LIVE: Latest updates from across Yorkshire and beyond as local election results roll in
Rishi Sunak has suffered a by-election drubbing and faces further pain in council contests across England.
Labour’s Chris Webb won the Blackpool South parliamentary seat with a swing of 26.33 per cent from the Tories and Sir Keir Starmer’s party also secured council wins in areas which will be key general election battlegrounds later this year.
Results are expected from across Yorkshire today, including in the tightly-contested Tees Valley mayor, where the imcumbent Ben Houchen will hope to hang on to his seat.
The Tories avoided the humiliation of coming third in Blackpool South, but finished just 117 votes ahead of Reform UK.
Out of the 107 councils where votes were held on Thursday, just 35 counted overnight – but the results make grim reading for the Prime Minister.
The Tories lost control of three authorities and 96 councillors lost their seats. Labour gained three authorities and 58 councillors.
Elections expert Professor Sir John Curtice said the Tories could be on course to lose 500 councillors in “one of the worst, if not the worst” performances by the party in 40 years.
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