bedding conservative party is just bedding down in and it is falling away from the labour party, it is getting harder to imagine places like newcastle—under—lyme and staffordshire that they will make a comeback. as we know, this is not just an election in england, there were lots of other contests. let's look at scotland, a torrid night for the conservatives. high baseline to defend in scotland for the conservative party, they did very well in 2017 with ruth davidson in charge then, of course not had now. it is douglas ross now. every party pretty much apart from the independents benefiting that, and all of the conservative party is at their expense. yet another election victory for the snp, they extend their grip over scottish politics yet again full up their 11th election victory in scotland since 2007, 15 years in office, conceptus talk about mid—term blues but they do not seem to be on particular

display for the snp. labour party make a comeback as the second force in scotland, not much to argue about but they are back in second place which they argue which put them in a better position to potentially challenge the snp in their old heartlands at places like the central belt you can see that overtaking the conservatives to get back into second place. let's just have a quick look at some of the results there, scottish borders for example obviously the south of scotland, this is traditionally a conservative stronghold and as you can see, they still have the plurality of seats. you may think why all the scottish councils hung or in no overall control, it is because they use proportional representation system so it is harder to get a majority, but this is a sort of place that voted heavily for no independence referendum, very much gone behind the conservatives as the party of unionism in scotland as part of that realignment, but even here you can

see a really strong swing away from the conservatives, 11%, and you saw that in place after place in scotland really up and down the country. cleared a satisfaction with the borisjohnson as prime minister potentially way that douglas ross a' position on a borisjohnson as prime minister which hasn't moved around somewhat. you can also see their dundee, and snp gain. —— has moved around. you can see it was hung there and still after 15 years in government still gaining seats. a1% of the vote, up marginally, the conservatives again if you can just see that pattern again down considerably. wales also very interesting. the party there is the labour party, they have been in office since 1999, had a very strong performance at the 2021 senedd lectures, poor performance in the 2019 general election but the labour party continues to return to form in

wales, 67 seats are. you can see what a big proportion of the overall gb wide net labour gains wales has been. they have the british labour party if you like, the westminster labour party, has a lot to thank the welsh labour party to continue their return to form. everyone climb downed a bit but conceptus down 86 seats, they lost over 40% of the seats, they lost over 40% of the seats they were defending. and just having a look at some of those results in detail. there was a good slew of seats the conservatives one of the labour party. six net gains from the labour party. six net gains from the labour party across wales, mainly in north wales, they one of the labour party in the general election. they are

looking very vulnerable. most of those seats did not alter the conservative party at the senate elections and they are making a comeback. 0ne elections and they are making a comeback. one of the seats was bridgend, they won, the conservative party in 2019, the first time in a long while. up ten and the conservatives down 12. we saw that in a lot of places around wales. something we have not talked about so much because they are still counting the votes, the one part of the country are still counting the votes is northern ireland. these elections are always important, extremely important. most of them in years to come they will probably merge into the others and we will not necessarily remember. the 2022 stormont elections will be historic, they already are historic. they are still counting the votes. we do have their first preference shares. sinn

fein, a nationalist party has topped the poll. that has never happened before in the 101 history of northern ireland's existence. northern ireland's existence. northern ireland's existence. northern ireland's borders were designed to that would not happen, there would be an in—built unionist majority. as we top the unionist parties they are still on top. if you put dup together, the tuv together, they still have a plurality of the vote. the fact you have a nationalist party coming top does transform the political landscape in northern ireland, not least because theoretically if there is to be an executive, sinn fein will have a right to nominate a first minister. taking another step back, both in the republic where sinn fein is polling at the top of the irish polls let many fancy they will have a chance of nominating the next tee shot. the fact it is in such rude health across ireland

really does change things. looking at the united kingdom as a whole, it had the snp, a nationalist party at the top of the pollen scotland are now sinn fein as well. looking at some of the results in detail in northern ireland, you can see exactly how they had done it for that they are all in grey at the moment because i have not finished counting the votes. this is belfast east. let's see what happened. the highest vote share has been the dup, a strong unionist place. it is where stormont sits in the city of belfast. the dup is top of the poll each time. they nearly came top this time. the alliance party in this case, which has gone from fifth to third in overall first preference went neither nationalist or unesco has come top. just about first preference share. dup is down 5%. it

