a and i hope you and i will be on a similar programme after the european elections, and let's see what happens. my analysis of what is happening tonight is that people are upset that we have not delivered on the 29th march. john curtice sertic — it's a plague oi'i john curtice sertic — it's a plague on both our houses. not my house! it's not a plague on my house. you have come from a very low post. 5 base. let's have a look at the scoreboard, shall we? the scoreboard says this. this is numbers of councillors.

the greens are up by 18. ukip is down by 25. that is the scoreboard. let's pause for the news. hello, here is a summary of the bbc news. first results are coming in from voting in local elections for 248 english councils and six mayors, also for eleven councils in northern ireland, but councils there will begin counting in the morning. jessica parker reports. results coming in, some smiles and cheers. but there is disappointment too for labour, they have lost control of hartlepool and the wirral. but not everyone is upbeat. labour have lost control hartlepool and wirral. overall, the party so far are looking at a small net loss of seats. it is not looking good. this is going to be a very difficult night for labour. we have been out and about across the borough and the message we are getting loud and clear is all about brexit. and the residents are telling us they are going to make sure there is some change

because of their dissatisfaction. the tories are looking at initial net losses too. despite holding on to the battle ground of swindon, the conservatives have lost control of councils including st albans, southend and peterborough. earlier, the prime minister, polling card in hand, what does the picture mean for her? i think she needs to take a look at how many councillors we have lost overnight. wake up in the morning and think about how she thinks the conservative party needs to put its best foot forward. 50, early signs it could be some of the smaller parties, like the liberal democrats and greens, gaining ground. but there's a long way to go. this is a big set of local elections and parties are watching closely, testing the waters after recent tumultuous times in westminster. so on it goes, verdicts being delivered one ballot box after another. they were certainly eager

to get going here — it's democracy in energetic action. and energy is what it is needed. it's a long night ahead. jessica parker, bbc news. the speaker of the us house of representatives, nancy pelosi, has accused william barr, attorney—general of the united states, of lying to congress, which would be a crime. he released a summary of special counsel robert mueller‘s report on russian interference in the 2016 election. mr barr told congress he wasn't aware of any reservations mr mueller had about that summary. it has since emerged that mr barr was in possession of a letterfrom mr mueller outlining serious concerns. speaking to bbc news, the democratic senator and presidential candidate bernie sanders said there was a culture of dishonesty in the trump administration. the truth is that you have a president of the united states who lies all of the time. it shouldn't be very shocking that we have an attorney general who lies to congress, and that's something that the house will make their own determination about.

what you have which is equally frightening is an administration that is trying to stonewall the house of representatives, not bring people forward who should be testifying, not providing the information that the american people are entitled to have. so i think the house will do what it will do, and they should be as tough as they can be. ajury in the united states has, for the first time, convicted drugs company executives of charges relating to the opioid crisis. john kapoor, founder of insys therapeutics, was found guilty of racketeering charges, along with four senior former employees. they had bribed doctors to prescribe a painkiller containing the highly addictive opioid fentanyl, often to patients who didn't need the drug. more than 40,000 people have died in the us of opioid overdoses in the past year. residents of the north—eastern coast of india are bracing for the arrival of one of the most powerful storms to hit

the region in years. hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes as cyclone fani approaches. many have taken refuge in shelters set up in schools and government buildings. the cyclone is expected to make landfall within the next few hours, with winds of about 200 kilometres an hour. that's it, now back to election 2019. yes, welcome back to the bbc election centre. we are monitoring all the results as they come in from 248 local authorities in england. so far, 67 of those councils have been declared and some 1600 seats already declared and some 1600 seats already declared as well, with more than 6000 to come. quite a lot of counting to go throughout friday morning and into the afternoon. but we are already in a position where we are already in a position where we can spot certain trends. i would like to ask reeta to take us through

the results. huw, these are some of the results. huw, these are some of the latest results. most of these are in. barrow in furness is a labour hold. rugby is a conservative hold. chelmsford is still counting. it is white, so that means there is not yet a declared result. but look at this. the liberal democrats are on 20 seats, and the conservatives are on three. this is a conservative council. it has been conservative since 2003, and they had a majority of 47. they were defending five seats last night, and they have won 20. let's

have a look at the seats change. it's a straight swap. a real reflection of what we have seen going on elsewhere tonight. i would also like to show you wokingham. it isa also like to show you wokingham. it is a conservative hold, with a majority of eight. but we again see this interesting liberal democrat progress. and i willjust go to the share change. there you have it, the conservatives losing 12% of their share of the vote and the liberal democrats going up by 18%. this is an interesting counsel because it is an interesting counsel because it is a remain voting area, but the conservative mp isjohn redwood, a key eurosceptic. so lots of different factors at play here in

wokingham. thanks very much. christine, you couldn't resist a wry smile at that point. no. chelmsford is not a council at the start of the evening that we would have thought we would be on the verge of taking. we also looked like taking north norfolk and we are finding mps like john redwood and jacob rees—mogg, with a sizeable number of liberal democrat councillors in their seats, jacob rees—mogg now has a liberal democrat councillor himself. so we are seeing a democrat councillor himself. so we are seeing a move democrat councillor himself. so we are seeing a move in these areas from conservative to liberal democrat, and it may be that the millions of people who voted remain who live in conservative seats that are voting leave feel ignored, that their views have not been taken on board. i think there is a lot for all of us to listen to in this result. we have been clear about where we stand from day one, and i

think the conservatives have moved. labour is unclear, and the voters are saying that they want clarity. they have had three years of a mess, and they want clarity. we are coming out of this world tonight because we are providing that clarity —— we are coming out of this well tonight. it may not be what 17.4 million people voted for originally, but they say in us voted for originally, but they say inusa voted for originally, but they say in us a clear view. i am confident that when we get to may the 23rd, that when we get to may the 23rd, that clearview will be popular again. i'm going to talk more about the lib dem performance withjohn curtice in moment, but the results from trafford has come in. 32 needed for majority and labour is already on 33, the tories on 19, the lib dems on three. let's look at the change from last time. we were in trafford last year when the tories lost their control and we spoke to the former tory leader earlier.

labour on 41% of the vote with 29% of the tories. the big loser there is the conservative party. if we look at the difference, 15% down on the result last time. i suppose first of all. trafford and your thoughts on that, don. that could prove to be one of the highlights of your night. it is at the moment. most definitely. laughter trafford is a remain area. we are pleased we've won it from the conservatives. we have some labour councillors working really hard that show the difference that labour councillors can make and now we have a labour council that we show the difference that a labour council can make. it is a good win for us. we

won 15 out of the 21 seats and 33 seats at the moment. it's your only council gain so far so you hope to add to that. its a good result and i'm sure we will add to it as the evening wears on. trafford is interesting. it's a symbolic win for the labour party because for a long time trafford was the only little pinprick of blue in a sea of red in the north west of england. all the areas of central manchester and the doughnut around manchester city. it is important for them to have gained that foothold in local government in trafford. no doubt that is an important moment for the labour party. some whispers from labour sources tonight. they have looked at some analysis which isn't going brilliantly for them so far tonight. still at an early stage. they are suggesting on the basis of the vote across various different bits that have come in, they would have taken some key seats they would need in the general election like south swindon, thurrock and peterborough.

big health warning caveat at the moment. at this point in the night, we have a lot of results but there isa we have a lot of results but there is a long way still to go and also the pattern of the results coming m, the pattern of the results coming in, it may mean the tories have a rough morning and labour has a better morning. that health warning, we are not at the stage yet where we are able to make conclusive... any kind of final judgment. are able to make conclusive... any kind of finaljudgment. although both of the main parties are not exactly impressing voters. trafford isa exactly impressing voters. trafford is a blow for you. of course it is. to lose any councillors is a blow but i would remind viewers that the 2015 result, the local elections then, was a high point for us. we took six out of ten council seats. 32 councils were taken by us. and so the expectation tonight is we would lose seats and we will lose some

councils. but also places like north warwickshire and swindon, these are, for us, bellwether seat. north warwickshire, no party can form a government really winning north warwickshire, yet we held north warwickshire. swindon, we've done well. other parts of the country seem well. other parts of the country seem to be holding betterfor us but the caveat is we are still to see more councils declare, more a result tomorrow. my area is counting tomorrow. my area is counting tomorrow morning. there is a long way to go still. at this rate of loss, although... of course you are right, it is still relatively early, but... you know, it could turn out to bea but... you know, it could turn out to be a bit more painful may than you thought, but we'll have to see. when i came on to your programme, i expected us to be losing 1000, as i said, seats. we are... —174 at the moment. we have a long way to go.

