for every single vote. and we fought a good campaign, it has been a great spirit and we have seen it reflected in good results being declared on the stage behind me. hillary ben, thank you for talking

to us. this is the deal ok, liam. it is now, what, 20 past three in the morning. this is the time when we get sort of all immat and cosy and you can start telling us stuff you wouldn't tell me if i was interviewing you at 5pm. so hillary benn is talking about protecting job, getting a trade deal that is in the interests of everyone in the united kingdom, and that is why the prime minister of course is pursuing this idea of a customs partnership. why is she wrong about that? first i think hillary benn is wrong, that this is still all about brexit. if it was, labour would have done better in remain areas like walsall, amber valley where they rolled backwards, so it is not. i didn't get from voters on the doorstep brexit, brexit, there was not what was coming across, it was, as i said about local issues, now, always there is an elm of the national

economy, especially that is rolled op economy, especially that is rolled op to that but we are going into the elections with more people in employment than ever before, last year we saw more investment into the united kingdom than before, our manufacturing order boots are at the highest for decades, people are feeling some of the benefits coming through. the best way to protect those things after brexit is if we are ina those things after brexit is if we are in a customs partnership. no most of the investment is coming from outside the european union, most of our trade goes to outside the european union, at the present time. the imf says 90% of global growth in the next 10—15 years will be outside the european union. we need to have have a good trading relationship with europe but we need to be be free to make choices outside europe. what is the framework for that good trading relationship? that seems to be something that you and your collea g u es something that you and your colleagues can't agree on, and this is nearly toerers after the referendum? no, there is the issue

of the customs union for which the government has been clear, we won't be in the customs union, because we are leaving the european union and you can only be in the customs union if you are in the eu. let us be clear, this week, the cabinet could not agree on what the frame work should be. there is to contention about that because the prime minister sent off her officials to come back with revised proposal, nearly two years since the referendum and the government has not been able to agree among itself what the ideal model would be, let alone persuade the rest of the european union, shouldn't voters be entitled to feel worried about that? we wa nt entitled to feel worried about that? we want a foreign exchange sunless relationship as possible. that idea has been round for nearly two years. i was has been round for nearly two years. iwas in has been round for nearly two years. i was in the us in seattle, with amazon, they are able to get goods moving across the world, they deed deal with the customs issue, they

are done electronically, we have had are done electronically, we have had a new agreement which commits us all to moving to more frictionless trade. it means we have to look at light regulatory touch, we have to look at electronic ways of diminishing kothss at border, that is -- diminishing kothss at border, that is —— cost, that is way the world is going. to get that in place, lots of people might say it sound great. we are almost at the end of the road in this process, brexit is upon us and we are still talking about what might be possible or the kinds of things that might work, that is why people are, they are right to be alarmed aren't we? we can only go as fa st alarmed aren't we? we can only go as fast as the technology allows us to go but we have to lock to see what the best is. how is it that us and canada for example can manage a virtually frictionless border? we

already have differences, in, with ireland, with the different currency, we have different rates of duty and we make that work. the question is not really about whether these things maybe possible, it's these things maybe possible, it's the question that the tory cabinet have no been ato agree which clear options they want to pursue. this is about the inability to make these political decisions among yourself, if you can't agree among yourselves how do you think you have a hope as a country of persuading 27 other nations to go along with what our government wants to do? it is not a question of picking one option or another it is setting the test and find systems to make it work. there is no point going to the european union if we don't have a workable alternativele can i ask you is it true the cabinet were told neither options would be ready until 2021 at the earliest. as you well know i never comment on

what was said inside cabinet meetings. that wasn't a denial. good morning to you tom, good to have you with us, welcome you to the fold. somewhere did you say that walsall was remain? no, big leave. yes. your perspective on where we are, given your party's perspective on where we are, given your pa rty‘s clear perspective on where we are, given your party's clear stance on it?” think you have just here liam try to explain where the government is, and has singly failed to explain how by decision 2020 the government are going to have in place what is required, because businesses have got to, they have to put these systems in place, they have to have time to test them, i mean otherwise we are facing a tsb scenario where something gets rolled out with little tests and could lead to

caicos, the fact is because of the intab of the brexiters and the remainers within the government, they are, i would sayjeopardising a huge section of the uk economy, because how can our exporters plan for something they need to have in place, when the government are still arguing about what the solution is? that is as has been said nearly twoer ear the referendum vote. it is more than a year after article 50 was triggered and less than a year before we come out the european on your. what is the liberal democrat solution? you are in government liam. you should have thought this threw. i am just liam. you should have thought this threw. i amjust asking liam. you should have thought this threw. i am just asking do you have a position? i assume when you campaign to leave you had a solution for this. you are in government, you advocated leave, you need to have a solution on the customs union. you need to is have a solution in relation to the northern ireland

border and you don't have one. are you telling voters you don't have a position. our position is clear, we wa nt to position. our position is clear, we want to stay in the customs union. well, that is sour solution, you don't want to take it, you're... leading to a car crash, that is your choice. 0k, choice. ok, shalli choice. ok, shall i go to plymouth for a second and just take a pause? because we have the result confirmed, that labour have gained plymouth from the conservatives. 31 to labour. 26 to the tory partiry toe tory, a gain fossil fuel four seats for labour in plymouth. labour gaining plymouth from the conservative, 46% of the vote to 45% , conservative, 46% of the vote to 45%, so pretty close on percentage share of the vote. and, that is where we are. so i want to tell you one thing about, did have something from north east lincolnshire as well. but. there is a third recount

in north east lincolnshire, in the final ward. in north east lincolnshire, in the finalward. so, any will in north east lincolnshire, in the final ward. so, any will bring that do you when i have it. so far we have this. 18—17. 22 needed for a majority. 16 to declare. 14 already declared. but, the kind of third recount thing going on but noises are positive about labour at the moment. worth remarking that plymouth council going to labour, that is the first labour council gain of the night. so that is a moment at 3.28 in the morning, a council which labour have actually taken. in the morning, a council which labour have actually takenm breaks with analysis of others because ukip lost seats it looks to labour in plymouth. so it goes against the narrative that hillary benn was making earlier. that is a clear movement. estill have to consider the turn out. it is great labour has gained a council. i have been told we also elected a

