Good morning. If yesterday had been a general election, then by now, thanks to thousands of people beavering through the night counting votes, we’d have a very clear picture of where the country was headed. But it wasn’t, and so despite millions of people casting their ballots in Scotland, Wales, and many parts of England, we aren’t that much the wiser.
Counting will start in earnest in most places today, and what we do know you can see on our results interactive guide. The early indications, from a smattering of councils dotted around England, show a surge for Reform and heavy losses for Labour, but there is still a lot to play for.
For today’s newsletter I worked with Jacqui Housden, who has recently joined our Sydney office as an assistant editor on the newsletter team, and will be making regular contributions to First Edition in the future. After the headlines, what we know about the election results so far.
Five big stories
Iran conflict | The United States and Iran exchanged fire in the strait of Hormuz, in the most serious test yet of their month-long ceasefire.
UK news | UK schools should remove pictures of pupils’ faces from their websites and social media accounts because blackmailers are using them to create sexually explicit images, experts have said.
World news | Authorities around the world are racing to trace dozens of passengers who disembarked from the cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak before isolation measures were implemented.
UK news | A man has been charged after allegedly threatening Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor near his new home on the Sandringham estate.
World news | Three women linked to Islamic State have been charged over alleged actions in Syria after returning to Australia.
In depth: ‘The fracturing of British politics is underlined by these results’
When I went to vote in person in London on Thursday afternoon, the staff handing out the ballot papers said it had been “steady” and a “bit busier than expected”. The lone teller outside – those hardy party volunteers who gather your polling number in the hope of gleaning whether the people who said they would vote for them have come out and actually voted – said she had spent the morning at a different station where she had been surprised by how busy it was. For local elections in England much of the analysis of early trends relies on this – anecdotes and hunches.
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What have results in England told us so far?
This has been a humiliating night for Keir Starmer, even if it was expected, and one for Reform to gloat over. Notably, Labour has lost seats in its traditional northern heartlands, and has lost control of seven councils, including Tameside, in Angela Rayner’s constituency – a council it had run for 47 years.
Reform had gained more than 200 seats before dawn broke, prompting Nigel Farage to declare a “historic change in British politics,” to which “there is no more left-right”. Polling guru John Curtice, speaking in the early hours, said Reform has had “substantial success”, taking more than half the seats declared so far, while Labour had lost four in five. However, he noted “none of the parties are very big, let’s make that clear. Even Reform are probably not quite at 30% of the vote, so the fracturing of British politics is underlined by these results and confirmed by them.”
The Conservatives have had a bruising night so far, while the Lib Dems may not quite have fared as well as hoped, despite deputy leader Daisy Cooper hailing results as “stonking”. Numbers for the Green Party have been edging up – but it is still too early to gain a proper picture of how Zack Polanski’s party is faring overall. Curtice said they were getting “far too many creditable second and third places” to convert votes into seats.
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What has early political reaction been?
Fury from within Labour has been spilling out. Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour MP for Salford in Greater Manchester, called it a “soul-destroying night”. Before the polls had even closed, The Times reported Ed Miliband had “private words” with the prime minister to set out a timeline for him to go.
In Hartlepool, where Reform took all 12 seats up for grabs, Labour MP Jonathan Brash said “the very best thing the prime minister could do now is address the nation tomorrow and set out a timetable for his departure”. His comments came as his wife Pamela Hargreaves, leader of Hartlepool council, lost her seat.
Other political leaders are seizing the moment. Zack Polanski said Starmer should “listen to the people and go”.
But not everyone is jumping on the bandwagon, David Lammy said although the elections had been “tough” it wasn’t time for Starmer to depart. “You don’t change the pilot during the flight. You carry on, and you recognise too that governments sometimes - particularly incumbent governments - have it hard,” he told the BBC.
And, not surprisingly, Nigel Farage has used the early gains to suggest Reform is on course for general election victory, comparing the party’s wins to clearing Becher’s Brook, so it can “go on to win the Grand National”.
Veteran MP John McDonnell urged some caution, saying results in Wales and Scotland may be more influential, but a potential leadership change must be “on the agenda” if Labour has “nightmare” elections there too.
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What happens now?
Most parts of England, Wales and Scotland will begin their counts in the next few hours, with results expected to begin trickling through during the afternoon. Hamish Mackay has been at the helm of our live coverage overnight, passing the baton to the incomparable Andrew Sparrow who will take you through the day as it unfolds.
Interestingly, Andy Burnham – seen by many in Labour as the most viable alternative prime minister if only he was an MP – has pulled out of speaking at a Children’s Commissioner event in Manchester early today. That is unlikely to dampen speculation about what is going on behind the scenes.