0k. moment. we have a long way to go. ok. we talked about the lib dems and christine was understandably pleased with the gains they are making. it's important to put that into context. i'd like to bring john curtice in again. if there are lib dems ordering crates of champagne or whatever it is celebrate, what would you say to them? well, i would suggest a cheap rather than an expensive champagne... laughter maybe even prosecco would be more appropriate. dear me! in fairness, it isa appropriate. dear me! in fairness, it is a long time since christine jardine and her predecessors have been able to enjoy local election night. let me perhaps take a little bit of fizz out of the bubbles! we do have to remember, as has been pointed out on whether on one occasion, that the liberal democrats are defending their worst ever a set of local election results. these seats were last contended on the

same occasion in the 2015 election, went the party was thoroughly punished not only in the general election but also in the local elections for what many voters regarded as its sins in the coalition. to that extent, gains we re coalition. to that extent, gains were inevitable. perhaps a rather more sober measure of how well the liberal democrats are doing is to compare their position with 12 months ago and... bit of progress. on average up by two points. but not progress at a level that would suggest that the party is still performing at the kind of level that it was regularly before 2010, when sometime tomorrow we will tell you what the projection of national share is. before 2010, we always had the liberal democrats well above 20%. they've been nowhere near that since 2010. so far at least i'm not entirely sure we will be going back to those early levels. that said, to other points to make. christine may

or may not be right about the importance of what she considers to be the clarity of the liberal democrat position, but the honest truth is, so far at least, we here cannot find much of a relationship between whether the area was particularly prone remain or approach leave and how much the liberal democrat vote has gone up. which does decline want to they are more useful vehicle of protest, perhaps a vehicle of protest now that perhaps voters are beginning to forget the sins of the coalition. and that they have gone back to being able to perform some of that role. the second thing is perhaps the good news for the lib dems, that one of the reasons their seat telly is going up is that they are doing particularly well where it matters. ie, where they are second, when they we re ie, where they are second, when they were starting first. that is where the liberal democrat advance is strongest. one of the ways in which the lib dems managed to crack the first past the post system before

2010 and begin to get sizeable representation in the house of commons was to build up local bastions of strength. even many of those got badly eroded in the 2015 general election. maybe what we are beginning to see here is some signs of recovery on some of those bastions of strength, but that said, i will remind christine, in terms of the national vote share in the opinion polls, the party is still running at 8% which is exactly where it was in 2015 and 2017 general elections. signs of progress, maybe, but has the party fully recovered from the problem is that the coalition created for it? i think not, still quite a way to go. a quick sentence if i can limit you to that, john. apologies for that. on where you think the tories are running at the moment, given the rate of loss we are seeing. the truth is because the liberal democrats challenge more in conservative areas than labour

areas, because they are doing particularly well when there were challenges and the conservative vote is down from 2015, ergo the conservative tally is beginning to increase losses but it is the lib dems who are doing the damage rather than the labour party. more specifically on labour, where you think that is running at the moment? the honest truth is we have been saying since the first result, this is looking like a rather disappointing set of results for the labour party. we can argue about how many games we labour party. we can argue about how many games we expect labour to make andi many games we expect labour to make and i think certainly there was a serious question about exactly how well labour would do in the local elections. i think, well labour would do in the local elections. ithink, to well labour would do in the local elections. i think, to be honest, the labour party have certainly come in at the bottom of expectations, or indeed probably even a little bit below that. john, useful as ever. thank you very much. john curtice for us. back in the studio, reeta,

ta ke for us. back in the studio, reeta, take us through ashfield. they are still counting in ashfield but this is interesting. another display in which voters are moving away from the two main parties towards smaller parties. the winning post in ashfield is 18. there are 17 still to declare. this great big column for the independency is 16 independent seats and just two labour seats. just to talk you through where this council was before, it had been won by labour in 2015. they had 22 councillors then. then the party suffered mass defections locally and it went into no overall control. it was a hung council. one wondered whether voters would be more loyal to the labour party than their own councillors were, but on the display so far it doesn't look as if that is happening. let's have a look at the seat change, and there you have it.

independents up 15 and labour down nine. liberal democrats down four, as well, and the conservatives down to macro. many thanks. we will bring in the panel in a second but i'd like to bring in my colleague, sean daly, who is in winchester. what can you tell us about the position there after the counting? well, there's no way that the conservatives can come back. they did have control of the council with just one seat. at the moment we have four macro results yet to declare and at this stage there is no way there is any result other than the fact the liberal democrats are going to take control of what frankly has been a 2—party race here in winchester. what are the factors? what has led to this? everybody was saying it was brexit, but that doesn't appear to have been the case. we heard earlierfrom

peter in portsmouth that everybody was almost surprised that that wasn't very much a factor there. liberal democrats all throughout the evening were saying they expected to gain between three and five seats. at the moment that seems very much like they are going to be on course for that. the results are still slightly marginal. both parties are insisting that people were voting not just insisting that people were voting notjust on brexit, but other issues and that would be recycling in the local area, parking, transport infrastructure, it is a short hop to london on the train. but what is interesting, speaking to the conservative sources here in winchester, they have spoken about a rather large number of spoilt ballots with general brexit abuse. they say not just ballots with general brexit abuse. they say notjust directed at the conservative party, but very much a frustration by the electorate and also we should of course say there area also we should of course say there are a lot of frustrated conservative candidates here as well this evening. thanks very much for the latest there. some news from

winchester. winchester, if that is... with four to declare and the lib dems definitely taking control, is that outside the realms of what you thought would happen or not?|j think what you do get in local elections or some local variation, and we see that now in winchester and we see that now in winchester andi and we see that now in winchester and i think portsmouth, where it doesn't feel like the sort of brexit issues are playing out in the same way. that's right. in winchester, we only had that council by one seat, sol only had that council by one seat, so i think that was to be expected. again, some areas what you are getting is a sort of local issues playing out. we saw it with tunbridge, around housing. in other areas you are seeing big protest votes going to the independents or other smaller parties. the caveat on all of this is, as i said at the

beginning of the programme, we can't read too much into it but certainly there is, in a lot of areas, the brexit issue, where the two main parties seem to have suffered from... labour's lack of clarity or us from... labour's lack of clarity or us being unable to deliver on 29th of march with an orderly brexit. there are variations. you've been a great panel and i'm sorry to say that you're going to leave soon, but you are probably thrilled you are leaving! laughter christine, just an end thought before we bring some of your collea g u es before we bring some of your colleagues in. to the three of you, thank you for being here. just some thoughts as you leave us as to whether lib dems are now. it's still early. we have, asjohn curtice said, made progress. wouldn't have imagined at all at the end of the evening we would be where we were before 2010, but he's absolutely right. i was strength was always

built on grassroots politics. always built on grassroots politics. always built on grassroots politics. always built on local communities. and that is where we knew we had to start rebuilding and that's what we've been doing. i think we are seeing tonight that we are coming back, people are coming back to us and we still have a lot to do to rebuild and to rebuild that confidence. but i think we are confident that we are coming back and what we are seeing is that people respect the fact that what we have been absolutely clear about our national message is remain. vince cable tonight, which i noticed, not once have you mentioned him. have i not? you have done it now. maybe you should stay on, christine! finally the lib dems are seeing success! vince has done a good job in rebuilding... laughter i think it's only fair to say

that... i think it's only fair to say that. . . that i think it's only fair to say that... that was a low blow, sorry. we said a lot about theresa may but we said a lot about theresa may but we haven't mentioned jeremy corbyn. thisis's where are you with that? we are at the end of the session, where are at the end of the session, where are we are at the end of the session, where are we with labour? i think we will be looking very closely at the results at the end of tomorrow. we will also need to look at the turnout because where we have low turnout, labour normally does less well and smaller parties do better. so we need to look at each council individually. it has been disappointing thus far. i hope we make progress and it gets better as time goes on. give me a sentence at, as honest as don has been about the appointment she is sensing.

as honest as don has been about the appointment she is sensingm as honest as don has been about the appointment she is sensing. if we don't deliver on brexit, we will be punished, i believe. you are being punished. but i'm mean general election, because the parties have not played a part tonight are the brexit party and the chains uk party. but the brexit party are clearly making grounds in the european elections. it is incumbent on all of my colleagues who want to honour the result of the referendum and keep their promise to deliver on that. let's take that of the table so we that. let's take that of the table so we return to looking at the domestic agenda and what each party will do for the country. to the three of you, thank you very much. i hope you get a bit of kip at some point. i hope you get a bit of kip at some point. lam hope you get a bit of kip at some point. i am going to go to stoke—on—trent, because ruth smith is waiting for us, the mp for stoke—on—trent north. thank you for joining us. give us the update on labour in stoke—on—trent. joining us. give us the update on labour in stoke-on-trent. it's a

very mixed bag this evening. it is not a great set of results for the labour party. the conservative party are having an ok night, but the real winners are the independents. we have a city independent grouping who have a city independent grouping who have done very well this evening. from my perspective, the leadership need to look at these results carefully a nd need to look at these results carefully and have a genuine postmortem because this is a strong leave area and my constituents don't trust us to deliver. let's unpick that a bit. what do you mean by that and does it tally with the kind of thing is that some of your labour collea g u es thing is that some of your labour colleagues have been telling us on the programme this morning, which is that they feel that labour's stance on brexit is either unpalatable or not clear enough? my constituents just don't believe that we will deliver brexit. i represent a seat thatis deliver brexit. i represent a seat that is 73% leave and what is quite clear, especially if you look at the spoiled ballot papers this evening,

is, we don't trust you, ukip, ukip, ukip, and we haven't got many ukip candidates standing this time, but they would have done well if they had. and there is a huge amount of independent support because they wa nt independent support because they want anyone but the tories or us. it has been a really tough set of results so far. some brilliant local councillors have lost their seats. my councillors have lost their seats. my frustration is that we seem to have just abandoned them. no matter how hard we are working locally, we need clear messaging on the top and playing around isn't working. give me an example of a clear message which you would like which you are not getting. well, it is clear that i want to deliver brexit for my constituents. what we have seen from the results today is that the labour party because ‘s current position is in our industrial heartland in places like stoke—on—trent and ashfield and other places up and

down the country like walsall, where we are down the country like walsall, where we are equivocating. that isn't helping either the remain or the leave areas. we need a clear policy. i need to be seen to be delivering for my constituents, and we need to be seen to be listening at the very least. you did very well with that chap who pass the lens there. just in terms of the whole notion around the possibility of a people's vote or another referendum, gardiner was on earlier, —— barry gardiner was trying to say this is not a clear cut proposal. it's a very difficult thing to put together. . and it is not just a simple thing to put together. . and it is notjust a simple a or b thing, he was trying to plead the case for the kind of stance the party has taken on this. do you have any sympathy

with the fact that the party is trying to face in two directions on this? i speak to my colleagues who represent remain seats on a regular basis. the reality is, we represent the most remain seats in the country and the most leave seats in the country. but this isn't working for anyone. the results tonight aren't good enough. after nine years of a tory government, nine years of austerity, nine years of cuts for my constituents, we should have walked this tonight. i am so devastated for my brilliant candidates who haven't won, although one of them just has, which is why you are hearing cheers in the background. so obviously, they are celebrating. when you make they are celebrating. when you make the case to the leadership about the fa ct the case to the leadership about the fact that you can't see a lack —— you can't see the charity you want,

what is the response you get?|j understand what is the response you get?” understand how difficult this is for the leadership, but i resigned as tom watson's pps in order to vote against a second referendum. i didn't vote to extend article 50 because i am trying to honour the wishes of my constituents. i understand why people like ben bradshaw in exeter and others have a very different view and position to me. so i don't envy the leadership this decision, but the difference is, we are losing seats in our industrial heartland, our core labour heartlands, and we are not winning seats elsewhere. so we need to decide what kind of political party we are going forward, who we really are here to represent. i am clear who i want to represent and i am going to keep fighting for my constituents, but tonight has to be a wake—up call. we can't keep sitting on the fence. but leaving without a deal, would that be bad for your constituents? it would be absolutely appalling for my constituents, which is why i have never voted for it, and nor will i.