councillor in whitney in david cameron's backyard so we are making progress, in portsmouth we have four seats extra, labour has won three from the tories in wandsworth, southport we have our first ever elected labour councillor so labour is making gains and progress. you lost in sunderland, cannock chase, areas labour needs to make gain, you areas labour needs to make gain, you are not winning in the places where you need... we can agree it is a mixed picture. that it's a mixed picture but labour is doing quite well. labour were eight years into office they lost 4,000 seat, they should be making huge gains tonight. i don't think there is a direct, i don't think, you can fill that out as enough but i don't think that is as enough but i don't think that is

a relatable... while as enough but i don't think that is a relatable. .. while these two trade blow, the analysis of key wards so far which tell us about the general picture shows in london so far the swing from labour to the tories, so, sorry from tory to labour is 1.5 serbs. outside london, the swing is 196 serbs. outside london, the swing is 1% from labour to the tories, so again, small, it looks like small shifts but two countries here, politics in the capital and politics outside. it is small shifts but for labour, in the right direction. one and a half percent... my fault for reading it out slightly wrongly to begin with. we will sort it out, don't worry, give me a second, i want to catch up with westminster. we were talking to carolyn quinn earlier about labour prospects in the city

of westminster, it's been conservative for decades. she's there and thank you for waiting army you have some guests. over to you. there were hopes here for labour, they certainly knew they needed a 9% swing to take control of this council and that hasn't happened although as the labour leader said, we are giving the tories a real fight, we put ourselves on the front foot, let's hear from fight, we put ourselves on the front foot, let's hearfrom the fight, we put ourselves on the front foot, let's hear from the local mps, cross— party foot, let's hear from the local mps, cross—party unity, we have karen but, the labour a landmark field the conservative mp, both representing the westminster area. you have had a couple of successes, not quite the swing some people predicted but tell us about the successes. we've won two councillors taking the whole of maidavale which is the first time we've won that award since 86, we've

won a council in bayswater, the first time we've won anything very since 86. it's great, lovely to make gains, i'd like to make more, we are not finished yet. it would be nice if we made more but these are very high swing wants, we always knew that, we threw a lot at it, worked very hard, in the end these are big swings and it would have taken a miracle to have taken the council it's good to make games. the suggestions from some people will the momentum surge and there was certainly a lot of momentum activity in some of the words, perhaps that turned people off voting for labour, that's what one person said to me. what's your view? a straw poll of one person. . . what's your view? a straw poll of one person... there's not a single issue or act liberty you can find in politics that you will not get people saying this motivated me to vote one way or the other, come out

and vote or not. i'm sure it against some, it lost some, in the end you need a lot of people to get your vote out particularly in tough, inner—city, hard to reach areas and it's great to have that help and of course there will always be some people who say my daughter has been knocked onto many times, stop, of course. mark field, has been a moment during this campaign for you listened to the talk of westminster possibly turning red after all of these years of conservative control, did you doubt at every port during the campaign it might happen?m did you doubt at every port during the campaign it might happen? it was always going to be a big mountain to climb to win and i think to be fair, it's been a very hard—fought campaign from both the main parties. i'm very disappointed we lost some seats and long—standing councillors like richard holloway and jan prendergast will be missed but the truth is we have held up pretty well and one of the strange things about

being here is i'm not sure what's going on in the rest of london. i think we may have done rather well than some people predicted, further doubts being shown all across the capital, i don't know. have either of you been able to make an assessment, the impact that non—british eu nationals have been able to vote in these local elections, in the referendum of course this area voted quite broadly in favour of remain. yes. i spoke to quite a few, they are entitled to vote, many did not, let's be totally honest. there were some who i think saw it as an opportunity for a second brexit vote but in fairness, many of the long—standing eu nationals, many have lived here for many, many years, may not have regularised immigration status, they

will have voted on a range of local issues, the fact we have low council tax, westminster council doesn't preclude good job at keeping the streets clean. —— a pretty good job. karen, has it been bins and not regs? it's always a mixture of national and local politics but the critical thing, with a slightly improved turnout on previous local elections, it is way below general elections, it is way below general election level and one has to look at how people vote when they are making a local decision as opposed to making a national decision. they will tend to put more locally and i think eu nationals will vote the same way as anybody else. thank you both very much. thanks very much and thank you to your guests, carolyn

quinn, in westminster. interesting reflection on the battle we were talking about earlier, the kind of things that are happening in london, a note from john curtice for us, the election centre, saying the first half dozen results from wandsworth in south—west london, the contest we we re in south—west london, the contest we were talking about earlier, some talk of labour possibly challenging for that council, showing the labour party vote is up by nine points, more significant than the percentage boost we were talking about a short time ago, the conservative vote down bya time ago, the conservative vote down by a point, suggesting john says the outcome could be running close, by that we mean to say closer than we we re that we mean to say closer than we were talking two hours ago. laura? it seems so tired, a huge target for london, sadiq khan the london mayor

was down at the count, a crisper has reached me that he has left the camp, he may be popping home, but you wonder if labour felt secure about a victory he would not be leaving. but as they think it's going to be tight, we are hearing also whispers about turnout and some hired turnout in areas where there has been a sense this might be a decisive moment, will that have happened in the right wants, will it be patchy across different places but i think wandsworth has been extremely tightly fought, my phone keeps pinging with different m essa g es keeps pinging with different messages and people saying different things. isn't it amazing, it's been a conservative stronghold since 1978, one of their flagship councils, to even think labour is close, we are discussing the close to gaining outcome i think is quite phenomenal. if labour were to take it it would be a very symbolic and

big achievement for them, it is already held by a labour mp, having taken overfrom already held by a labour mp, having taken over from sadiq already held by a labour mp, having taken overfrom sadiq khan but wandsworth is patchy, labour to battersea. we've been through several phases tonight including john mcdonnell sitting there and saying no, no, we are talking about adding some councillors, this is a different thing. we were just hopeful we would add if you councillors. it's rather more than that, john mcdonnell at the end of april said we are on the edge of a significant victory, that's not what he sat there... yes, that is what i am saying. i have wembley in my backyard and, basically, when your team... not literally! i can see it from my window! when you go, when the team goes, you say we are going to win this game, we are going to win, you put everything into it, we

