14 May, 2017
Tory candidate Ben Houchen won the Tees Valley mayoral race by more than 2,000 votes after a run-off against Labour's Sue Jeffrey.
But its 18% share of the vote was still well below the 25% the party was regularly credited with in local elections between 2005 and 2010.
A comfortable Conservative victory was perhaps inevitable in a county as traditionally blue as Kent, but even Tory chiefs might have been surprised by the magnitude of the landslide - winning 67 of the council's 81 seats.
"In 1983 the Tories squeaked a three point lead in the local elections, but crushed Labour by sixteen points in the general election four weeks later", noted YouGov's Anthony Wells.
That's because many of those who are sceptical about his leadership say there is no obvious mechanism to remove him - and he would use any evidence of a plot to excuse a bad general election result.
A number of high profile figures lost their seats, including Labour group leader June Tandy and chairman of the Labour group on the council, Phil Johnson.
Conservatives won the West of England metro mayor contest and topped the first round of voting in the West Midlands, while Labour claimed the mayoralties in Liverpool, Doncaster and North Tyneside.
In Lincolnshire, where Ukip leader Paul Nuttall is standing in the general election in Boston and Skegness, the party went from being the official Opposition to having no seats at all as the Tories gained 23 seats.
"And the reality is that only a General Election vote for the Conservatives in 34 days' time will strengthen my hand to get the best deal for Britain from Brexit".
The U.K. Independence Party, the far-right, anti-immigrant party which pushed for Britain's exit from the European Union, suffered the most.
"We know there is an election taking place in the United Kingdom", Ms Margaritis Schinas said on Wednesday.
In 2013, Labour won 39 seats and formed a majority with the Liberal Democrats who won 6 seats.
The ruling Conservative Party seems to be gaining local council seats according to preliminary resul.
Monday's survey for the Guardian newspaper put support for the Conservatives at 49 percent, up two points from the previous ICM/Guardian poll last week, with Labour down one point at 27 percent.
"It's been a hard night", the Ukip leader conceded.
"We cant assume that what happens in local elections will automatically be replicated in general elections", said Tory minister Brandon Lewis. Labour has collapsed. They can not win the general
election.
The Scottish Conservatives - with 23 of 32 councils declared - have more than doubled the number of councillors they have in the country from 87 to 191, and have taken seats from all the other major parties, though primarily from Labour. Election staff count ballot papers for the local elections at the Emirates Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland, Friday May 5, 2017.
The results will be damaging for Labour and Jeremy COrbyn in particular.