i have been consistent all the way through. but because you were against extending article 50, why did you do that if you think that a no—deal brexit would be damaging for your people? i think a no-deal brexit would be extremely damaging. ididn't brexit would be extremely damaging. i didn't vote to extend article 50 because i just want us to i didn't vote to extend article 50 because ijust want us to get on and deal with it. we are definitely in the right place now in terms of negotiations. that should have started much sooner, but i want to make sure i have something to vote for as opposed to keep voting against, so that we can move on with brexit and my constituents can at least stop hearing us talk about the b word. i amjust least stop hearing us talk about the b word. i am just going to bring in laura kuenssberg. ruth, do you think this set of results will make it more likely that you and your colleagues who are desperate to get

brexit done for their constituents would vote for the prime minister's deal? you are one of the people who has been involved with the talks with the conservatives about trying to find a way forward that might get some mps from labour on board. do you think this set of results will mean more labour mps are willing to come across? this set of results wasn't going to sway my mind one way or the other. as you know, laura, i am inclined to support the prime minister's deal because i want to move minister's deal because i want to m ove o nto minister's deal because i want to move onto the next stage. i want the assurances we are now move onto the next stage. i want the assurances we are now starting to see in terms of workers' rights, environmental rights, consumer protections, all the things that will matter, to ensure that we don't leave without a deal. ijust will matter, to ensure that we don't leave without a deal. i just want to move us leave without a deal. i just want to move us onto the next stage. and i hope that that, with the customs union, means we can move hope that that, with the customs union, means we can move forward. and would it make it more likely for you to put pressure onjeremy corbyn to budge on the cross—party talks?” have been clear with the leadership about what my position is. i am vice

chair of the parliamentary labour party. jeremy corbyn knows my views on this and i will continue to make sure he does. but tonight, there are consequences for us sure he does. but tonight, there are consequences for us not moving forward with brexit and there are hundreds of councillors who will lose their seats tonight. i won't have a labour council, and neither will my constituents in the potteries. laura, thank you and ruth, thanks for being so open in your comments, which is good for the programme and good for the exchange of views. let me introduce the new panel. this is our third panel. so they are fresh. which is more than me and laura! we have sian berry from the green party. we spoke a little earlier. we have neither griffiths from the labour party and we griffiths from the labour party and we have the vice chair of the conservative party, marcus. we will have a chat in a moment because there's plenty to talk about after ruth's contribution. but i would

also like to bring in caroline harle, former conservative leader in winchester. are you listening to us loud and clear? i am, thank you. thank you so much. tell us what happened to you this evening. thank you so much. tell us what happened to you this eveningm winchester this evening, i was delighted to be able to retain my seat and be re—elected as a city councillor. but sadly, we lost control of winchester city council this evening to the liberal democrats. and what is your analysis of why that happened? my understanding from the electorate is that they love what we had to say about the work we have been doing in winchester, we are giving them recycling of glass, building affordable homes and we gave them 0%

council tax rise. most residents we re council tax rise. most residents were delighted with that. but u nfortu nately, were delighted with that. but unfortunately, the national picture was frustrating many residents. we area was frustrating many residents. we are a 60—40 remain area, and that impacted our campaign. so do you think the boost in the event for the lib dems locally was mostly to do with brexit in your case and not local issues? well, certainly based on the comments we had on the doorstep, people made the distinction between local issues and national issues and that they are happy with what we are doing, but they are frustrated not just with our government, but all politicians in westminster who have failed to bring about a conclusion to the brexit deal. so what would your message be the party leadership, giving your experience in winchester

in this campaign? i would ask them, please listen to the people. whether you're a remainer or a brexiteer here, it seems that they just want a deal completed. they want the transaction completed as per the referendum. so if people can come together and agree a deal, that would be the best position for everyone. thank you for waiting up so late to talk to us. that was caroine horrill in winchester. before i talk to my friends in the studio, i would like to go down to bath and talk to my colleague, paul. what is going on? it's been a dreadful night for the conservatives here. ‘s north—east and somerset was a counselling which they won a solid majority four years ago. it has been turned on its head this evening. not

only have the conservatives lost their majority, the lib dems have come roaring through. it looks as though they will end up with overall control of the council. independents have picked up some seats. labour area have picked up some seats. labour are a small presence in this area. on the door, brexit has been playing large. this area voted remain in 2016 and i think cynicism about brexit and the government's performance has played a large part in this. the council leader himself, conservative tim warren, lost his seat to the lib dems. one resident of his area is one jacob rees—mogg. he has now got a lib dem councillor representing his part of rural north east somerset. i am sure that will go down very well. give your thoughts on how the campaign has gone down in bath. we have talked

about lots of areas where there have been big majorities in favour of leaving, but it's interesting to look at an area like bath, where the dynamics are completely different. in terms of what conservative party workers have been having to deal with on the doorstep, clearly there are with on the doorstep, clearly there a re lots of with on the doorstep, clearly there are lots of people who don't want brexit to happen at all. so is this a range of views that goes from people who want the deal completed and got out of the way, or people who frankly are looking for different ways of trying to get to a different ways of trying to get to a different place on brexit altogether? i think within the city of bath itself, you have a strong and vocal campaign for britain to stay within the eu. they have been some of the strongest supporters here, and that has given a boost to the liberal democrat cause. if you come into the more rural areas, there was a stronger leave vote. jacob rees—mogg has long contended that his constituency probably voted for leave, but those leave voters

are not impressed with what the government has been doing. for the conservatives over the course of this campaign, they have been trying to get across their local record. they are pleased with it. they feel they have not done badly at a time when it has been difficult, when council finances have been cut severely. actually, that north east somerset has not fared badly compared to some of its neighbours, but they found on the doorstep that that message was not being heeded by the voters. turn out in some places is quite low. it's variable, but it seems the lib dems got their vote out. the conservatives couldn't get their normal supporters to get out to vote today. thank you. we will look at that. interesting to hear the view that in bath and the surrounding area. our political editor there in the rest of the west country in bath. sian and nia

of the west country in bath. sian and mia and marcus, you've been waiting. there is a theme. it is to do especially with the big parties, about intense frustration on the ground. it isn't just about intense frustration on the ground. it isn'tjust leave areas, it's some remain areas, as well. intense frustration with the leadership of parties. we heard it with labour and now the conservatives. will this set of election results, whatever it is by the end of friday, be enough to persuade theresa may, for example, that a much bigger effort needs to be made in tandem with labour to find some kind of deal, possibly even before the european elections can take place, as are some people suggested early, or that the timetable seems ambitious? does that not need to happen? well, i think when you look at it there are a number of things. firstly, when all of these seats were contested that we've just been talking about, it

was off the back of the 2015 general election. there was a huge turnout on the day. the lib dems absolutely collapsed to nothing and off the back of that there were many conservative councils elected across the country and where we were against lib dems very often they we re against lib dems very often they were elected and wiped the lib dems out. clearly we've had a challenge tonight and i am very sad that we've had a number of excellent conservative councillors and good quality conservative councils that have been delivering for their residents that have lost this evening. but what i would say is that there is a lot of frustration on the ground, i've seen that in my own constituency, the two wards i had up for election this morning. but it is more nuanced than whether you wear but it is more nuanced than whether you wear leave or remain. we saw that in sunderland, where 70% of people voted to leave up there. labour lost ten seats, we gain four macro, ukip stood everywhere and won a couple of seats but also the greens are gained as did the lib dems. it indicates to me that the

frustration more than anything is that the politicians have not got to an outcome and therefore it will be very interesting over the next few days, whether some of the people, whether my colleagues in the constituencies you've just talked about, and the labour mps, people in the north. i've met car manufacturers with these labour mps and the car manufacturers have said vote for the deal. they have refused. i think they are going to have to reflect because when you look at what has gone on over the last few days, they may need to rethink and i think the deal on the table is better than the sort of compromise that is being discussed because it gives us the opportunity to get out there and do our own trade deals, rather than being locked into a permanent customs union. unfortunately, nia's leader said it, he has splinters in his backside on terms of being on the fence. in london they are saying we will have a second referendum, "they respect. the public are not stupid

and you can see it. i'm asking about conservative and labour trying to agree some deal. you know, the dynamics of that are very difficult. you are still talking about getting conservative mps to vote for the deal. those who have been very relu cta nt to deal. those who have been very reluctant to do so. the reality is there is a deal on the table. if people had come together by now and voted for that deal, we would be out of the eu and this frustration you are seeing coming through tonight would not have come through. of course. the other point is it's the second part of this that is the important part in terms of forming what will be the future arrangements with the eu. ruth pretty much said it there, that actually the first bite in terms of the withdrawal agreement, she didn't seem to have too much problem with that. i'm wondering whether quite a few labour mps may take a different view. nia, away from you. you must be picking it up, as well. i know there were not any elections in wales this time but that level of frustration with the stalemate at westminster and the

lack of progress, you know, you must be picking that up. clearly these we re never be picking that up. clearly these were never going to be easy elections for us because as you quite rightly say, the public has been rather turned off politics by what they've seen going on in westminster. and also, of course, the lib dems did very, very badly in 2015. they were virtually wiped out, hardly an mp in parliament. and the local council is obviously reflected the same position and so one would expect to see some gains from them and again we are seeing very, very low turnout in these elections. again, possibly an effect of people being... not everywhere. in some areas it's been fine. not universally low. but not the same sort of turnout as you get when it is combined with a general election. of course not, it never will be. they have been very difficult and, yes, i think there is a tendency very often for local issues to