have had troops on the ground, not a is, it's been an amazing... that might lead the lib dems breathing down the tories neck in terms of the numberof down the tories neck in terms of the number of councils we control in london. we have a reasonable prospect of kingston, the tories have said we have won richmond, if we retain sutton we have councils. labour have made a net gain of 12 councillors. you know of what we need to put into perspective, eight years of this tory government, we've seen years of this tory government, we've seen 70% of cuts to local authorities budgets, that means they've had to provide services with very little money from this government and that unprecedented, so government and that unprecedented, so unprecedented you had tory councils go bust and write to the government saying we cannot continue under this budget and we have spent all of our reserves and that's unprecedented, the elephant in the room, these councils have done a

nominal job room, these councils have done a nominaljob providing a service on the back of tory cuts. we've had all of this from the labour party about how well they were going to do, this would be the great rate through. because we are ambitious. 12 net councillors... i must say i don't often agree with liam but labour at this point in time should have made significant progress and i don't think you have done that, look at the backdrop to this, which is what i call the chaos of rakes it and issues like windrush, the should have been an opportunity for a laboured to make real strides. those aren't national issues. local councils were fighting on local issues, not national issues. a quick word, laura, then i am going to the news. if people articulate how they feel the pain, why isn't that translating into some more... what i am actually saying is labour

councils have continued to provide a service despite the cuts, the drastic cuts from this government, they have shown themselves to be confident and that's been unprecedented for labour councils to have done... why isn't that brought out in results? the fact that labour has maintained councils that we help is actually quite phenomenal, given of what they've had to put up with undera of what they've had to put up with under a tory government.“ of what they've had to put up with under a tory government. if that was true you would expect voters to say let's have lot more of labour and you have 30 net councillors, over at the entire country, eight years into a government. each council is completely different, i am so proud of our local councillors who have retained control of the local councils and what have delivered. 0k, councils and what have delivered. ok, let's pause for a second. this is not a good result. let's pause for a second. at 3:41am i want to

join mike once again for the news. thank you — coming up a summary of the main stories — we start with the latest on the local elections. the first results are being declared in local elections across england — and — with at least 50 of 150 council results confirmed it seems that ukip support has collapsed. the conservatives have gained two hung councils — but lost control of trafford in greater manchester. labour have lost one council but say they hope to make gains in london. with the details, here's our political correspondent jonathan blake. celebration in swindon and relief all round for the conservatives. relief all round, we've fended off a significant challenge from the labour party, they worked hard in six of those seats, spent a lot of time and money and effort in trying to ta ke time and money and effort in trying to take some of those seats and they've not taken one from us. i'm delighted. the number of votes

recorded... reasons to be cheerful for the tories in essex, taking basildon from no overall control. but this election night is a marathon not a sprint, this is local democracy in action, voters across england have had their say. one by one, paper by paper, the crosses are being counted and those who set and spend your council tax or awaiting the boaters verdict. labour is strong in london, the mayor came to see how things were going in wandsworth, a couple of once rock—solid tory boroughs, the party had high hopes of taking, ton—80 did not sound so sure. i've never known anything other than a tory council in wandsworth, here we are, working in words which have never had labour candidates knocking on doors, we are working in words were residents have never received a laboured leaflet and that is the progress we made. yellow seemed to be the winning colour in richmond upon thames, the

tories on course to lose the richmond borough on an antique brea ks richmond borough on an antique breaks of platform. in trafford, labour were loving the fact the tories had lost control, the only conservative council in the north—west of england. any government can expect a kicking in mid—term local elections but there are mid—term local elections but there a re early mid—term local elections but there are early signs the conservatives are early signs the conservatives are picking up votes from ukip whose support collapsed all over.” brought my, i think it's my passport but i had better check, haven't i? yes, it's my passport, everyone. here in gosport and a handful of other areas odours had to bring id as part of a trial to cut voter fraud, there were reports had been turned away. most did not seem to mind. i have my driving licence and my bus pass, i don't often have that. this is the first brought tea rs that. this is the first brought tears to political opinion since the general election last year but will it bring upset audible things broadly say the same? in the sniper

son, for everyone, a long few hours ahead. jonathan blake, bbc news. —— ahead. jonathan blake, bbc news. —— a nervous night there's more from our colleagues working on our website — you'll find more analysis — and a guide to all the local elections — that's all at bbc.co.uk/news — or download the bbc news app. spain's prime minister has vowed that there will be no impunity for members of the basque separatist group, eta, even though it has dissolved itself and formally ended its violent campaign. mr rajoy rejected eta's request that its prisoners be moved to jails in the basque country, closer to their families. donald trump has admitted that he reimbursed his lawyer for buying the silence of a porn star over an alleged affair. mrtrump said the payment of $130,000, made before the 2016 election, was designed to stop stormy daniels making false accusations. president trump denies having an affair with her and also denies illegally using money from election campaign funds to pay her off. the disgraced television actor, bill cosby, and the film director roman polanski have been expelled from the us

academy of motion picture arts and sciences — the organisation — which runs the oscars. mr cosby was convicted of sexual assault last month. mr polanski has previously admitted to having sex with a 13—year—old. twitter is asking to use its users to change its passwords because twitter says an error has been fixed and there is no indication passwords have john, nice to see you, i am wondering now we have some more results in, including slightly different news for labour as well. how do you see things? well, i think the first thing we should say it is time to utter a health warning your score board, it is now very clear in line with a different results in london there is a bit of a swing to the labour party, outside of london there is a swing to the

conservatives, but because london is responsible for 40% of the seats up for grabs tonight, that seat tally is not going to provide you with a very good reflection of the performance of the party, what is going on now, those viewers who have been watching for the last two hours will have said hang on, wasn't it true the torieses were at 50 gains. yes they were. why are they down to 20, because they started losing seats in london. why are the labour party now up? they started to gain seats in london. that seat tally needs to be looked at separately, in london and elsewhere, because the truth is the conservatives are losing seats in london, gaining you side, labour doing no more than holding on the seats outside of london, and gaining in side london. here is a nugget for you. certainly

