Labour claims early wins and steals Blackpool by-election in showdown with Tories

Labour has claimed some early victories in the local elections after winning back seats from the Tories across the country.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party seized control of several councils and stormed the Blackpool South by-election in a tough morning for Rishi Sunak.

The PM will be hoping for better results as votes are counted throughout the weekend - including in the all-important West Midlands and Tees Valley mayoral races.

He also managed to pip the Reform UK insurgents into third in Blackpool South, but only by a narrow 117 votes.

Sir Keir hailed his party’s by-election victory as a "seismic win" which proved an "overwhelming vote for change".

But Tory deputy chair Angela Richardson said it was "no reflection" on the public’s view of Mr Sunak - instead blaming the defeat on the scandal-hit Conservative MP whose resignation triggered the contest.

By 10am today Labour had gained 52 council seats while the Tories had lost 122.

As results continued to come in:

• Labour took control of councils in Hartlepool, Thurrock, Redditch and Rushmoor
• Reform UK beat the Tories in 16 out of 25 council seats in Sunderland
• But a Tory minister said: "If you vote Reform, you get Labour” at a general election
• Conservatives pulled off a surprise victory in Harlow that was called "the greatest comeback since Lazarus"
• Labour lost control of Oldham after a pro-Gaza rebellion
• The Lib Dems have gained 14 council seats and the Greens 12
• Boris Johnson was turned away from a polling station after forgetting his ID

Mr Sunak and Sir Keir’s candidates are doing battle in hundreds of council, mayoral, and crime commissioner races across the country.

For millions of voters it is the final set of ballots ahead of the General Election at some point later this year.

Labour claimed first blood by regaining control of Hartlepool council in the North East, before also flipping Rushmoor in Hampshire.

Its victory in the Blackpool South by-election marked a 26 per cent swing from the Tories in the third-largest since WW2.

The party’s new MP Chris Webb bagged 10,825 votes, followed by the Tories on 3,218 and Reform on 3,101.

Sir Keir said the result was "vindication of the hard work over the last four long years to change the Labour Party".

Following their defeat, the Conservatives said: "This was always going to be a difficult election given the specific circumstances related to the previous incumbent."

Scott Benton - who won the seaside seat for the Tories in 2019 - was forced to quit after being caught in a lobbying scandal.

Reform UK failed to get more votes than the Conservatives but the narrow result could inflame jitters from nervous Tory MPs.

Richard Tice’s right-wing insurgents did however beat the Conservatives in 16 council seats in Sunderland.

A Tory spokesman said: "What has been clear is that a vote for Reform is a vote for Sir Keir Starmer - taking us right back to square one."

But Mr Tice said his party was becoming the "real opposition" to Labour in the North and refused to do a deal with the Tories.

Mr Sunak is pinning his hopes on clinging onto the West Midlands and Tees Valley mayoral races.

Ben Houchen is expected to keep power in the North East, while Andy Street’s reelection battle in the West Midlands is too close to call.

Defeat in one or both of these contests could trigger mutinous Tory MPs to launch a fresh plot to oust Mr Sunak.

The rebels have eyed the local elections as their last chance to replace the PM before the General Election.

Allies rallied round Mr Sunak this morning, with Tory chairman Richard Holden calling him the "right man for the job".

He told Times Radio: "The Prime Minister is going to go on and lead the Conservative Party into the general election, there’s no doubt about that.”

Asked for his reaction to the results so far, Mr Holden said: “Not a great set of results but coming off I think it would be fair to say a very high watermark in 2021.”

In 2021 - when most of these contests were last fought - Boris Johnson hoovered up votes with a "vaccine bounce" emerging from the pandemic.

The results were so bruising for Labour that Sir Keir was on the verge of quitting.

This was always going to be a difficult election given the specific circumstances

Tory Spokesman On Blackpool South By-Election

Mr Holden added: "I think what they want to see is us delivering on things like the Rwanda scheme... what I think people want to see is more Conservative delivery on things like illegal migration, they want to see that deterrent."

He told the BBC: "When people are voting in individual by-elections they know they’re not voting for the government of the country."

Polling guru Professor John Curtice said the early results were "nothing short of catastrophic" for Mr Sunak.

He told the BBC: "The government is potentially heading for quite a considerable defeat."

The top pollster said early results put the Conservatives on course for their worst result in 40 years.

The Tories did pull off a surprise victory this morning to hang onto the Harlow council - which its MP Robert Halfon described as the "biggest comeback since Lazarus".

He said Labour had predicted a "landslide" result, with two visits from Sir Keir during the campaign.

Meanwhile in Oldham Labour actually lost control of the authority after pro-Gaza independents cost them a majority.

Labour frontbencher Pat McFadden admitted the Israel-Hamas war "is a factor" for some voters and said his party would "work hard" to win those people back.

Former PM Boris Johnson was among those to be turned away for not having any photo ID.

The former PM fell foul of the very legislation he introduced in 2022.

Veterans Affairs minister Johnny Mercer was earlier forced to apologise with veteran cards not being accepted as valid forms of ID.

Former soldier Adam Diver was turned away from a polling station after showing up to vote with his veterans card.

Thomas Brown