dominate and for local individual candidates. but let's be clear, local elections, it can be very small numbers of votes that actually make a difference between one candidate and another one. nine yea rs of candidate and another one. nine years of labour government, surely the labour party should be winning hundreds of seats tonight. they should be winning in wards like mine. they should wind north warwickshire, swindon. in swindon, we warwickshire, swindon. in swindon, we have won a seat there tonight, a good labour seat traditionally, we haven't held it for years and years, off the labour party parliamentary candidate. there is a point about the political cycle. we are in exceptional times. let's note that. we know that. and yet this is a government that lots of people take the view it has made a complete hash of the brexit process. it is prime territory for labour in terms of lots of people's perspective of where you should be. so it's not just that this is a disappointing result. you've lost 54 seats at the moment. you should be in a position

where you are gaining hundreds of seats on this electoral cycle. is that not something you accept? seats on this electoral cycle. is that not something you accept7m seats on this electoral cycle. is that not something you accept? it is also a point that in some areas like london where it labour does extremely well i'm not up for election this time. these are a lot of rural areas, difficult areas for us. we have taken trafford. trafford isa us. we have taken trafford. trafford is a difficult area. manchester, very strong labour, but trafford has a lwa ys very strong labour, but trafford has always been highly contested and other areas like thurrock and plymouth where we would actually ta ke plymouth where we would actually take parliamentary seats on the sorts of results we've seen this evening. there are important things to note on that side. overall, dawn who was sat there before i was perfectly honest about the fact she thought this was a pretty disappointing performance so far for labour. let's see where it ends up. absolutely. but so far pretty disappointing. you go along with that? clearly there have been some difficulties for us and we would have liked to have made stronger

gains. but it is a very mixed bag of results and i think a lot of local factors have come into play and also i think it is quite interesting to note, as in sunderland, for example, a strong leaf area, that we lost a seat to remain parties. it's much more complex than what's happening nationally. sian, we talked earlier that the greens were up by, i think we we re that the greens were up by, i think we were talking about... up by 15, 16,17, we were talking about... up by 15, 16, 17, 18, we were talking about... up by 15, 16,17,18,what we were talking about... up by 15, 16, 17, 18, what is the latest? you are showing 19 on your scoreboard. laughter i don't know what the latest was.” got the magic voice. 20. where was the last one? where was the last one from? do we know? ok. let's give them a second... melton in leicestershire, trafford, north west leicestershire, trafford, north west leicestershire, south lakeland, worcestershire, cotswold leeds,

rochdale, sunderland, south tyneside, reading, rochdale, colchester, exeter. the spread is still there. we put the point to the lib dems earlier, given the fact that this pattern is not consistent. it is simply a protest vote. it is simply people thrashing around for something in order to avoid the other parties. i'm just putting it to you. it is true that the awful results for the conservatives and they are not at all impressive for labour, are pretty disastrous for the two biggest parties. the ones who should have been running the country, keeping things on an even keel country, keeping things on an even keel. they've made a complete mess of brexit, its complete chaos. they are both to blame and i can't believe you are arguing that this result means that labour and conservative should sit together and put together a deal and take the decision away from people when the absolute clear conclusion is that it's a complete mess, everyone wants

it's a complete mess, everyone wants it to stop, no matter what. and that putting something to a people's vote is the correct way to deal with this now. i cannot believe you think a backroom deal between labour and the conservatives is a mandate you have from those members of. number 20 was in braintree. brilliant! we already have councillors there. the gains we are making here, and i've been to a lot of these places, and visited the teams who were working to win those particular seats, these are breakthroughs to new councils and they come about through hard work. you know, these are... the lib dems, you look at them now, they are defending seats from 2015 and they had a very, very bad year in 2015, so you would expect them to have some kind of dead cat bounce this time and make some gains, and they are making gains. we had a very good yearin are making gains. we had a very good year in 2015, our best ever general election. we were on the back of a huge surge in membership and

activism. what has happened since thenis activism. what has happened since then is people have worked in individual wards in new areas of the country, so not the usual suspects. people like —— places like cumbria and tyneside and south tyneside and exeter, colchester, where we have tried for a while. they've worked exceptionally hard to deal with local issues, to listen to people. deal with some of the problems that caused brexit. i'm not surprised to see any of these names on the list. lam see any of these names on the list. i am surprised to see the margins with which we are winning some of these seats but these are local campaigns that have lasted for yea rs. campaigns that have lasted for years. i wonder if they were also given all of the headlines in news and activism that people have seen on the streets. the intervention by the younger climate change activists speaking around europe. in the last few weeks there has been a focus on environmental issues in this country but we haven't seen that for some time. has that contributed?” but we haven't seen that for some time. has that contributed? i think it explains some of the margins by which we are winning. i think in

colchester we beat the tory leader of the group there by something like 800 votes. we went from below them to above them by 800. that is extraordinary. where people have had greens campaigning and they know the greens campaigning and they know the greens can win and then the big interest do an eco interesting surge in climate change, that has pushed our majorities. where people haven't campaigned, maybe not so much. with vote shares, if you look at the council, we got the biggest increase in vote share where we haven't necessarily been campaigning hard. there are lots of reasons to vote for the greens at the moment and they come together in this moment. somewhat interesting results coming in. reeta, update us. result from north norfolk. this was in no overall control and it has gone live dead. this is a liberal democrat gain with seven still —— it has gone liberal democrat. you can see 27 seats for the liberal democrat, for

for the conservatives and two for the independents. prior to tonight, the independents. prior to tonight, the conservatives needed five seats to gain this council. the liberal democrats needed six. it's the liberal democrats who have done it and quite vehemently, actually. look at the seat change. 13 for the liberal democrats. conservatives losing 15 seats there and independence doing echo independents gaining two. i want to show you one more counsel here. they are still counting here in the cotswold. this isa counting here in the cotswold. this is a conservative council and they are still counting, as you can see. the winning post is 18 and there are five seats still to declare. liberal democrats on 16 seats, conservatives on 11 and greens and independent x on 11 and greens and independent x on one apiece. let's look again and the seat change here. look at that. lib dems gaining six and the conservatives losing eight. this

council still several seats to declare, but this could go from conservative into no overall control. thank you very much. another interesting result. look at this in dudley. look at these figures, because they speak for themselves. very much a hung council. look at that. 36 apiece to the conservatives and to labour. so i think we canjoin our reporter there, lindsay doyle, who is in dudley. i know it's very early in the morning, thank you for talking to us. tell us about this result. how it was produced and indeed what the next step is going to be.” think for both the labour group and the conservative group it was a case of will someone rid me of this troublesome seat? at the same seat, four recounts on the one seat which caused trouble last year leaving dudley with no overall control. last year we had the interesting situation of a conservative

councillor who later defected to become an independent and then began to support the labour group. that seat went back to the conservatives this time, but they subsequently lost another seat where they had put a previous safe councillor into the norton seat where the independent was standing. we are back to the same situation as we had last year. 50-50, same situation as we had last year. 50—50, no overall conservatives do have a plan up their sleeve. they are planning to use their casting vote with the conservative mayor as a deputy labour mayor when they get back to full council. so we could see a conservative taking control by one seat as opposed to labour taking control until today by one seat. that is an exciting thing to report on. what kind of campaign was it in dudley, and was it like other parts of england? the main part of the campaign was to actually get people

to vote. oh, that's a shame, lindsay was just telling us the big battle was just telling us the big battle was to get people to vote. clearly, it has been an issue in terms of voter apathy in some areas. nia earlier talked about turn up. john curtice were telling us that turn out in some areas has been remarkably low. but in lots of areas, it has been very much in line with local government elections in the past. which is interesting, given how a lot of people thought people mightjust given how a lot of people thought people might just sit given how a lot of people thought people mightjust sit on their hands, stay at home, express their frustration with the mess in westminster by just saying, frustration with the mess in westminster byjust saying, i am not taking part. instead, while turnout is still low, it is low in the way it is always low at general elections —— local elections compared to general elections. so people don't seem to have expressed their anger with westminster by deciding not to take part. they seem to have expressed it by turning up and voting in different ways. just a

thought at this point in terms of, when we look at the fact that nia is slightly more reluctant to say that it's a disappointing performance at this point than dawn was earlier. maybe it will balance out later, we are still in a position where we have 6500 seats to declare, in fairness. what is your sense of the relative performance at this point, with 223 losses so far for the tories, and 54 losses to labour?“ we we re tories, and 54 losses to labour?“ we were in normal times, a conservative government that he had beenin conservative government that he had been in powerfor nine years conservative government that he had been in power for nine years would been in power for nine years would be losing seats hand over fist. they are losing seats, but at this stage, it is not the kind of haemorrhage they might have feared. there was chatter of perhaps them losing may be 1000 seats. by this time tomorrow, that could still come to pass, but the rate that we are seeing is not some terrible flood away of support from the government.

in contrast, in normal times again, which we are not living in, but in normal times, any opposition should be credibly taking hundreds of seats, and instead we see labour losing. they are not losing lots of seats, but certainly not making gains. again, by this time tomorrow, that picture may look very different. but i think that is a real contrast between the parties. we are again upending tradition here. we have a government that is kind of clinging onto seats in a way we kind of clinging onto seats in a way we would not expect after such a long time in office, and an opposition that is not making gains in the way that traditionally, they would if they were on the verge of being able to take power. and remember why it is so prescient now. it is because labour is pushing for a general election. things are so u nsta ble a general election. things are so unstable at westminster. it is possible that we might find ourselves in a general election quickly. so there may not be the luxury of opposition and thinking they have got three years until