what is true is that in wards which are ethnically diverse, the conservative vote is not going up as much as those which are more white, the opposite is true for labour, why is this case? it comes back to this pattern that liam fox seems keen to deny, but in truth is written all over these results, which is that in areas where there were leave vote, in 2016 and which swung to the conservatives in last year's general election and which tend not to be ethnically diverse which find the conservatives doing relatively well. conversely more ethnically diverse areas which tend to remain areas are areas which tend to remain areas are are where the conservatives are finding life more difficult. one of consequences is finding life more difficult. one of consequences is that a constituency that the conservatives have always found relatively difficult to do

well in, that is ethnic minority voters not being made easier by this apparent relationship with brexit, though it probably doesn't have much to do with the windrush scandal. we pick up that with the guests in the studio in a moment, let's look at the results from derby, labour losing control of derby, look at the result, 23 seats, 20, laboured to the conservatives. let's look at the change from last time. labour have lost three seats, the tories have added three. and then, a quick look at the percentage, which tells its own story, 34% to labour, 39 to the tories. let's look at the change. we get a real sense of what's happened, ukip damned 11, the tories adding 15, laboured down by five, put derby

into perspective, john.” 15, laboured down by five, put derby into perspective, john. i suspect those of day tony blair disposition in the labour party might be tempted later today to argue thatjeremy corbyn has lost middle england. certainly leave voting areas together with derby, we have places like walsall, dudley, labour have done disappointingly, these are for some of the most disappointing performances have been and it's pretty clear that leave voting provincial england especially in the midlands is for the labour party is struggling. that reflects what happened in the general election, places like stroke and mansfield losing labour seats. labour losing that particular slice of england. john, thank you but before you go, i was mentioning we were half way through in terms of councils. within

the london area because we were looking at wandsworth earlier and right at the start of the evening, labour people and others making negative noises about the party's prospect of taking control of wandsworth, has that changed significantly or not? the truth is it looks as if there is a swing to labour may be around 4% but it isn't quite enough for labour to pick up wandsworth, they might perhaps still, we only have one or two results in from barnet, doesn't have to be that much of a swing for labour to pick it up, it depends how the cookie crumbles in the individual words. there might be a consolation for labour in london but at the moment the labour party must be worried, whatever cards they end up be worried, whatever cards they end up with tonight, they will have a headline game in london, is it possible the labour party will end up possible the labour party will end up being empty—handed, at least in terms of councils gained even though it looks they are going to be making some gains as far as seats are

concerned. john curtice, thank you, we mentioned barnet, i would like to join barry robson is, the labour group leader in barnet, thank you for waiting to talk to us, i know it all eight. can you give us a sense of what the party is up to, how do you read things? i must admit, it's so confusing, there will be something in the range of either the conservatives holding with the present numbers, 32 or we will have lead about three, it's in the range, so many split votes, mixed up votes, i think none of us know what's happening. i would say in barnet, for brexit was a big issue, we have done well, we have gained councillors over on that side of the borough. yes, iwish

councillors over on that side of the borough. yes, i wish i knew the result and i could tell you! laughter it's very close. we admire your honesty, it's very rare to have someone honesty, it's very rare to have someone who is that open and it's very good. tell me about the campaign, you know what i am going to ask, were the features, the controversies of the last few weeks, especially on anti—semitism which impacted the campaign in barnet? tell us. first of all we have been campaigning to win the council about ten solid years, the first canvas we did for this election, two weeks after sadiq khan was elected, we've been working hard for years on this. i think been working hard for years on this. ithink in been working hard for years on this. i think in many ways we had a very good campaign, we got quite a radical manifesto, some very good candidates, what you are asking is anti—semitism made a difference? it

has made a difference in barnet a couple of years ago and there is still quite a way for the labour party to regain the trust of the jewish community but i will say, we are further along that road so we went into this election with 1163 candidates which included a senior rabbi, with the council we have supported the definition of anti—semitism, several of us went to demonstrate support forjewish collea g u es demonstrate support forjewish colleagues on parliament square, we made it clear where we stand and if ican made it clear where we stand and if i can put it simply, i don't know whether what we have done has made any difference to the votes for the election and i am not sure i worry about that. to me it's a pure moral stance, you stand up against hate. on the day before, we in barnet met

with some rabbis and we said we stand next to you and we have said the same to thejewish community. we know for the right position to be is ona know for the right position to be is on a moral point of view and that is alongside ourjewish brothers and sisters and what ever it the result on the table behind me, that is where arnott will stand. your position is clear, what is your thought on how the party and leadership responded to what was clearly a growing crisis? it has begun moving in the right direction. it should have moved earlier, i'll be honest with you. but there is no magic wand, there are signs that we are going in the right direction, it will take some time to rebuild the trust because i mean, one of the disappointing thing is, we have been knocking on doors, i have had some people in tears because there has been a labour party, without the

jewish contribution there would not bea jewish contribution there would not be a labour party, very important for labour and the trade unions, they felt torn and all i can say is they felt torn and all i can say is the labour party took too long to act, it is beginning to act, i think we are good example of what can be done and i would invitejeremy corbyn to come down as souness he can to see what we have been doing in barnet. when can we expect the result, barry, what are your timing is there? right, there have been 3-4 words called, so many split votes, q have independence and so on and i think we are likely to have a couple of week outs sofa and we know, we might know who has won the council by 5:30am, we will know the final result when the birds are singing and the sunshine is up. i wish it was earlier, i honestly do! you and

me both! laughter thank you so much for talking to me. no problem. what do you think? i wonder what don adler's reaction is, you have a local labour leader, saying for two years he has been trying to confront problems with anti—semitism, telling us he has had jewish voters on two years that wrote in tea rs jewish voters on two years that wrote in tears on the doorstep. first of all i would say thank you to barry, he is great, very straight and honest and he's doing an amazing job. he is 100% correct, i don't disagree with anything he says. the labour party took much too long to act on the findings of the report as soon as act on the findings of the report as soon as it was done, it was stunned

