Local elections 2024 - results as they happened: Labour takes dramatic victory in West Midlands after Khan win

Results coming in quite quickly now, Labour has held on to Reading Council.

We’re finally getting the result of the Blackpool South by-election.

Labour’s Chris Webb has been elected the new MP of Blackpool South. The Tories very narrowly pipped Reform UK into second place.

Labour has won a resounding majority in the Blackpool South by-election, in a further blow to Rishi Sunak.

In the last year alone, the Conservatives have lost seven by-elections, with Keir Starmer’s party winning six of them. On a night, when Labour made a number of key gains in the local elections, Chris Webb added to the party’s tally for Westminster.

The 38-year-old became the new MP for Blackpool South, winning 10,825 votes to replaced disgraced Scott Benton. Tory candidate David Jones just beat Reform UK’s Mark Butcher into second place by 117 votes.

Following his election, Webb said: “The people of Blackpool South have spoken for Britain. They’ve said to Rishi Sunak’s they’ve had enough.” He accused the government of “crashing the economy” and putting “taxes up”.

The by-election, scheduled for the same day as the local polls, was called in ignominious circumstances. Conservative Scott Benton, who was stripped of the whip after the scandal, was caught in a sting offering to lobby ministers, leak government documents and table parliamentary questions on behalf of gambling investors. He was suspended from the House of Commons for 35 days, after the Standards Committee found he gave the impression MPs were “corrupt and for sale”. 

Benton quit, triggering the by-election and left local Sandgrownians furious and distrustful of politicians. Webb addressed this in his speech, saying people of Blackpool “had been left with little faith in politicians”.

Read the full piece here.

Now that Blackpool South has been declared, I’m going to get some kip before the next round of local elections are called later today. We’ll have a number of mayoral races, as well as the councils and police and crime commissioners.

Remember you can find the latest results in our interactive map above. I’ll leave you in the capable hands of my colleagues.

Good morning from us here NationalWorld and welcome back to our Local Elections Live Blog.

While our Politics Editor grabs some well-deserved sleep, here’s a quick run down of the main moments that happened overnight:

We’ll continue bringing you updates throughout the morning so be sure to check in for the latest news.

Labour has lost control of Oldham council.

With the majority of wards now reporting - 14 of 20 - it has been confirmed that the party has lost five seats to independents.

The Liberal Democrats have held the control of the council in Winchester.

The party won eight of the first 10 seat to be declared in the council area.

Labour have also made gains in the Police and Crime Commisioner races, taking the Avon and Somerset PCC from the Tories.

Clare Moddy won with a majority over second place Tory incumbent Mark Shelford.

Katy Grant, of the Greens, placed third, while the Lib Dem’s Benet Allen placed fourth in the final count.

The win now mean that Labour has picked up two of the three PCC calls made overnight. A further 34 are due to be made in the next few days.

Our reporters across the network have been speaking to some of the main players throughout the night.

The Hartlepool Mail caught up for Labour’s Brenda Harrison, who has made history by being set to become the town’s first female council leader after Labour’s win.

She said that the historic moment was a “great achievement for Hartlepool”.