2022. which brings me to one of the other battle grounds. why don't we bring in my colleague, patrick burns. patrick, it is 4.35, how does the world look where you are? to follow from what laura was saying, for the two main parties, varying degrees of disappointment. acute disappointment for labour. as i said at the beginning of the evening, stoke city council was where they set out their stall. they had the major event at the launch of their campaignfor major event at the launch of their campaign for these council elections, so it follows from that that to fail, as it appears they have done, the result is delayed because of some verification issues at the beginning of the evening, so we are at the beginning of the evening, so we are not expecting the result for another 45 minutes or so. but it's pretty clear that the city

independents are going to be the big story again here in stoke, and the likelihood is that the coalition with the conservatives will live to fight another day. so given the history of labour's campaign, obviously a disappointment. but talking to local conservatives as well here candidly, they have been saying to me that both the main parties take away from tonight'sevents so far the message that the ructions of westminster and the logjam in particular on brexit is casting a long shadow into these elections, which is why these city independents candidates in stoke are the perfect vehicle for this sense of disillusion. one of the key things in all this is that we have been talking about the possibility ofa been talking about the possibility of a very low poll. actually, if you ta ke of a very low poll. actually, if you take out 2015, which was the last time these seats were contested, and

was of course a high water mark because it was tied in with that surge of interest in what turned out to be david cameron's conservative general election winning campaign, if you take that year out of it, the turnouts we have seen here in stoke are actually in line with what we have seen in previous elections. i have seen in previous elections. i have seen in previous elections. i have seen plenty of turnouts of 40%. one, would you believe, was 60%, although that one does have a particular history of turning in very high turnouts. but one caveat to bear in mind, we heard nadhim zahawi talking to bear in mind, we heard nadhim za hawi talking about to bear in mind, we heard nadhim zahawi talking about it earlier, tomorrow we will see another set of results which come much more from the tory heartlands. we have seen the tory heartlands. we have seen the conservatives losing overall control in worcester tonight. tomorrow, there will be counts in other places like that, places like warwick, where the conservatives are defending a majority, in redditch. so there has to be a question there even that tonight has been disappointing for labour. is there a

flip side to this were the conservatives will be fighting something of a rearguard action in the morning? very interesting. thank you so much, giving us something to discuss. patrick was really offering us discuss. patrick was really offering usa discuss. patrick was really offering us a thought about the balance of these results and whether actually, labour is soaking up some losses during this morning, but as we go into the rest of friday, the tory losses, which are currently at 227, laura, could look worse. they could indeed and we know the geographic pattern of where the overnight announcements were and pattern of where the overnight announcements were and where the announcements were and where the announcements that come back tomorrow r. labour was always more likely to have a rough night in the toy is a better night, and then flip at some point in the early hours of the morning or perhaps in the middle of the day tomorrow. all we can say

at this stage is that labour are not doing as well as they would have hoped. the tories are doing less badly than they feared. but as you say, that could well change. the thing we are still sure we can say by the end of tomorrow is that both the main parties are suffering. we are not seeing a situation where one of them is dramatically managing to escape the fallout of the brexit mess. let's have a look at the scoreboard as we stand. just to stress, these are counsellor numbers. councillors gained or lost.

that is the scoreboard as we join mike for the news. hello, here is a summary of the bbc news. results are coming in from voting in local elections — for 248 english councils and six mayors. also for 11 councils in northern ireland, but councils there will begin counting in the morning. jessica parker reports. results coming in, some smiles and cheers. a hold in the battle ground of swindon for the tories, and again in north east lincolnshire. but less favourable counts in other areas for the conservatives, losing control in places like st albans, southend and peterborough. earlier, the prime minister, polling card in hand, what does the picture mean for her? i think she needs to take a look at how many councillors we have lost overnight.

wake up in the morning and think about how she thinks the conservative party needs to put its best foot forward. for labour, again in cavan but they lost control of councils in hartlepool and wirral. a sense in some areas that it wasn't quite the night they had hoped for. it's not looking good. this is going to be a very difficult night for labour. we have been out and about across the borough, and the message we are getting loud and clear is all about brexit, and the residents are telling us they are going to make sure there is some change because of their dissatisfaction over brexit. so, early signs it could be some of the smaller parties, like the lib dems and greens, gaining ground. actually feeling pretty buoyant. we have seen a lot of our vote coming out and the national picture is tough for the tories, so we believe we are tough for the tories, so we believe we are going to make some gains tonight. but there's a long way to go. this is a big set of local elections and parties are watching closely, testing the waters after recent tumultuous times in westminster.

asign in a sign in the wee hours of some cross— party a sign in the wee hours of some cross—party collaboration. so on it goes, verdicts being delivered one ballot box after another. they were certainly eager to get going here — it's democracy in energetic action. and energy is what's needed. with the results of many other races yet to come. jessica parker, bbc news. the speaker of the us house of representatives, nancy pelosi, has accused william barr, attorney—general of the united states, of lying to congress. united states, of lying to congress, which would be a crime. he released a summary of special council robert mueller‘s report on russian interference in the 2016 election. mr barr told congress he wasn't aware of any reservations mr mueller had about that summary. it has since emerged he was in possession of a letterfrom mr mueller outlining serious concerns. speaking to bbc news, the democratic senator, and presidential candidate, bernie sanders said there was a culture of dishonesty

in the trump administration. the truth is that you have a president of the united states who lies all of the time. it shouldn't be very shocking that we have an attorney general who lies to congress, and that's something that the house will make their own determination about. what you have which is equally frightening is an administration that is trying to stonewall the house of representatives, not bring people forward who should be testifying, not providing the information that the american people are entitled to have. so i think the house will do what it will do, and they should be as tough as they can be. ajury in the united states has, for the first time, convicted drugs company executives of charges relating to the opioid crisis. john kapoor, founder of insys therapeutics, was found guilty of racketeering charges, along with four senior former employees. they had bribed doctors to prescribe a painkiller containing the highly addictive opioid fentanyl, often to patients who didn't need the drug.

more than 40,000 people have died in the us of opioid overdoses in the past year. people on the north—eastern coast of india are bracing for the arrival of one of the most powerful storms to hit the region in years. hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes as cyclone fani approached. many have taken refuge in shelters set up in schools and government buildings. the cyclone has made landfall, with winds of about 200 kilometres an hour. that's it, now back to election 2019. welcome back to the bbc‘s election centre. it is 4.43 in the morning. in some places, they are still counting. in some places, they have sensibly put that off until later in the morning because lots of results are going to come in later. but we have had quite a few results and laura is still with me and reeta will bejoining us. and we have still got our friends will bejoining us. and we have still got ourfriends on will bejoining us. and we have still got our friends on the panel

with us too. but outside the studio, we with us too. but outside the studio, we have had lots of reaction from different places such as in sunderland, where strong views were expressed about the way labour has presented its brexit policy. then we went down to the west country and to bristol and then to bath, where there were strong views against the conservative brexit handling. so there has been a spread of criticism. priti patel, a former conservative cabinet minister, had this to say about the results. do you think theresa may needs to go?” think that is now the ultimate question. i will reflect and payback many of the comet i have heard are on the doorstep of the last three weeks while i have been knocking on doors —— i will reflect on the comments i have heard. people have said she is part of the problem. so we now said she is part of the problem. so we now have to look at these results, look at our direction of travel as a party. obviously, our party leadership and our party nationally needs to look at the

situation and make some serious decisions in terms of where we go. where would you like to see it go? well, i think we need change. we can't continue like this. i have been clear. many constituents have said to me, we need a change of leadership. perhaps the time has come for that. marcus, what would you say to priti patel? is she on the right track? i've been art on the doorstep a lot, i've been art on the doorstep a lot, i've been art on the doorstep a lot, i've been in my own constituency this morning and i came across a lady and gentleman on their front drive and had a direct conversation with them. they were strong brexiteers, they really wanted to leave the eu. they were really disappointed and frustrated that we haven't left. but then the conversation switched and they turned their fire conversation switched and they turned theirfire on conversation switched and they turned their fire on two people who had not supported the deal that they understood would have got us out of the eu. the conservative mps, you

mean? yes, and other mps. look at the results, say, in sunderland, where people clearly, and the leader of sunderland council, said he was very frustrated and he saw the frustration from the public. in an area that was 70% leave they think labour is not serious about leaving the eu. i agree that there are challenges, but i've got a lot of sympathy with the prime minister's position. and if we had a new leader, would the numbers be any different in parliament? that's what you got to consider and that's why i've been saying, look at the results, you've mentioned several constituencies where there have been conservative mps and... are not supported the deal. it would have got us to a position where we would have left the eu if they had. if labour mps have left the eu if they had. if labourmps in have left the eu if they had. if labour mps in strong leave areas had supported the deal, and i think all

these people need to reflect on this because the numbers i'm changing anytime soon. i know what laura says but i don't see there being a general election any time soon. bearing in mind these results i can't see much well in parliament for that. but people have got to realise, and i voted remain, that the public voted to leave. even in remain areas i don't think it's the fa ct remain areas i don't think it's the fact that people are trying to leave the eu that they take exception to. i think it is the fact that they see the confusion that has gone on. they see the verification that has gone on and they see that a decision was made and politicians haven't followed it through. there is an even biggerfrustration followed it through. there is an even bigger frustration that it is now causing so much uncertainty. i think that is what has driven a lot of these results tonight. perhaps someone like priti patel things are different prime minister might do a betterjob of being able to persuade parliament to move on. the numbers in parliament might not change but

the political atmosphere, the political alchemy might change if it was someone else. it may, but i think you've got to consider that there are so mi people... and this is not just there are so mi people... and this is notjust on either flank of my party, but within the leader labour ship, within what is now the independent group, for example. the snp. they are so entrenched... i think it will be very difficult for any leader to try to change the dynamic. i do know that there is a deal on the table and, actually, the discussion and debate and disagreement, possibly, actually is in the second part, which is not there a droll agreement but the future agreement. what changes? the numbers in parliament i'm changing the deal on the table is not changing and there is no point changing and there is no point changing prime minister. what can change? the point i make to you is ta ke change? the point i make to you is