speedily and it should have been implemented and we were too slow. but the new general secretary is committed and made it herfirst priority to implement all of the recommendations and she has already started. i think in a few months time we can talk about the actions, the solid actions are labour party has taken and as barry has said, we have moved forward quite determinedly, we have moved forward on the issue, the other thing i want to say about barry and barnet, the labour party has never held a majority in barnet, if we have a majority in barnet, if we have a majority at the end of this, whenever the results come and it comes at 5:30am, that would be incredible. you know, in no small pa rt incredible. you know, in no small part to the work that barry has done. a couple of results i want to bring you and then more reaction, lib dem results holding onto sutton, as expected. but i will give you those figures quickly. a hold in

sutton, 33—18, those figures quickly. a hold in sutton, 33-18, 12 those figures quickly. a hold in sutton, 33—18, 12 majority. i would like to look if i can add richmond. forgive me for saying it, possibly more interesting result in this insta nce more interesting result in this instance because in richmond, the lib dems are in control of richmond council, we have not had all the results, 36 in from 54 but already, 30 seats one, 28 needed for a majority but look at what has happened, 17 games with the lib dems, 21 losses for the conservatives, that is what happened in richmond, 46% to the lib dems, 29 to the conservatives, 12 to the greens, tend to labour. a combined loss for the tories and ukip. your reaction the that tom?” am very pleased, and i guess it is

possibly a combination of holding the seat and losing it very narrowly, plus the fact that richmond was a seat that voted heavily to remain, so i imagine that played into that. i don't know what the particular circumstances about the particular circumstances about the local authority were, it may be there are local issues in terms of how the council were run, but thaw is an outstanding result for us, as isaid is an outstanding result for us, as i said earlier, if we get a similar run in kingston or make good progress in kin son —— kingston, then that could mean we have gone from one to three council in london, that would be a great boost from us. on sutton, the figures are interesting because you know you have held sutton, but i think i am right in saying that, you have held on despite losing 12 seats. is that right in saying that, you have held on des yes, osing 12 seats. is that right in saying that, you have held on des yes, o: was 2 seats. is that right in saying that, you have held on des yes, o: was a seats. is that

new ‘éfi contractor new ugfi contractor who is a new waste contractor who doesn't deliver a particularly high sta n doesn't deliver a particularly high stan starred of service, that is —— standard of service. that can hurt. a couple of other things, i am hearing that hillingdon, labour might have had a hope of taking it, iam hearing might have had a hope of taking it, i am hearing that the tories have made net gains in hillingdon, also whispers sounding confident labour sounding less confident of taking wandsworth. this has been one of really symbolic boroughs up in london tonight, that is not confirmed but the conservatives are increasingly confident of holding that, although i think there are recou nts that, although i think there are recounts going on, so we may have to wait. liam and dawn, they will sadly

be saying farewell so a quick final word on what we have heard so far.” would like to come back to the whole anti—semitism thing, it is wrong to tar the labour with the anti—semitism thing, the labour party identified what the problem with us as dawn said they had a report. was a failure of the leadership. this is a stain on jeremy corbyn's leadership. he didn't get a grip on this issue in his party. as for the wider issues great result, sutton is a good result for us but next door richmond very poor result for us, we will wa nt very poor result for us, we will want the look and see what the lessons a re want the look and see what the lessons are there, for me, laura alluded to it earlier, the stunning result is derby because we saw 15% increase in the conservative vote, from last time, and this can not be put down to simply a collapse of ukip because the labour vote was down 5% in derby, if i were a labour activist, i would

down 5% in derby, if i were a labour activist, iwould be down 5% in derby, if i were a labour activist, i would be asking exactly what the impact ofjeremy corbyn's leadership is doing, for the prospects of labour outside london. that o would worry me for mousily. prospects of labour outside london. that 0 would worry me for mousily.” find it interesting whenever you have tory politicians on, like half the time they are talking about jeremy corbyn, i think that shows they fear him more than anything because i very rarely mention theresa may. can ijust say it wasn't a failing. you said she was racist. no, what i said because it is important, what i said was that the conservative party policies are institutionally racist. and so...” think it is offensive. it might be offensive but it is true. it is no true. in regard to anti-semitism, jeremy corbyn ordered a report, almost immediately, and that report wasn't implemented. it is not a failure of the leadership, it's a

failure of the leadership, it's a failure of the general secretary for not implelting that report. we sent ple nty of not implelting that report. we sent plenty of letters to ask why it wasn't. it has been resolve and that is the main thing. in regards to today and the results i think overall it has been a solid set of results, for the labour party. i think it has consolidated the general election level of support the labour party has shown, in the areas we want to do better in, what we have to do is work harder and there is one thing you know about there is one thing you know about the labour party. we are ambitious, we will be working hard to regain areas, or maybe get areas we have never held before or gained. can i ask, when you say, and you know, we have to be careful, when you say that conservative policies are institutionally racist, what do you mean by that? how do you justify that? so the macpherson report when it came out after the racist murder of stephen lawrence identified... about the metropolitan police. about

the metropolitan police. what they said was that metropolitan police was institutionally racist, it didn't mean that all police officers we re didn't mean that all police officers were racist it meant there was a culture within the police force, that december criminated againsts of discriminated against people of a certain race, that is black people. what we have found in terms of the conservative government their policies have had a negative effect for black and asian people. we found that in various levels of their policies such as the windrush scandal, such as the closure of women's ref fuming, such as the imprisonment of black or asian people. —— refuges. so therefore these policies are institutionally racist. liam, i have to give you right to reply. i think that is wrong. i think that a lot of people will find that an offensive interpretation of any data, even if we didn't dispute

