A summary of today's developments
Tory incumbent Andy Street suffered a shock defeat to Labour in the West Midlands mayoral election by only 1,508 votes after a partial recount was ordered in the most tightly contested metro mayor ballot in England. Sir Keir Starmer called the victory a “phenomenal result” for Labour and “beyond our expectations”.
Labour’s Sadiq Khan won a historic third term as London mayor with 43.8% of the vote. Khan received 1,088,225 votes, a majority of 276,707.
Andy Burnham was re-elected as mayor of Greater Manchester to add to Labour wins for Steve Rotheram in Liverpool, Tracy Brabin in West Yorkshire, Paul Dennett in Salford and Oliver Coppard in South Yorkshire.
The Conservatives have lost 473 seats and control of 12 councils.
Labour gained eight councils and 185 seats.
The Liberal Democrats gained 104 seats giving them a total of 521 compared to the Tories’ haul of 513.
Rishi Sunak was dealt a series of shattering blows as Labour won a knife-edge battle to seize the West Midlands mayoralty from the Conservatives and Sadiq Khan trounced his Tory rival in London to secure a third term, writes Toby Helm, Michael Savage and Jessica Murray.
The results, along with decisive victories for Labour’s Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester, Steve Rotheram in Liverpool and Tracy Brabin in West Yorkshire, left Labour in charge of most of England’s mayoralties.
The West Midlands upset where Andy Street lost to Richard Parker by 1,508 votes, announced after a dramatic series of recounts, followed a disastrous showing for the Tories in Thursday’s local council elections. They finished third behind the Liberal Democrats in the number of seats won, for the first time since 1996.
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