take the result in sunderland. in sunderland tonight ukip have pretty much put a full slate out and the conservatives have won four macro seats. the lib dems have won a couple of seats. ukip have won a couple of seats. ukip have won a couple of seats and the greens have won a seat. it shows this is far more nuanced in terms of an issue. i think the frustration of the public now is that politicians are not getting something tangible that represents brexit over the line and i think that is what parliament now needs to reflect on, and certainly i think there are some conservative mps and certainly mps in constituencies in the midlands and north that represent labour that certainly need to think on that. but the direct answer to priti patel is she is wrong to call for a change. the prime minister has already signalled they will be a point at which she goes, but priti patel is basically saying, on the basis of these results she should go now. you are saying that implication is wrong? i think it's very difficult to see how you are going to change the dynamic without having different numbers in parliament. we have got

certain members of parliament in my party who are saying if this person is the leader i'm off, if this person is leader i'm going to go. and i think people need to reflect from these results. as i say, you know, bearing in mind there has been, in sunderland, a full slate from a party that very much represents a very pure form of brexit, 70% leave in that constituency, and it was very nuanced. people are more interested in getting out of the eu and moving on, rather than an out trying to go for the purist option that they perhaps want to. i think people just wa nt perhaps want to. i think people just want this settled. pause for a second. i will bring nia under sian in. reeta, let's look at results. some more results. let's go to welwyn hatfield first. this council in hertfordshire. this is a conservative loss. this is a council that the conservatives have had

since 2002. they had a slender majority, just a majority of two that they have lost that. as you can see here, they got 23 seats tonight. labour on 13 see here, they got 23 seats tonight. labouron 13 and see here, they got 23 seats tonight. labour on 13 and the liberal democrats on 12. let take a look at the sea change here, and you can see a slightly familiar pattern that has developed over the evening. conservatives losing three, labour losing one and the liberal democrats up losing one and the liberal democrats up for. that is a conservative loss in welwyn hatfield. i want to bring you a couple of that does macro want isa you a couple of that does macro want is a result and one ongoing count. result in new forest. this a conservative hold. hold with a majority of 32. the conservatives had almost all the councillors in this council prior to tonight. but as always the devil is in the detail. let's look at the way in

which the seats have changed overnight and look at that. conservatives have lost 12 seat and the liberal democrats have gained 11. that is striking result there in new forest. and just want to take you to a last council. this is cotswold, which we have been following all evening. all morning, i should say now! still counting. four macro to declare. the winning post is 18. the liberal democrats need one more seat to take this council. we will of course bring you that result as soon as we have it and it might just that result as soon as we have it and it mightjust be time for a quick update of where we are on the councillors. out of the councils, there are 80 of the 248 declared, and you can see the tally. the conservatives have lost 248 councillors. labour are on —59. lib

dems have picked up 168 councillors. the greens have picked up 25 and then ukip and independents and residence, you can see there. plus 138 for the independents. an interesting figure. reeta, thank you. before the results that reeta went through we were talking about the perceptions of party leadership. and all the rest of it. an interesting question, nia, given what marcus was saying about changes of leadership, would it be more likely that there might be a kind of finding of common ground on brexit in parliament if there were a new prime minister, or even if they were a new labour leader? what a change of leadership produce a change of climate and produce a different appetite to look for compromise and common ground? well, the weight that our parliament works is that in normal circumstances the governing

party drives through its electoral programme because it has a majority and because those people state and all work together. what we've actually seen over the past years is of course i completely split conservative party. so instead of having a party who is in control, who is governing, who can drive through its programme, they are almost afraid to bring any sort of legislation to the table at the moment because they can't actually guarantee getting it through. and so it's not an minorfaction, it's a major split down the middle and therefore i think it would be very difficult, even with a new conservative leader as prime minister, to change those numbers in any way. that's why we've been saying, well, quite frankly, there isa saying, well, quite frankly, there is a very strong case for having a general election. before we get to that, is there... lots of voters have said, these parties, they are just talking... there is no serious

intent in terms of these talks. they are not intent in terms of these talks. they a re not really intent in terms of these talks. they are not really in the business of trying to get some kind of brexit agreement. we had a couple of panellists much earlier, several hours ago, kind of saying the same thing, or questioning whether there was the real will there to find common ground or to get some kind of brexit deal on the table. what is your sense of that? we are certainly going into the talks in good faith. i think there are two real problems. one problem is that theresa may as prime minister has come very late to this. we could have told her months and months ago, even back in november, it was very clear to her that she was going to lose the vote on her deal. instead she repeated the same process three times, three massive losses. we could have been at this position of doing some talking a lot sooner, which would have been a lot more helpful. the other issue is that we have talked about the things that are really valuable to us, like keeping workers' rights and environmental

protections and also a customs union with the eu in order to do the best for our economy and particularly for our industry. but what i fear is that although we are hearing that the prime minister may be willing to talk about a customs union is whether, when a final agreement or deal may be put together, whether in fa ct deal may be put together, whether in fact the prime minister will be able to command the support of her party for that, or whether it will simply colla pse for that, or whether it will simply collapse at that point. we had people sitting here tonight saying the customs union idea is a nonstarter. absolutely. ifi can just say, i think a customs arrangement is something that clearly has been looked at. what the labour party are looking for is a fully blown customs union where we can't do deals, our own deals, with countries outside of the eu, and i

think the prime minister has been clear and i think that was what people voted for, one of the reasons people voted for, one of the reasons people voted for, one of the reasons people voted at the referendum. one of the challenges when you are going into negotiation is the hands of the labour party seem almost tied by their conference last year, which really sets out only two options, which is a general election, and if not, another referendum. i don't see how that's a good starting point for the negotiation, but i hope labour do come to the table and offer something that represents brexit we can now move forward with. laura. a question to both of you. from the results we've seen so far, which both of you, like —— both of you would like your leaders to do more to find a compromise. both of you has spoken openly about frustration. we've seen from voters on all spectrums with the way you parties have coped with brexit or not, would you both like to see more

seriousness, more effort from your leaderships to get something done together that could then get passed through the house of commons? well, i think on that, the governing party is the conservative party and they call the shots in parliament. it's extremely difficult from an opposition point of view to push forward a timetable. we eventually managed to get some indicative votes, but that was a massive struggle. even to get a small amount of time... at struggle. even to get a small amount of time. .. at the talks that are under way, would you like to see more effort because of these results with yellow the public is telling both of you, we are frustrated, we wa nt to both of you, we are frustrated, we want to get something sorted, fix it! they want a final say is what they are saying. people may be saying that... trying to completely renegotiate everything without the commitment, whatever you renegotiate before the people for a people's vote is nonsense from both of these people. i'm really sorry. i've been sat here for ages and i really

frustrated! i think the issue is that the dynamic is there that there isa group that the dynamic is there that there is a group of people who don't want brexit at all, there is a group of people who want what they see as the perfect brexit is not willing to compromise, and the labour party who quite frankly have played political games. that sounds much more like the spirit of compromise and. the issue there is a compromise on the table and if people that have met that compromise and could have had negotiations on the second part, we would have... the problem is, with these factions, not all of them can be right. but there is a cross-party process and from these conversations between these two, i don't think we will get much more... they failed partly because the dup wouldn't vote for it because it completely didn't vote for northern ireland. it's not a deal you can try and force through

now. labour should be going into talks asking for whatever comes out of them to go for a people's vote. we are looking today at all of these results that are changing completely how councils are made. all the vote rs how councils are made. all the voters i surprising everyone. the idea that people in three years... it is three years now nearly since the referendum. the idea that in three years people shouldn't have another indication of their feelings on brexit, and that referendum should stand for that long, when so much mess has gone on. it's in terms of working together and compromise, the fact is that theresa may's deal has been rejected three times clearly in parliament and it's a very bad deal. therefore, the compromise has to be to move towards the labour suggestions. we haven't changed our minds. we have said clearly the things that matter to us, keeping that close relationship

with the eu, which is vital forjobs and the economy, and keeping that relationship with the environment protections and workers' rights. but because theresa may's deal has failed, the company might has to be moving in our direction. but you can't be in favour of stitching that up can't be in favour of stitching that up with the conservatives without putting it to a people's vote. let's look at one result that has come in in the cotswolds. this is a lib dem gainfor in the cotswolds. this is a lib dem gain for the conservatives. if we look at the difference from last time, the lib dems were up eight and the tories down ten. it seemed to be a possibility for no overall control, so this is a result that has taken control, so this is a result that has ta ken lots control, so this is a result that has taken lots of people by surprise. that is cotswolds. then i will have a quick look at folkestone

as well. this is a conservative loss in kent. so if we look at the difference, nine down for the tories, the greens putting on six seats in folkestone. this is a major brexit area, let's not forget, in this part of kent. very interesting patterns of voting going on there, which i will come to the panel on in the second. but i want to go down to bath, because we are a whole house, the mp, is there for the lib dems. thank you for waiting to talk to us. tell us what has happened to you there overnight. we had a fantastic night. we thought we wouldn't be doing well, but we have done exceptionally well. that the tory vote would collapse in the way it

did, we didn't expect, but it did. across the country, we are making gains against labourand across the country, we are making gains against labour and against the conservatives. it is a big night, we are making the biggest gain since 2003. the liberal democrats are back. so here is the question we are asking you and your colleagues, given that you have such a clear line on brexit and your campaigning on that has been very clear. is this to do with that, or is it to do with the fact that you are seen in lots of parts of the country as a protest vote ? of parts of the country as a protest vote? i of parts of the country as a protest vote? lam not of parts of the country as a protest vote? i am not saying that in a derogatory way, but a protest vote and not something that is specifically to do with the brexit issue? i think the liberal democrats have done exceptionally well locally. we have always been the best defender of local democracy and we are best defender of local democracy and we are representing our community is very well. that is why we made gains. frankly, the conservative councillors made a mess of it, so