is not the alliance has gained so much, it has gained a little bit. the main transparency is the tuv, which is a hardline unionist party, relatively new particles that they have been campaigning very strongly against the northern ireland protocol, as has the dup. you can see that this action with dup and its role in supporting the conservatives and the general election and what they got for it. you can see that in seat after seat in northern ireland. we are waiting for half the seats to come back from northern ireland but it is already historic in itself. we will be hearing more reaction about politics which will be transformed. it is giving us some tantalising glimmers of where public opinion is, where it will be. if you are in northern ireland, wondering about exactly what the results are in your area, all you need to do is go on the bbc news app, the bbc news website, type

in your postcode. you can do this for the rest of the uk as well and find out the results in your area. can ijust find out the results in your area. can i just say, find out the results in your area. can ijust say, and i salute you? that was a tall order. memory. seamless. you have not had much sleep. amazing, faxing or that in. coffee and democracy is one hell of a drug. coffee and democracy is one hell of a dru~. ., ., ., ., ., a drug. now to give the overall of what has been _ a drug. now to give the overall of what has been going _ a drug. now to give the overall of what has been going on, - a drug. now to give the overall of what has been going on, what - a drug. now to give the overall of what has been going on, what wej a drug. now to give the overall of- what has been going on, what we were seeing is so many results and so many stories emerging from them. professor sirjohn curtice is still with us to shed light on the all the key political contests. this is a smorgasbord of stories out there. what does it say about the fortunes of borisjohnson and keir starmer? fortunes of boris johnson and keir starmer? �* , , . �* ., , starmer? let's start with boris johnson and — starmer? let's start with boris johnson and what _ starmer? let's start with boris johnson and what are - starmer? let's start with boris i johnson and what are headaches starmer? let's start with boris - johnson and what are headaches or otherwise these election results delivered for him. the problem in a

sense the conservatives politically have about these elections is the daily telegraph, of course, a conservative supporting newspaper, earlier this week said the conservative party is heading for disaster, it will lose over 500 seats, etc, etc. widely thought this was a classic exercise in expectation management and the party expected they would not do as badly as that and they would be able to claim it was not so bad after all. the problem with that strategy is if it comes true it is even an awkward place. in a sense that is what happens to the conservatives politically and psychologically. they have lost 500 seats. as a result, what is meant to be a disaster has apparently happened. disaster is too much of an exaggeration. what the results show is it has been a message of the poll since the back end of last year, the

party using electorally choppy waters. it is for the first time in this parliament behind labour in the polls. remarkable it has taken so long but it is now. the projected national share we have come up with, taking all the results and saying what might happen had we had the whole country voting on thursday because not all the country was. the estimate of 30%, compared with previous local elections. basically it is better than they achieved when theresa may was facing real difficulties in 2019, when she was struggling to get the brexit agreement she had reached with european union pastor party and passed the house of commons. apart from that it is actually the worst conservative performance in local election since before the eu referendum. therefore perhaps one obvious message to the party is that delivering brexit is not necessarily a guarantee of long—term electoral

success. in things come along such as partygate and the cost of living crisis, it is as politically mortal as any other party. it is also part of the legacy of that. why has the unionist vote fragmented? because of divisions over whether or not the northern ireland protocol is something that can be amended satisfactorily or whether or not it needs to be scrapped. for many unionists, that agreement boris johnson majorly before the 2019 election, which in our view creates a border across the irish sea is not acceptable. the immediate consequence of that is indeed that the prime minister does now face the prospect of either sinn fein first minister and or no executive being properly form because the dup refused. the dup will be looking for the uk government to take action, if

necessary unilateral action, in order to try and reduce the impact of the protocol on the transfer of goods from great britain to northern ireland. the difficulty the prime ministerfaces is ireland. the difficulty the prime minister faces is that if he were to do that, then potentially there will be retaliation from the european union, retaliation that will not just simply affect northern ireland but affect the flow of trade between great britain and the european union and make life difficult for holiday—makers during the summer when they are visiting the european union, etc. he won't necessarily want to risk that. if he does go down that path, the answer from sinn fein might be, in that case, we are not going to nominate a first minister either. the real question is how is the united kingdom government going to successfully negotiate the northern ireland protocol problem in such a way that in the end of the dup can be persuaded to nominate into the executive and doesn't cause too much damage in our relationship with the

european union? that innocence is the most immediate political headache but we still know partygate is not over and these local elections that they have not strengthened his position publicity his party regarding what they to about the implications of that. it is tempting to extrapolate political narratives from headlines from something like this. in terms of where you would anticipate the political landscape going, how changed to you think it is? how much pressure, increasing pressure, you think there will be for nationalism in scotland and in northern ireland? i think it is important to bear in mind. support for sinn fein has only gone up marginally. the reason why we are now looking at the prospect of a sinn fein first minister is not because of increased support for nationalist, because of the fragmentation of the unionist vote