the data which we would. politics have to be careful about using the word racist, in political terms applying it to parties or individuals, it is a very very dangerous... policies. it is a criticism of the conservative party. i think we are a party that believes in opportunity, we are a party that believes in meritocracy, we want to see people get ahead from whatever background. to use this word is a dangerous thing in politics. the lack of understanding of the effects of certain policies means that we will never get to grips with it, if you don't grasp it and i know it is uncomfortable and i know it is difficult, but at the end of the day theresa may herself ordered an audit, a which she talks about and thatry disparity audit showed clearly that the policies are having a negative effect on black and asian people. a a prime minister who

ordered is one of the first acts of her premiership a race audit can not be described as institutionally racist. what were the results? they made uncomfortable reading. what was that? in terms of outcomes across different ethnicities. what did it show? if we didn't want to deal with it we wouldn't have done it. to say it we wouldn't have done it. to say it is institutionally racist is dangerous. what did it show what did the result show? it showed we have disparities in educational outcomes, for ethnic minorities which we have to put right. we wanted to find out what the truth was so we could put it right. therefore this very casual use of terms like institutional racism is extremely dangerous. use of terms like institutional racism is extremely dangerousm use of terms like institutional racism is extremely dangerous. it is not a casual use. but on the point

that a prime minister who would commission that, couldn't be accused of being inany way racist, is that fairthing, of being inany way racist, is that fair thing, would you accept that? the fact she commissioned that report. that has nothing do with the issue at all. it has nothing to do with the issue. the prime minister commissioned it, because she knew that there were burning injustices in society. unfortunately, she has done nothing to extinguish any of those burning injustice, that is the problem. dawn, nice to have you with us and liam nice to have you with us, i know you will probably have a bit of breakfast, if you are lucky. tom, you are staying with us for a bit. we arejoining again by suzanne evans of ukip. suzanne, gosh, it seem evans of ukip. suzanne, gosh, it seem like five minutes ago but it was more like four hours ago. yes, i am ready for bed! in key wards, i am

being told byjohn curtice, in key wards we are looking at a a dip of round 16%, is that make sense to you? as! round 16%, is that make sense to you? as i said earlier, we knew it wasn't going to be a good night for us, i have to say three councillors in derby, one of them unseating the leader of the labour council, it might not be ukip's night but my goodness when we do win we do it with style and we put the cat among the pigeon, so there is good news there. away ins to those three. when you look across the board, where do you see signs or hopeful signs that ukip can regroup in some areas in a meaningful way? well, can regroup in some areas in a meaningfulway? well, i hope we can. imean, the meaningfulway? well, i hope we can. i mean, the situation when we last had these elections in 2001 was different. we hadn't had a referendum promised, so people i think are kind of perhaps reverting

back to the parties they supported before they became so passionate about the eu issue and realise the damage our membership of it is doing to the country. so i think, you know, it depends on what kind of brexit the current conservative government can deliver. i think there is a lot of feeling among ukip members that they are not exactly on the right path, ukip members are still very passionate about the cause, we recently raised over 3 £00,000 to keep the party in the black, so, certainly the members believe we have a strong future, as doi, of believe we have a strong future, as do i, of course, i think it is important we have a party like ukip in the country. earlier on we were talking to liam fox and the other guests here about the government's difficulty in getting to a consensus within cabinet on the kind of customs relationship, the trading relationship, the trading relationship that will exist after brexit. on the issue of a customs of

partnership as it is called, i autumn seem you have partnership as it is called, i autumn seem you have grave reservations about that?” autumn seem you have grave reservations about that? i think there there is a difference between leaving the customs union which i know liam fox has said he is determined we will do that, but my concern has been throughout the negotiations, that the conservative party hierarchy seems to have been capitulating to the european union, and its brussels that have been calling the shots, and it's i think made the negotiations much more difficult, i think if we had taken a tougher more principled stance with a sort of firm view that where we are going, we are going to be independent, we don't have to dance to the eu tune any more, i personally think these negotiations might have been a lot easier, and i think i feel and certainly a lot of ukip members feel we are still danning to brussels's tune when we shouldn't be. we should be doing what is best for britain, and not actually bending over backwards to

try and suit brussels. if that was really the case and ukip voters were appalled by how the government was handling the negotiations why are they flocking to other parties? i think there is something of a dilemma isn't there laura. i think a lot of people who have supported ukip recognise that actually the only people who can actually the only people who can actually deliver brexit now is the current government. in a sense, that means that i think perhaps many people feel they have to give that government support. now, if brexit doesn't happen in the way that it should happen, in the way people voted for in the referendum, then who knows? i think ukip might very well be much on rise again. don't you think you are hoping against hope? we are seeing that your support melts away? what is the worst that could happen if if ukip crumbles you would make a case it has been one of the most successful political parties in history, it was

set up with one aim to leave the european union and the amount of pressure it has put op has achieved that goal. now, i personally think there is a role for ukip notjust as that single issue pressure party, we are the only party that wants a smaller state and lower taxes, that has a clear plan for controlling immigration, the cutting the foreign aid budget and spending more of that money on the nhs, the police, education in this country and so on, and you know, we have opposed hs2 as well, which neither of the two big parties the have and they are still behind it. so i think there is definitely a place in british politics for a party like ukip and i think it is needed. good to talk to you again, thank you for coming back to talk to us. i have just had a result in from hillingdon, this is an interesting one because we were talking about labour's prospects there, and what might happen in this conservative—labour tussle. whats

that happened is it a very strong conservative hold. this is a par —— party london, a rare bit that voted leave in the referendum, a part of london thatjohn mcdonnell knows very well for labour, and i think a bit further afield boris johnson too, but it is a big hold for the tory, a majority of 23 on hillingdon council, gaining four seats, the conservatives, and labour losing four. laura, what do you make of that? only a very good night for the labour party would we have expected them to take hillingdon but this shows that labour are going backwards rather than managing to eat away at any of the tories lead on hillingdon, so in that context it is certainly a disappointment for them. now you mention it is the kind of, outer suburb, it them. now you mention it is the kind of, outersuburb, it was them. now you mention it is the kind of, outer suburb, it was a leave voting area, not the kind of inner london seat where labour stack up support, but that said, that is the kind of thing that to some people in the labour party it will be