people have given their vote against the conservatives because locally, they are not happy. yes, nationally, it is also because the brexit issue is around. everybody is concerned about this and voters have given their verdict on brexit to the two main parties. we are representing the remain vote. the european elections are around the corner, and we elections are around the corner, and we hope that on this exceptional night, we will do well in the european elections because voters will come to the liberal democrats as the true remain party. when you look at the way the political process has developed at westminster over the last three years, and when you look at your experience in government between 2010 and 2015, are you saying that people's perceptions of the lib dems have changed in the last six months to a year, or what has happened? undoubtedly. the band has recovered andi undoubtedly. the band has recovered and i am pleased about that because

we and i am pleased about that because we did good work in government —— the brand has recovered. we had a disastrous result in 2015, but four yea rs disastrous result in 2015, but four years down the line, we are doing well again. and in terms of what people are saying to you on the doorstep, i am people are saying to you on the doorstep, lam interested in people are saying to you on the doorstep, i am interested in what your party workers are telling you they are getting. i think people wa nt they are getting. i think people want honest politics and honest politicians. and on brexit, the two main parties have been deceiving their voters. whereas we as liberal democrats had a clear message of what we are standing for and i think people respect that. they might disagree, but they respect that we have been clear about our message throughout. good to talk to you. wera hobhouse, the mp in bath. so i told you about the cotswold win for the lib dems, which was possibly

beyond their expectations, i don't wa nt to ta ke beyond their expectations, i don't want to take anything for granted. let's have a look at a little bit of celebration. how does it feel to be pa rt celebration. how does it feel to be part of a liberal democrat majority? do you think they are happy?“ clearly feels jolly good for those people. somewhere like the cotswolds, this is david cameron's country pad back yard, the land of green wellies and agricultural shows and people driving 4x4s to go to all the cliches. but that is quite something. that should be solid, safe tory territory, an outside chance that the lib dems could have pushed it to a hung council. but actually to win over there is quite something. there is a big housing

row there. it is the kind of area where young people simply can't afford to buy their own homes. there are no doubt other local issues as well. but listening to wera hobhouse, she was reluctant to say, we hobhouse, she was reluctant to say, we have made these games because we we re we have made these games because we were promising remain. she was making a more nuanced point and other lib dems, who werejumping to saying, i think that people have respected our clarity, and also acknowledging the importance of local issues. i expect over the coming days, there will be endless debate over whether good results for the lib dems and greens mean that somehow, millions of voters want to have another go at the referendum, or were have another go at the referendum, or were they registering protest, frustration with the mess that has unfolded in westminster? the answer is probably both, but which way it will swing, we will never know, because we can't get inside voters' minds. no, but without wishing to cause a lot of trouble in the studio, if we look ahead a few weeks

to the potential likelihood of a european election, we are then looking at a more multilayered thing going on where some of these voting motivations will be rather more complex. and in some areas, rather more forthright and assertive. and ina way more forthright and assertive. and in a way even simpler, because then there will be a party on the ballot paper that has the word brexit in it, the brexit party. second of all, there will be a party that has been founded largely in order to stop brexit, change uk, who have also made a big splash in their early days. anna soubry and chuka umunna have one reason for being. so at the european elections, there will be not just another opportunity for people to vent at the main parties, but a binary choice, may be a bit like the referendum itself. tick here if you want it to happen right now, tick here if you want to stop

it. labour has not been able to do that and the conservatives have not been able to do that because the parties have been so agonised over their own division since the referendum itself. i know we are talking about the local elections, but there is this potential prospect of european elections, where the choice will be very different, as laura was explaining. from labour and the conservative point of view, if you have had issues with message in these elections, and if that message has been in some way overshadowed or contaminated in some way by issues you can't control, that will be even worse in a european contest, won't it? well, i would rather not have european elections at all. if people had voted the way i did, we would not be

having european elections at all. in an ideal world, it would be good to put things the bed before we got to that point. that now seems to be tricky to do. clearly, the european election is a different type of election is a different type of election where people will be faced with a binary choice. that is different to another general election, were under our first past the post system, the election then becomes about a wider range of issues, as we saw in 2017, and it becomes a much bigger situation, rather than one particular issue. many of these areas are clearly frustrated and we have got to look asa frustrated and we have got to look as a party and reflect on that. but ata as a party and reflect on that. but at a general election, people will be looking at whoever is the conservative leader at the time, the prime minister has already made it clear she will not stand in the next general election, and whether they wa nt general election, and whether they want the conservative leader or

whether they want to jeremy corbyn in numberten. the whether they want to jeremy corbyn in number ten. the electorate is getting very sophisticated. years ago, it used to be a binary thing whether people voted one way or another. but more and more, people are looking at each separate set of elections and deciding based on what they want out of that election at a particular time. let's look at the results from ashfield. gosh. they are still counting, but as you can see, the independents are in control. but if you look at the difference, that is where the drama comes in. the independents have put on 16 seats in ashfield. this is traditionally rock—solid labour territory, going back decades. so

thatis territory, going back decades. so that is a remarkable result. ashfield is one of the areas where there is a labour mp, gloria de piero. rather like ruth smith, who we piero. rather like ruth smith, who we heard from in stoke, she has consistently said, i have a strong leave—voting constituency. the labour party must be clear about what it really wants on brexit, and she has warned about the potential consequences of holding out the possibility of another referendum. there has been a couple of defections and upset in the local party, so that no doubt has been pa rt party, so that no doubt has been part of this. but it's hard to look at that result and think that some of the warnings that were made about labour dancing with the possibility of another referendum have had a consequence. as you say, there are certain circumstances in ashfield, and there is a well—organised group there, the ashfield independents. but when you see that result, nia,

you must think, gosh, for us to be in that position in ashfield of all places, that is not a good reflection, is it? well, it's difficult to draw generalisations because of those specific circumstances. we have seen that in a numberof other circumstances. we have seen that in a number of other places where the independent vote has gone up, because often it is about local issues and local dissatisfaction with certain personalities, all sorts of things that come into play. so to try to extrapolate from that is difficult. if you look at bell server, this plays into the argument. —— bolsover. it is prime labour territory. you are short by one for a majority. the independents have had a big boost. labour have gone down 14 in bolsover. this is

dennis skinner territory. so it is not just ashfield. there dennis skinner territory. so it is notjust ashfield. there is a trend here where you are losing to independent groups, for what reason? dennis skinner is a very strong brexit supporter. there is a big leave vote in bolsover. you are bound to ask the question, that must bea bound to ask the question, that must be a factor? well, again, we are looking at specific areas where there have been strong campaigns by certain independent groups. it is difficult to try and draw a generalisation from this. having said that, it isn't easy, when we are trying to represent areas which are trying to represent areas which are both remain and leave, and we are both remain and leave, and we are trying to get a good compromise position which looks afterjobs and

the economy. it is not easy to explain that. it is what barry gardiner earlier said was a party speaking with two voices. and he is a senior ally ofjeremy corbyn, saying openly, we are speaking with two voices. all three of you know that parties do well when they lead with a clear message that people know exactly what is about. brexit is difficult for all of you. but the real world is that we are in opposition in a parliament where a conservative government is failing to push through their programme. that has nothing to do with you being in opposition, that is how you asa being in opposition, that is how you as a party are communicating what you would like to do and that is what your colleague barry gardner said. there are only certain things we can do and therefore the position at the moment has to be that we have to see if there is any way that we can mitigate the sort of deal that theresa may has put on the table. that is where we are up to. because

we are only part way through a process here, it is very difficult and therefore it isn't that easy to communicate. aren't the labour party doing what the lib dems used to do? at one end of the country in the south—west they used to put in their literature that they were dead set for having a referendum on our membership of the eu, and then up north and in scotland they were saying exactly the opposite? if you are a national party leader you can't do that. clearly we have some challenges in terms of views, but you can't sit on the fence and try to put a situation in place where the leadership by trying to allow people on twitter that represent london on the one hand to say, oh, we'll have a second referendum, and then up north and in the midlands in places like ashfield and bolsover, no, we'll respect the referendum result. the people aren't stupid, they want brexit markets, before you get carried away, hinckley and in leicestershire. near my

constituency. the lib dems look as if they could take that from you.“ an interesting one. i've got great sympathy because hinckley and bosworth has been a very, very well run council and the conservatives over the last four years. they have benefited from the massive rise in conservative support and the absolute collapse on the general election day in 2015 to come in. it's an interesting council because it quite often switches between parties and the last time the conservatives held that council, when we were in control of it, was the early 1970s. it is one of those areas which does switch between dems and the conservatives. can ijoin in and the conservatives. can ijoin in and back—up laura's point? and the conservatives. can ijoin in and back-up laura's point? you want to back—up laura? and back-up laura's point? you want to back-up laura? i think it's really important to remember that people vote for things and what we are not saying from the big parties at the moment... —— what we are not seeing its clarity and leadership

and not something people can vote for. labour are trying to say almost nothing to avoid the question. the conservatives are really split. they don't have... to be fair, you have put things before parliament but they have been rejected so badly and there is nothing else you can do now. also it did take two and a half years for theresa may to come back with any kind of deal whatsoever. so the mess that there is, that is why a group of solid independents who are campaigning may be on a single issue or a big development or a particular plan they have for the council, they can win. that is why people are turning to us. the lib dems have got brexit that they are strung on. we have very strong on brexit, climate change, we have been very strong on austerity for years. these are all things people can positively vote for, not for austerity, we are very strongly against that for years! but there is positive things people can vote for a new plan. that is what is attracting people to us. with

parties where they have no other choice, they have these swings. it does explain the kind of confusion that there is in places like cotswold, for example. we want to see it in cotswold, the loveliest little villages. we also want to see it in south shields and the middle of liverpool! they are very different places where we can win. because there are other partiesjust not giving people any other choice andi not giving people any other choice and i wanted tojoin in with the conversation. it isn't all about brexit. it is about the fact that people will turn up to the polling station when they are being offered something to vote for. it's not all about brexit. i'm trying to make the point and asking the question of people at counts, what were the factors in this campaign? was it all about brexit? what were particular local issues, why were some of these independent groups are surging ahead in such an impressive way? john is with us again, john curtice. the search for the independents, which