between different unionist parties. equally in scotland, the snp is up by two points on a relatively modest performance back in 2017. and at around 34% of the vote. the party not recording the kind of mid 40s i sat needy for westminster and holyrood. the truth is that in scotland at least the country is divided absolutely down the middle on the constitutional question. the most recent poll was 49 for yes and 51 for now. there is undoubtedly a question about the long—term position of scotland and the union. it is also true that in northern ireland, support for reunification is much higher than it was before the brexit referendum. the truth is, both support for independence is as high as it is and as high as in northern ireland. both the legacy of our decision to leave the european union. in northern ireland it is clearfrom both of union. in northern ireland it is clear from both of the polls that

may be 40% support for the unification, not more than that. in scotland it is much narrower. in truth, scotland been teetering on the brink for quite a time and i do not think the result of these elections adds to that. what it has donein elections adds to that. what it has done in scotland, it is a mirror image of the fragmentation of unionism in northern ireland. it has better fragmented unionism in northern ireland. it has betterfragmented the unionism in northern ireland. it has better fragmented the political representation of those wanting to stay inside the —— is inside the union. we do not know which is the largest of the parties in scotland. getting those parties to come up with an agreed stance on how to defend the union were not get any easier because the views of the labour party as to how it should be managed a very different from those of the conservatives. the argument about how the union should be run will now continue to be intense, which does not help to come up with an agreed stance on how you run

union and the argument for independence. that is where the scottish result matters, not so much the success of the snp but the fact that labour has narrowly overtaken the conservatives. in place. thank you. the ukrainian army says it's recaptured five villages northeast of kharkiv, in a counter—offensive against russian forces who've been shelling the city for weeks. it comes as the united nations and the international red cross continue efforts to rescue more civilians from the besieged city of mariupol. on friday, 50 more people, including children, were evacuated from a huge steel factory complex. these are the latest pictures of some of those who've got out. the azovstal plant is under siege by russian forces. dozens are still trapped inside. the city, in the country's south, has been under constant shelling by the russian military. let's cross to my colleague ben brown who's in kyiv. 0ver over to you. morning. that is good

news that another _ over to you. morning. that is good news that another 50 _ over to you. morning. that is good news that another 50 people - over to you. morning. that is good news that another 50 people had i over to you. morning. that is good . news that another 50 people had been evacuated from the steelworks. we don't know how many civilians are left. we think probably about another 150. left. we think probably about another150. some left. we think probably about another 150. some frail people, elderly people, women and children. they still had to be rescued from the steelworks because the russian bombardment has been continuing relentlessly. it has taken huge diplomatic efforts with ukrainian government, the united nations and the red cross to get people out of there. there are some 2000 fighters in there as well. they are fighting a last stand against the russians. it is a pretty defiant stand stop until the russian forces can clear out the steel plant, they cannot really say they have finally taken the city of mariupol, and they want to do that, especially by monday, the 9th of may, and that is when the russians had their victory day

parade in moscow and elsewhere, marking the victory over nazi germany. it is an important moment for the russians. the thinking is that president putin very much wants more successes to show his people on the battlefield here in ukraine and a final victory in mariupol would certainly fit the bill. in the middle of all of that we have these civilians who have been trapped inside the steelworks for months now, since the beginning of the war. they have been living in hellish conditions, without food... with very dwindling supplies of food, water and medicine. we are seeing some people getting out. whether the remaining siblings can be evacuated from there, we will have to wait and see. —— the remaining civilians. chelsea have agreed terms on the £4.25 billion sale of the club. it'll be sold to a consortium led by todd boehly, co—owner

of the la dodgers baseball team. the club was put up for sale before previous owner roman abramovich was sanctioned for his alleged links to russian president vladimir putin. with me now to discuss this is kieran maguire, football finance expert and presenter of the price of football podcast. welcome. thank you forjoining us. this is a very expensive deal. give us your view of what this deal is going to mean. irate us your view of what this deal is going to mean-— us your view of what this deal is going to mean. us your view of what this deal is auoin to mean. ~ ., ., ., , ., going to mean. we are going to see a chance of going to mean. we are going to see a change of culture _ going to mean. we are going to see a change of culture as _ going to mean. we are going to see a change of culture as far _ going to mean. we are going to see a change of culture as far as _ going to mean. we are going to see a change of culture as far as chelsea i change of culture as far as chelsea football club is concerned. under roman abramovich, the club spent more money on wages and transfers and lost more money than any other club in the premier league. it is unlikely that an american owner, with an experience of sports franchises in the us, especially one backed by private equities is likely to repeat such a policy. the deal itself is £2.5 billion as far as the cost of buying the club is concerned

