After four exciting days of polls, results and reactions, we're now going to be closing up our live coverage of the local elections.
Before we go, there are still two police and crime commissioner results that are outstanding in Kent and Sussex. But you'll be able to follow our live results board here to find out who wins there.
And to get all caught up to speed on every thing that happened this weekend, you can read some of our analysis here:
This page was written and edited by: Johanna Chisholm, James Harness, Nathan Williams, Sophie Abdulla, Sean Seddon and Gabriela Pomeroy. Thanks for joining us.
Key takeaways from the 2024 local elections
PA MediaCopyright: PA Media
We've been bringing you live updates on the 2024 local elections since Thursday morning and will soon be wrapping up. Before we go, here's a reminder of the what we've learned.
The Conservatives suffered a set of local election results which point to an uphill battle to remain in Downing Street. The party lost 474 councillors and control of 10 councils. It had one big consolation in the Tees Valley mayor win - albeit with a nearly 19 point swing away from the Tories
Labour are celebrating after picking up 186 new councillors, gaining control of eight councils and winning in 10 out of 11 mayoral races. Established mayors in places like Manchester, London and Liverpool cruised to victory and they won in Sunak's North Yorkshire backyard. Labour ended a run of big wins by defeating Andy Street in West Yorkshire after a knife edge mayoral race
The Liberal Democrats came second ahead of the Tories, which the party says is a sign their strategy of targeting the governing party in areas where they've won previously is bearing fruit. They picked up 104 new councillors and won control of two councils. The Greens also made gains by getting 74 new councillors elected.
Rishi Sunak looks to be safe from an imminent leadership challenge but there is disquiet among some Tories concerned the party is heading for a heavy defeat in the general election.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says the results show the country is ready for a change of government.
You can follow all the fallout in Westminster from the local elections here, and see a table of the full results here.
Watch: Who won the mayoral elections... in 90 seconds
A big feature of these local elections were the mayoral races taking place across England.
It included three new positions: East Midlands, North East and York & North Yorkshire. London's incumbent Sadiq Khan was bidding for a record third term.
Watch the video below to see who won and where:
Video content
Video caption: Watch: The 2024 mayoral elections... in 90 secondsWatch: The 2024 mayoral elections... in 90 seconds
Are Tories resigned to electoral fate under Sunak?
Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
On Saturday night, West Midlands Mayor Andy Street lost his berth after a nail-biting count.
That will be a huge disappointment to the Conservatives who had hoped to hang on there.
Especially with a razor thin margin, and after counting some votes again and again.
But even with the Street defeat, it seems "the moment" is more likely to be the one where Rishi Sunak's position as leader has been confirmed. So far.
Why?
Well, Tory HQ can't mention the mayor in Tees Valley, Ben Houchen's victory, often enough.
Second, the pundits' calculators suggested that if the whole country had voted on Thursday, the gap between the Conservatives and Labour comes out at 9%: not, theoretically, an insurmountable gap to close when the general election campaign is miles away and could bend the curves.
Sunak puts positive spin on Tory local election losses
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
We are almost at the end of this election - just two more results are yet to come through.
What did Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have to say about his party's performance?
Sunak’s immediate reaction to his election losses in the local elections was that they were “disappointing” but stressed the win in the Tees Valley mayoralty.
That victory was the rare bright spot for the Tories. The party had lost more than 470 council seats, while Labour won the Blackpool South by-election.
Speaking on Friday, Sunak cited his party’s success in Teesside as proof that results in the “key battleground” showed that at the next general election voters "are going to stick with us".
He added that Labour "knew they have to win here in order to win a general election", but voters know "the Conservatives are building a brighter future for Teesside and a brighter future of Britain".
Britain 'has had enough' - Starmer's message to Sunak following Labour victories
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
The polls opened on Thursday at 06:00 BST. That's a long time ago in politics.
Let's have a look back at what the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had to say about his party's gains.
Starmer didn’t hesitate long after it became clear that Labour would be taking home a major victory in the Blackpool South by-election, with a massive 26% swing, that he believed time was up for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
“That wasn't just a little message, that wasn't just a murmur, that was a shout from Blackpool - we want change,” Starmer said in the small hours of Friday morning.
In a more personal blow to the prime minister, Labour's David Skaith won the York and North Yorkshire mayoral election - an area covered by this mayoralty contains Sunak’s own constituency of Richmond.