is notable. what can you tell us about that? —— the surge. is notable. what can you tell us about that? -- the surge. in our keep words they were getting as much as 25% of the vote. on average. there is no obvious pattern. they we re there is no obvious pattern. they were doing particularly well in remain or leave areas. not necessarily against conservatives or labour. to that extent it is very patchy, but evidently, certainly where they were already independents that were reasonably well established, they have increased their support. as part of this broad piece whereby, frankly, it's anybody but conservative or labour, they seem to have been able to make progress tonight. patterns, if they are there, because we have been talking at length about voter motivation... yeah. again, we are 89 councils down and 159 to go, so we

are past the halfway... quite a lot to go. trends there in terms of what you can pick up in terms of the way that different parts of england have voted overnight. there are two patterns that we would pick out as far as conservative and labour are concerned. the first is that there is this north—south pattern that looks as though the labour party has gone back most heavily in the north, the conservative party most heavily in the south. these are the areas within which there two parties respectively tend to be relatively strong. that fits a wider pattern whereby even at the ward level it looks as though wards where labour we re looks as though wards where labour were starting off relatively strong, labour went back. whether conservatives were strong, they went back more. that fits the wider story that basically where a party it was the incumbent, where a party was relatively strong, it is that party from which the voters have defected and it seems to be part of this

general plague on your houses syndrome. we perhaps shouldn't have been so surprise. perhaps we've all slightly been blindsided by the drama of the conservative difficulties, the collapse in the conservative vote in the recent polls and the right of —— rise of nigel farage. on the other side, the labour party vote has been quite clearly falling in the opinion polls. not particularly against remain as ora polls. not particularly against remain as or a particular with leavers. it's just simply that... just remember that very, very simple rule of electoral politics. voters don't vote for divided parties. and of course one of the remarkable things about brexit and about our current politics is that both our major parties are divided. usually at any one point in time, one or

other of them get into a model but the other one seems to be able to present a reasonable face to the electorate. the lesson they need to both take is neither of them are operating very effectively when persuading the electorate that they are capable of providing this country with effective government. thank you very much. john curtice there. before i do another little chat with the panel, will go to south gloucestershire and i think peter is there. i can see them clearing up, so why don't we talk to you before it they throw you out and ask what the story is? well, i'd like to say it was worth the wait here, but unfortunately it wasn't rather in terms of excitement and interesting stories. if you like your politics madly dull, then south leicestershi re your politics madly dull, then south leicestershire certainly it has traditionally been the place to be in and so it has proven to be tonight. this is an authority which

represents the urban rural edge of bristol as well as the southern part of the ceremonial county of gloucestershire. it's quite split in terms of rural and urban. there was a conservative majority here. they we re a conservative majority here. they were defending a majority. they were very anxious and nervous at the start of the evening, they thought that might have slipped away from them, but as it has proved, they have held onto their majority. only slightly. they lost a couple seats to the liberal democrats and the conservatives have ended the evening very happy because, as i say, they we re very happy because, as i say, they were worried. they have changed the boundary slightly. there are fewer councillors than they were before. but the candidates as they troop off into the morning light, the conservatives are pretty happy. the liberal democrats were hoping to make gains here. in fact, there are not any liberal democrat candidates here. they split the count into three different parts of south gloucestershire. their heartland is more in the northern part of south

gloucestershire. they gained a couple of seats but that was really it for them. the conservative party remain in control of south gloucestershire and they are very relieved to have done so. just a thought if i can about the nature of the campaign over the last few weeks. what have party workers been coming up against in terms of reaction on the doorstep? yeah... reaction on the doorstep, actually, there was one incident. they were a couple around the country but one incident in south gloucestershire. one of the conservative members was actually physically attacked. that was reported to avon and somerset police and they are investigating. in terms of the actual politics, brexit was a huge issue. south gloucestershire is somewhere that followed the national vote insofar as that it's just voted very slim wait for leave. they were worried they would receive the backlash as

we they would receive the backlash as we have seen in other parts of the country this evening. it hasn't proved as such. they have also made cuts. south gloucestershire council. tens of millions of pounds of the last four or five years. of course they have done so in a manner that voters seem fairly happy with at the moment in south gloucestershire. as i say, they are very relieved this morning, the conservatives, that they have managed to hold onto their majority. pete, good to talk to you. thank you very much. pete simpson in south gloucestershire. 5:26am. we have 90 councils declared with 158 to go and we have about 2500 seats declared, individual councillors who have been elected. just under 6000 to go, so lots of counting and lots of declaration still to come on this friday. counting will go on in the morning. in lots of places in england they will be starting to count at 9am. we'll have lots of results coming in late morning and over lunch and our coverage will

continue then. in the meantime, let's ask reeta for a summary of the key results so far. the story of the night has been of the conservatives and labour losing seats and councils to smaller parties and independents. an altar of the liberal democrats taking seats and some councils off the conservatives. this screen gives a good summary of what has happened overnight. cotswold, which was conservative, went liberal democrat. the conservatives lost folkestone and hyde. st albans was conservative and hyde. st albans was conservative and that is now no overall control. if we just and that is now no overall control. if wejust going and that is now no overall control. if we just going to st albans, i can show you more detail of what has happened. there you can see the liberal democrats, the largest party with the conservatives on 23 seats. ifi with the conservatives on 23 seats.

if ijust show with the conservatives on 23 seats. if i just show you the with the conservatives on 23 seats. if ijust show you the change in the share of the vote there, you can see what has happened. the liberal democrats going up to 19% of the share of that vote. the conservatives losing 13% and labour also losing 4%. the greens gaining 496 also losing 4%. the greens gaining 4% there. let me take you back to the main screen. there is better news for the conservatives in walsall. they gained that counsel from no overall control. also north east lincolnshire was a conservative gain from no overall control. ashfield was a bad news story for the labour party. that went from no overall control to independent, a group of independents have taken ashfield council, which will have been a difficult moment for labour. wirral also went from labour to no overall control. i want to show you

what happened here. so although labour remain the largest party with 32 seats and the conservatives on 22, let me show you what happened to the share change. isn't that interesting? i think i've got a sea change there, let me take it back again. there you go. that's what i wanted. labour on —13% of the share and look what's happened to the greens. they have gained 12% of the share. they will be very happy with that. i'll take you back to my big screen one last time. one good gain for labour, one prominent game for labour this evening has been trafford, which they will have been very happy about. reeta, thanks very much. i suppose when we look at that range of results and we start with the conservatives, marcus. there are

some pockets where you have had some rather promising outcomes. but if we look, for example... if we look at bath, because we figures from bath and north east somerset. let's look at these figures from bath. they are worth looking at. they are of course a lib dems gain from the conservatives. look at these figures, they are witty telling. 37 to the lib dems, nine to the tories. seven to labour, six to the independents. look at the change from last time. the lib dems gaining 23 seats. and the tories losing 24. that was the notable interview we conducted earlier with the former leader, who basically said, we are fed up to the back teeth with not being able to talk about issues which are important to us locally

because of what's going on at westminster. marcus, isuppose because of what's going on at westminster. marcus, i suppose that result in bath is a bit of an emblem of the night for you. you have had some pockets of success, of course you have. but the result in bath and the reasons for it are very clear, which is that your own party workers have lost faith in what's going on. well, clearly, there are still a lot of results to declare. but for a governing party after nine years, you would expect us to be losing far more seats than we are. when the blair—brown government had had nine years, they lost 3500 seats. before today, we had lost 500 seats over that period. so we need to put that into context. but clearly, the results we have had in bath and north east somerset are

disappointing. but going back to what i said before, the last time the seats were contested, we won these parliamentary seats with massive majority in north east somerset and a respectable majority in bath. and the reason for that was that we ran a good campaign, and the lib dems absolutely collapsed. the lib dems absolutely collapsed. the lib dems absolutely collapsed. the lib dems were at a very low point. last year, they were at their lowest point in council seats for 40 years. so this resurgence was expected. to that extent? the challenge is the frustration of people, not just with conservatives, but also a lot of other voters who wanted brexit and they want it delivered. there have beena numberof they want it delivered. there have been a number of opportunities to do

that and it is interesting because whilst we are suffering some difficult results, we have also had some really good results. we won seats in the wirral, north east lincolnshire council, we have taken tonight. when you look at smaller but important results, in bolsover, it is the first time we have won a seat since 1987. so when you look at it, it is far more nuanced than you say. if there is a message coming out of this set of results tonight, rather than whether the public are leave or remain, the public want certainty. overnight, the conservatives were looking at what they thought might be much worse than this picture. big one, it is still an ongoing process and it may seem worse still an ongoing process and it may seem worse for them tomorrow —— big

one. but at this stage, traditionally in the electoral cycle, i know i keep banging on about this, but if elections tell us anything about the future, at this stage in the electoral cycle, a government that had been in power for so long would have expected to lose many more seats by now. but they are clearly being punished for they are clearly being punished for the divisions in their party over brexit that the prime minister has not been able to manage successfully. and that is about coming back to numbers. and leadership. but the labour party should be piling on voters in swindon and north warwickshire. they shouldn't be shipping votes across the north. every single conservative spokesperson has had a strong view about labour's performance. isn't that odd? occasionally, politicians are givena that odd? occasionally, politicians are given a script! but i am sure none of them have been on tonight.

just a take on where you are now? as hasjust been just a take on where you are now? as has just been said, just a take on where you are now? as hasjust been said, we are only a third of the way through the counting we may see the picture changing as the day progresses. but clearly, there have been local issues at play where there have been independents, for example. and those would have been played out on local issues. we were pleased to have taken issues. we were pleased to have ta ken trafford, a issues. we were pleased to have taken trafford, a highly contested council. and we are doing well in plymouth, where again, it was a difficult situation over the last few years. but at this stage, we are nowhere near the end, but a significant chunk of votes have been recorded. does this honestly look to you like a set of results that could seejeremy you like a set of results that could see jeremy corbyn you like a set of results that could seejeremy corbyn on the march to number ten?