Polls for council, mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections close in England and Wales
It has just gone 10pm UK time and the polls have now closed across the country.
Polls have been open since 7am for council, mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections in England and Wales.
Key events
Tories brace for heavy losses in English council elections and mayoral contests
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the 2024 local elections.
It could be a long night for local Conservatives as the party braces for the potential of heavy electoral losses that could destabilise Rishi Sunak’s premiership.
The elections, which are considered the last test of voters’ opinion before the upcoming general election, expected later this year, cover more than 2,600 seats across 107 English councils (metropolitan, unitary and district).
Labour and the Conservatives are each defending about 1,000 seats, and psephologists predict that the Tories may lose about 500. Even the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is on record as saying the party expects to suffer “significant losses”.
As well as councils in parts of England being chosen, 37 police and crime commissioners will also be picked across England and Wales, along with the London mayor and assembly, nine combined authority mayors and one single authority mayor (Salford).
On top of all this, a byelection will select the new MP for Blackpool South, after former Conservative MP Scott Benton resigned in the wake of a lobbying scandal. Labour is expected to win. The results are expected early on Friday morning.
I will be taking you through into the early hours and leading the blog until about 6am, bringing you the key results as they come in, with latest reactions and analysis.
Here is a breakdown of what we are expecting to be called overnight:
Councils:
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12.30am: Broxbourne
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1.30am: Hartlepool, Rochford, Sunderland
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2am: Bolton, Gosport, Ipswich, Newcastle upon Tyne, North East Lincolnshire, South Tyneside, Wigan
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2.30am: Chorley, Eastleigh, Fareham, Hart, Oldham, Portsmouth, Rushmoor, Southend-on-Sea
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2.45am: Exeter
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3am: Harlow, Kingston upon Hull, Lincoln, Sefton, Tameside, Thurrock
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3.15am: Reading
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3.30am: Colchester, Gateshead, Redditch, Stockport
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4am: Peterborough, Plymouth
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4.30am: Southampton
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5.30am: Winchester
Police & crime commissioners:
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1.30am: Cumbria
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2.30am: Avon & Somerset
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3.00am: Lincolnshire
You can read all the council results live on our tracker here.