and the other 1.75 is a broad commitment to spending money, both on infrastructure and on player recruitment over the course of the next decade. i5 recruitment over the course of the next decade-— next decade. is this good for football? — next decade. is this good for football? it _ next decade. is this good for football? it is _ next decade. is this good for football? it is not _ next decade. is this good for football? it is not clear. - next decade. is this good for. football? it is not clear. roman abramovich _ football? it is not clear. roman abramovich treated _ football? it is not clear. roman abramovich treated chelsea - football? it is not clear. roman abramovich treated chelsea as| football? it is not clear. romanl abramovich treated chelsea as a trophy asset and therefore his focus was very much in terms of achievements on the pitch. that is not normally the system, or strategy, of a private equity company. they are looking for a financial rather than a sporting or emotional return as far as the investment is concerned. i think we will see changes. chelsea were more likely be run on similar lines to liverpool, who also have american owners. what livable's ennis have done is focus on the data, analytical and numbers based system in terms of buying players and that

is why they have managed to be so successful, despite spending half £1 billion less than chelsea, manchester united and manchester city since 2013. manchester united and manchester city since 2013-— city since 2013. when you say the chan . e city since 2013. when you say the chance of city since 2013. when you say the change of culture _ city since 2013. when you say the change of culture will— city since 2013. when you say the change of culture will mean - city since 2013. when you say the change of culture will mean the i change of culture will mean the bottom line being looked at more closely than it was under roman abramovich and presumably what their purse strings tighten on what is paid for players and what is paid on the wage bill. would that mean tobacco would you expect to see a wholesale change... there will not be a wholesale change in the players but a big change in what is seen on the pitch in that regard? in but a big change in what is seen on the pitch in that regard?— the pitch in that regard? in terms of recruitment, _ the pitch in that regard? in terms of recruitment, what _ the pitch in that regard? in terms of recruitment, what we - the pitch in that regard? in terms of recruitment, what we will - the pitch in that regard? in terms of recruitment, what we will see l the pitch in that regard? in termsl of recruitment, what we will see is a greater investment on perhaps younger players, with a view to moving them on after a furious and selling them at a profit. last summer they recruited romelu lukaku.

he has been very successful striker in both england and italy and so on. he was roundabout 28, 29. in terms of the present part of his career. i anticipate a shift in terms of the way chelsea would be recruiting players and also doing more in terms of trying to spot value in a similar way to what we have seen in clubs such as livable as leicester —— and laughter. d0 such as livable as leicester -- and lau:hter. ,, ., such as livable as leicester -- and lau:hter. i. ., ., such as livable as leicester -- and lau.hter. i. ., ., ., laughter. do you have a view on the fact it is a foreign _ laughter. do you have a view on the fact it is a foreign investor. - laughter. do you have a view on the fact it is a foreign investor. there i fact it is a foreign investor. there was a british bid which came into late fromjim was a british bid which came into late from jim radcliffe, the was a british bid which came into late fromjim radcliffe, the british billionaire. does it matter that these bids come from overseas or should they be from brits? figs these bids come from overseas or should they be from brits? as that will fan you — should they be from brits? as that will fan you want _ should they be from brits? as that will fan you want the _ should they be from brits? as that will fan you want the money - should they be from brits? as that will fan you want the money spent| should they be from brits? as that l will fan you want the money spent in the best way possible as far as the football club is concerned. if you talk to fans of chelsea, they have

an overall positive viewpoint of roman abramovich. the same if you talk to fans of clubs like manchester city and leicester, who have foreign owners. i do not rank the birthplace of the owner is either a hindrance or a benefit to the club itself. we have other owners of football clubs who had come from the uk themselves, who have not covered themselves in glory. we look at clubs like bury and derby where the owners are not british. 0ne club has gone out of existence and the other one is presently in administration. i do not think it should be an issue. the important thing is the long—term sustainability of the club is ensured. . ~ sustainability of the club is ensured-— sustainability of the club is ensured. ., ~ , ., , . sustainability of the club is ensured. . ~' , . ensured. thank you very much. thank ou. an explosion at a luxury hotel in the cuban capital havana has killed at least 22 people. the blast tore through several floors of the hotel saratoga. the cuban president, miguel diaz canel, said the explosion had resulted