worrying. not they didn't take it but they fell bang. recounts in two words in wandsworth. —— back. wandsworth is the nail biter of the night. so that is interesting. we have a new company of guests, james cleverly, john ashworth and christine jar dine. nice to see you. nice to have you in. what time is it? quarter past fourin in. what time is it? quarter past four in the morning, we are very pleased you have come in to join us. delighted to be here! you are conveying that. it is really nice. so, ok, let us start on hillingdon. laura is managing the very hard point there, which is that you know, you have you to confront the fact that hillingdon represents notjust a disappointment but a big backward step, is that fair? it does look like a disappointing result. i am

not sure which constituency we have lost those seats. it would be interesting if you can crunch it down. not yet. we will see if we can pined out. i am sure john mcdonnell will look carefully into what... how does that fit into the picture of evening? the picture is pretty good for labour. we are making gains in the sorts of constituencies which will be competitive. we have made gained in chingford. we are coming for iain duncan smith, we have made labour gains across putney, i don't know why theresa may sacked justine greening but she will be a very awkward customer on the backbenches for the tory leader when she is looking at the results she has got in her constituency, given some of the votes she has to reflect on on brexit in the coming months. we have done reasonably well in swindon. plymouth. jonny mercer seemed so fed up. we will take his seat as well.

we are making gains in the constituencies that will decide the next general election and the sort of constituencies that theresa may needs to make majorities in. they needs to make majorities in. they need to headache gains to get a majority and they are falling backwards, when the tory party is put to the people in the places that decide general election they are rejected. derby. that is disappointing. we were delighted when chris won that seat last year, we know he is enthusiastic, so i am not sure what has gone on there, where ukip seem to have done well, the only place they seem to have don well. i am sure chris williamson will be able to tell us. it is not just derby. nuneaton. swindon. basildon, we have increased the share of the vote in swindon. it a good basis for taking the seats in

the next general election. nuneaton is disappointing. i hope some of the decisions the party are making about campaigning, they will put more inhaves into nuneaton and bed forth, bedworth where we need to make gain, thatis bedworth where we need to make gain, that is disappointing. look at the places where we are making gains. derby, amber valley where labour should have been showing progress, as you sat down and named a few, there are equally if not more where you have fallen back. what about trafford ? you have fallen back. what about trafford? tory trafford has fallen. the last time they lost it was when tony blair was the leader. trafford was a good result for you. you have been round labour circle, you know yourself as part of ed miliband's tea m yourself as part of ed miliband's team to be looking convincingly as a party who are on the march, banging on the door of number ten as you claimed you were after the general

election, you are not seeing the kinds of advances that would mean you are in that kind of position. well, despite what i like to think of as having a youth. demeanour, i have been round for a long type. what my years of experience are telling me we are winning seats and council seats and increasing the share of the labour vote significantly in the sort of constituencies that will decide the next general election. do you think thatis next general election. do you think that is enough? james, your thoughts? i love john to bits. i envy... look out! i envy massively that deep well of enthusiasm and optimism, i mean the simple truth of the matter is someone who went to bed, someone who went to bed at 10 o'clock, if they woke up now and saw those result, they would be asking what went wrong for labour? because

at the start of this, they were confidently saying they would wipe us off in wandsworth, westminster, in barnet, in boroughs all over london, we were told it was going to bea london, we were told it was going to be a red wash in london, sadiq khan turning up to the count in anticipation of being able to make a passionate and up beat speech, i understand he has left the count. in big parts of the west midlands, and in other parts of the country, it was meant to be labour's big night. between 97, and 2005, the labour party lost 4,000 councillor, that is the kind of numberses that the opposition need to be winning to put themselves in a place to win, and we are seeing, until the start of tonight they lost 197 and they are

not, sorry, conservative lost only 197 and labour needed to be taking lots of councillors off us, and lots of councils off us to really demonstrate full momentum, what we have seen when people go to the ballot box they have looked at the labour party, and the i have looked at their conservative run councils and gone you know what, this is about bins and about roads, and it is about school, it is about the things we use every day and value all the time, and they are voting for good quali local services rather than some ideologically driven contest against the conservative party. i contest against the conservative party. i hate to break it to you i think your tally is plus 21. that could change. labour are up 12 on... sorry, the loss between 2010 and when we entered government and this year, so in the same eight years we

have only lost 197 rather the than 4,000 that labour lost over the same period of time. understood. christine, where are you? we talked about sutton earlier despite the fa ct about sutton earlier despite the fact there were heavy losses but you held on. prospects elsewhere? yes we are doing well in hull, liverpool, we have done well in eastleigh and this is good night for us. for me it feels very like last career in scotland, we had the same sort of results in the council elections there, we have turned the corner. people are coming back in area where we have served the community well. they are coming back, voting lib dem again and it is a good night. iam going again and it is a good night. i am going to show you a graphic. you won't thanking me for it. but look, it is to talk about the scale of the challenge. right. if you go back to you know the blair victory 97, you run there with nearly 5,000 councillors and you were up there,

with well over 4,000 in the 2000s. you are still there with nearly 4,000. you are onable 1800, you are still there with nearly 4,000. you are onable1800, and i am just wondering how long does it take for you to get back to the strength this local government you had for such a long time. i mean, i suppose the graphic really underlines what has happened to the party and the fa ct has happened to the party and the fact you have had a very difficult time but that you have a very big mountain to get back to anything like your strength in local government of previous years. like your strength in local government of previous yearsm like your strength in local government of previous years. if you look at that, yes, we lost a lot of seats in the years we were in government. if you look at it it stopped. we stopped losing seats and we have started to come back, we saw la st we have started to come back, we saw last year if local council elections in scotland and the glenn we started to build again —— general election. people started to have faith in us again and in areas where we have been remitting people, are we have

been remitting people, are we have been running the council, part of the council, we have had representative, they see that, they see we are working for them. that is beginning to to be reflected. we won't turn it round in one local council election, but it does show that the tide is turning.” council election, but it does show that the tide is turning. i would love to say this is my mental pretoria tick, on the rate you are going it would take you 60 years to get back up to the level you were at previously. you say it is a start. but a start, it is, so, how do you do that? the people who have been elected tonight and last year and who will be elected in the next round, they have to prove and i have to prove and my colleagues have to prove rethe policies and and as we start to go, that growth will accelerate as people see what we do when we are working for them and representing them in the way we have donein representing them in the way we have done in the past. neverest let it be