From noon watch out for Sheffield and Manchester to see if there are signs of a “progressive protest” vote shifting toward the Greens or Independents away from Labour. Between 3pm to 6pm we expect results from Essex and Norfolk – key Reform battlegrounds. This will be the busiest period of the day, with most Welsh declarations also expected to come in. Watch Sunderland and Barnsley too, which are important for Labour because they represent the kind of working-class areas Reform believes it can penetrate. London also becomes politically volatile during this time slot, with Hackney, Harrow, Barnet and Barking and Dagenham each representing different forms of pressure.
And once the results are in? The first session of the seventh, and newly expanded, Senedd, is expected on Wednesday 13 May. The Scottish parliament is required to hold its first meeting within seven days of the election, and to nominate a first minister within 28 days of an election.
In Westminster, parliament prorogued on Wednesday 29 April and will meet again on Wednesday 13 May for the state opening of parliament, a moment where Starmer will hope King Charles reading out Labour’s next legislative agenda will act as a mini-reset for the government – assuming he remains at the helm.
What else we’ve been reading
Sport
Football | Aston Villa sailed into their first European final since 1982 after Emi Buendía set up the first and scored the second goals before John McGinn’s quickfire double beat Nottingham Forest. Crystal Palace eased past Shakhtar to reach the Conference League final.
Premier League | Ten things to look out for this weekend, including a game to suit departing John Stones, and West Ham’s Pablo under scrutiny against Arsenal.
Rugby union | Exeter’s members have voted in favour of selling the club to the American owners of AFC Bournemouth.
The front pages
The Guardian leads with “Criminals using photos on school websites to create abuse imagery”. The Daily Mail says “Home Office immigration official exposed as Chinese spy” while the Telegraph’s take is “China exploited WFH to spy on UK”.
On the political front, the Times writes “PM urged by Miliband to set timeline for leaving” while the i paper says “Secret meeting hits Rayner hope of becoming prime minister”.
The FT leads with “Record low number of stocks driving Wall St bounce raises ‘fragility’ fears”. The Mirror has “Andrew in masked man terror” and the Star says on the same topic: “Andrew ‘chased by man in balaclava’”. Metro splashes “I touched the hand that used to be my daughter’s”. And finally, the Sun leads with the news: “Kim’s boobs sprayed by car shop in Kent”.
Something for the weekend
Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now
TV
Amandaland | ★★★★☆
At first she was Motherland’s resident antagonist: a smug, slinky blonde securely installed at the top of the school mum food chain. In her own show, now back for series two, Amanda Hughes (Lucy Punch) is even more pitiful and sympathetic, fruitlessly pursuing a social media following via a series of desperate collabs and stunts. Rachel Aroesti
Game
Mixtape, PS5, Xbox, PC, Switch 2 | ★★★☆☆
Mixtape follows the exploits of tenacious trio Rockford, Slater and Cassandra as they head to a legendary party on their last day of high school. With Rockford about to leave her friends to move to the big city, she wants to immortalise the gang’s time together in musical form. The game is a beautiful and inventively silly series of playable musical vignettes – much like an evening spent scrolling through classic music videos on YouTube, there’s a simple, nostalgic joy to be found. Tom Regan
Music
Aldous Harding: Train on the Island | ★★★★☆
Harding cuts a divisive figure in the world of alt-rock. To her devotees, she is a strange and endlessly fascinating figure; her lyrics are mysteries to be unpicked for deeper meaning, like dreams awaiting analysis. That said, at the heart of this album lurks stuff that’s rather less complicated than you might expect. A melodically gifted singer-songwriter, music that’s subtle but never bland; these are disarmingly straightforward pleasures that all the strangeness – mannered or otherwise – can’t obscure. Alexis Petridis
Film
Kokuho | ★★★★☆
Lee Sang-il’s heartfelt, muscular epic (whose title means “national treasure”) was a box-office smash on its Japanese home turf, winning a host of festival awards and an Oscar nomination. It’s a mighty Cain-and-Abel drama spanning five decades, set in the rarefied world of kabuki theatre where some of the most exotically prized performers are the onnagata, the men who have mastered the rigorously observed discipline of playing women in classical kabuki roles. The film’s focus is on commitment in the service of art, a vocational self-immolation in which the transformation of pain into beauty is the whole point. Peter Bradshaw
Today in Focus
The AI jailbreakers – podcast
All the major AI chatbots have things they should and shouldn’t say. Journalist Jamie Bartlett meets the people deliberately trying to get the technology to say the things it shouldn’t … for the safety of us all.
Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Today, Sir David Attenborough celebrates his 100th birthday. Through his adventures around the world, he has brought some of the most spectacular life on Earth to our living rooms. Stuart Heritage has listed 100 of his gripping on-screen moments for us all to relive. To mark the moment, the Natural History Museum has named a parasitic wasp in Attenborough’s honour, adding the creature to the list of lizards, bats, frogs and insects that already share his name.
Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday
Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