from what he called a gas accident, though investigations were under way. more than 60 people have been injured. north korea appears to have launched a ballastic missile, according to the japanese military. in the last few minutes, the japanese coast guard said it has already fallen into the sea. the launch comes as the united states warns north korea may be preparing a nuclear test within the next few weeks, its first in five years. a state department spokeswoman said north korea had been readying its punggye—ri nuclear site for such a test. here's the bbc�*s david willis. this is actually the first on—the—record comment of its kind by us officials, making the point, as you just pointed out, that they believe that the north korean nuclear test site to the north of pyongyang is readying and preparing to carry out a test possibly within the next few weeks. now that is consistent, that sort of analysis,

with remarks by the north korean leader kim jong—un, who only last month said that he was looking to accelerate his country's nuclear weapons programme and also consistent with satellite imagery on the ground which shows increased activity around that nuclear test site. now, the timing of this is significant for two reasons — next week sees the inauguration of the new south korean president and the week after that, president biden is due to visit the south korean capital, seoul. all this of course a reminder to him and his administration that whilst their attention has been focused on russia's aggression towards ukraine, tensions have been heightened as ever perhaps on the korean peninsular. let's get some live pictures from the elysee palace in paris where emmanuel macron is due to be sworn in for his second term

as president of france. this of course follows on from that presidential run—off last month that saw him facing off marine le pen and there was a lot of course around the fact that her vote had increased. she was very much focusing on cost of living in france. that was proving popular with voters. in the end emmanuel macron did when inat ran off and he is being sworn in for a second term as french president. these live pictures from paris. hello there. things are looking quite promising for many of us this weekend. it's not going to be quite as warm as it was yesterday when temperatures reached 23 degrees. but there'll be some spells of warm

sunshine this weekend. a few showers around, particularly during today. but many places are still going to be dry. the bulk of the showers probably towards the south east of england, where we're getting some sunshine breaking through that cloud. best of the sunshine likely to be across wales, southwest england, northern scotland. still the odd shower across central southern scotland, one or two possible into northern england, perhaps. many places though will be dry and temperatures reaching 19 degrees in the sunshine. the winds are still light this afternoon, but it will be a little bit cooler around some north sea coasts. the showers that do pop up today will fade away overnight. it becomes dry. we'll have some patches of cloud around, some mist and fog here and there as we saw this morning. and a cooler start to sunday for the eastern side of the uk. it's going to be milder out towards the west. now we've still got high pressure keeping it generally dry and quiet and keeping these weather fronts at bay. that one will be just flirting with the far north west of scotland. may bring a few spots of rain here. we've got a stronger wind picking up here, too. 0therwise, once the mist and fog patches lift quickly in the morning, we'll have a lot of sunshine in the morning. cloud will bubble up as we head into the afternoon. could just squeeze out a light

shower in northern england and scotland, but on the whole it's going to be a dry day and feeling warmer more widely. i suspect temperatures typically 18, 19 degrees could make 20 in south wales. heading into next week, things start to change a little because the high pressure gets pushed away and we get these weather fronts that have been waiting in the wings starting to arrive. we're going to find some stronger winds picking up on monday, particularly where we've got the rain. and that looks more likely to be across scotland and northern ireland. england and wales probably dry. more cloud beginning to push in, but hanging on to some warm sunshine actually towards the south east of england, but only 13 degrees probably in glasgow in the rain. that weather front continues to push its way eastwards overnight, but weakening as it does so. so we're going to find the rain becoming light and patchy, but there will certainly be more cloud around across england and wales. a bit of rain here and there. perhaps further north, likely to find some sunshine. but a blustery wind will feed in quite a few quite heavy showers for western parts of scotland. 1a degrees here, high

of 20 in the southeast.

this is bbc news ? these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. an historic moment for nationalists in northern ireland, as sinn fein is on course to become the largest party at stormont. i'm in belfast where counting has resumed this morning — and we'll be bringing you all the latest news and reaction. across the rest of the uk the conservatives have lost almost 500 seats in the local elections, with labour and the liberal democrats taking control of a number of councils. the snp remain the largest party in scottish councils — with labour overtaking the conservatives to finish second. labour was the biggest winner in wales, where the conservatives lost more than 80 seats.

more attempts are being made to rescue civilians trapped