said we don't bring you answers, because we have a team of geniuses, we have an answer. injohn mcdonnell‘s seat two gains and one less, in boris johnson's mcdonnell‘s seat two gains and one less, in borisjohnson's seat two gains, and that is where the conservative gapeses were and one net gain injohn mcdonnell‘s seat and...| net gain injohn mcdonnell‘s seat and... iam net gain injohn mcdonnell‘s seat and... i am pleased thatjohn mcdonnell and claire perry aren't still sitting there. you have no idea! idea! you will have a much more civilised discussion at this time. he has said he loves you to bits. he tweeted a nice thing about me. that is disappointing, we will have to look at that. we think boris johnson's seat is up for grab, we think he is in big trouble. and john

mcdonnell has been on the doorstep, he said at a rally we are on the edge of a significant victory and talked about that implication you could decapitate borisjohnson, to use that rather unpleasant metaphor. does that suggest he is wrong? this is where i think labour are getting it badly wrong. they are making this all about attacks on individuals. and comments about individuals, they are not talking about policies, they are not talking about policies, they are not talking about policies, they are not talking about the voters that matter the most, the language onis using about we will take them out, we are going to take them out, very aggressive, that is exactly the language that we heard about the councils that i wither going to take out. wandsworth, westminster, they we re out. wandsworth, westminster, they were going to take out barnet and here, here and here. the most, the language onis using about we will ta ke language onis using about we will take them out, we are going to take them out, very aggressive, that is exactly the language that we heard about the councils that i wither going to take out. wandsworth, westminster, they were going to take

out barnet and here, here and here. the voters have gone "i don't want that, i don't want you to be using this as an ideological crusade. i wa nt this as an ideological crusade. i want to know who is going 0 deliver my local services at best value for money. " my local services at best value for money." on that point, what i want to do isjoin my colleague money." on that point, what i want to do is join my colleague tim donovan again and tim, are you in a position to give us the latest guidance in wans worth, what is going on? —— wandsworth?m guidance in wans worth, what is going on? -- wandsworth? it don't look as if labour can do it. it has been apparent for some time, and you, we have heard you talking about it, sadiq khan arrived and left here about an hour afterwards and lot of other labour supporters disappeared. there are two wards left and labour, it looks beyond them. the conservatives are currently on 29. they need two more for a majorityt one of the wards is absolutely beyond reach, 15% needed, so the presumption will be they will take that one. one of the wards was a key

target, even labour taking three of thoseit target, even labour taking three of those it won't be enough. martin linton is doing an interview be mind me and trying to put a positive gloss on this and say, we have our council numbers ups to 25,26, gloss on this and say, we have our council numbers ups to 25, 26, we had 19 going into this election, but you will know that labour put a lot of effort into this and it is going to as carlin mentioned, give the conservatives the opportunity for a deputy chairman, like the chairman did, back in1990, deputy chairman, like the chairman did, back in 1990, to look at results like this, in wandsworth and westminster and say, no, there is a distinct limit to labour's reach and dominance in the capital. and i think this result more or less confirms the outcome of this formally, but most of the labour supporters have left and it is a sense of december pond sip among them. for now, thank you tim.

i would like to go to hold and our correspondent is there to tell us what is going on in the north—east. labour held on, tell us more about that. -- hull. labour have survived a potential scare here in hull denied, holding on and retaining control of the city council, despite a big lib dem surge, the lib dems increasing their share of the vote, gaining seven seats at the expense of labour, very few people would have addicted this, largely the cause hull is largely a probe brexit city, go back to the 2016 a friend, two thirds of voters chose to leave, not you would imagine natural lip them fertile territory. the party leader sir vince cable came here on the campaign trailand leader sir vince cable came here on the campaign trail and said brexit was not an issue for voters in hull,

they would vote on local issues, it was not another referendum. possibly he was right because the party has seen a he was right because the party has seen a big increase in the sure of the vote, a long time since we have seen the vote, a long time since we have seen the lib dems winning here and there are posters in the north—east of england, they ran this council in 2011, pretty much dead and buried and for the yellow lot here, they are treating this as a victory. that is interesting, i thought i would ask you about north east lincolnshire, that is a hung council, let's see what it means. this was a labour target, jeremy corbyn made one of only a few visits to the north and the campaign trail and one of the places he came to was grimsby which is part of north east lincolnshire. he said labour were pretty confident of taking that authority, it was home and are still hung, labour the largest party, he thought he could perhaps win some seats, get labour over the line but they have failed to do that, they

gained some seats, from ukip who are pretty much gone and out of the picture in this part of the world but also the conservatives gaining in north east lincolnshire as well. labour have failed to take that particular target counsel. thanks very much, that's very useful. all the latest from hull and north east lincolnshire. some points i will put the panel in a moment, laura, 40 you make of this? what's interesting, seeing the lib dems taking back some ground ina seeing the lib dems taking back some ground in a northern city, a place that was very pro—brexit, the lib dems have become so in westminster, having a different brexit policy, they are gaining hold in leafy richmond and places like that, the lib dems had significant representation in northern cities

once and one of the reasons local elections matter so much is for the psychology and feeling amongst activists and if you don't have counsellors you probably don't have many activists who are willing to pound on the doors, do all the hard graft, that local x and national politics is built on. hull, you were at one point in control. denied as an important and a good night for us, iwas an important and a good night for us, i was sitting outside, we had as many games, at the moment as labour and conservatives put together, it's and conservatives put together, it's a while since we have felt that and the point laura makes us a good point, having these councillors on the ground working and encouraging activism and voters as well, they will see what we can do and come would fig}?

would be 5,7 would be 60 3 is would be 60 if’ ' " ' is a would be 60 if’ ' " ' ba???— woulthis60 ef’ ' " ' ba???— woulthisisiéf’ ' " ' this is a good night. this is confirmation if you like