"Keir Starmer's Labour Party is now winning in Rishi Sunak's backyard,” remarked a Labour spokesman.
And at a rally last night with the new West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker, Starmer said Britain has "had enough of 14 years of decline, chaos and division" and that voters want "to usher in national renewal with Labour".
Lib Dems encouraged by gains and 'Tory extinction'
PA MediaCopyright: PA Media
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey celebrated election gains with a (not so) subtle celebration suggesting the Tories are dinosaurs heading for extinctionImage caption: Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey celebrated election gains with a (not so) subtle celebration suggesting the Tories are dinosaurs heading for extinction
While Labour has found reason to celebrate in the results of this year's local elections, so too have the Liberal Democrats, after they gained 104 councillors and won control of Tunbridge Wells and Dorset council.
Sarah Olney, the Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park, tells BBC Radio 5 Live her party was delighted with the results.
Alluding to the party's dinosaur-themed stunt, she points to Cheltenham Borough Council - where the Lib Dems retained control - and where "the Tories are now extinct... it’s a very encouraging sign for us".
She says the picture emerging "is that people are
sick to death of this Conservative government, they’re tired of being ignored,
they’re tired of this right-wing rhetoric".
Last local council result of 2024 announced
Salford City Council has just announced its results, meaning we now have a complete picture from the 2024 local authority elections.
A third of councillors were up for election and Labour have picked up one at the Conservatives' expense.
It doesn't have any impact on who runs the council or the overall national picture, but it wraps up a bleak run of results for the Tories with another Labour gain.
We're just waiting for police and crime commissioner results in Sussex and Kent before we can officially declare the 2024 local elections over.
Khan's London Ulez 'a dog that didn’t bite' says former campaign director
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Drivers must pay a charge of £12.50 per day to drive a non-compliant vehicle anywhere in the zoneImage caption: Drivers must pay a charge of £12.50 per day to drive a non-compliant vehicle anywhere in the zone
Sadiq
Khan securing a third term as London mayor confirmed “Ulez isn’t the big
election issue that some people thought it was,” says Nick Bowes.
Bowes
– who worked with Khan on his 2016 mayoral election campaign – says opinion polls
had pointed "for a while" that the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) in August 2023 was not a big factor for voters.
He adds: “It looks like Ulez was a dog that
didn’t bite.”
Speaking
to Radio 5 Live Breakfast, Bowes says some voters realised Ulez “didn’t
affect them” and within a couple of weeks the “noise” around the policy
dampened down.
He continues: “Some
people like politicians that stick to their guns and principles and don’t back
down.
“You
can’t argue that Sadiq hasn’t done that with Ulez. To a group of voters, that
matters. I think that got people out to vote for him.”
When is the next general election?
BBCCopyright: BBC
There was a lot of chatter on Laura Kuenssberg's show earlier about the general election - despite the fact that we're still awaiting the last results from the local elections.
In January, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he expected to go to the polls "in the second half" of 2024, but there has been speculation that an election could take place earlier.
The local elections are not quite over yet as we're still waiting for three more results.
Salford - A third of councillors are up for re-election on Salford City Council. Labour already have a massive majority and only three Conservative wards went to the polls, so there's not much up for grabs here. That result is due at 17:00 BST.
Kent - Voters in Kent will find out if Conservative police and crime commissioner Matthew Scott will win a third term. He was last elected with 57.8% of the vote, compared to Labour on 25.3%, so a change here would be a surprise. We'll know more at 15:00 BST.
Sussex - Another police and crime commissioner election has taken place in Sussex. Conservative Katy Bourne has held this post since it was established in 2012 and won by around 130,000 votes last time. Again, no upset expected here - but we won't know for sure until 15:30 BST.
As ever, all timings are subject to change - but by late afternoon, we should finally be able to officially declare local elections season done and dusted for another year.
What happened on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg?
BBCCopyright: BBC
Suella Braverman was the first guest on today's showImage caption: Suella Braverman was the first guest on today's show
If you missed Sunday with Laura
Kuenssberg, here’s a quick roundup of what the guests said this morning:
Former home secretary Suella
Braverman has said the “terrible” local elections results make a Labour government
at the next general election likely, which fills her with “horror”
Braverman
says she regrets backing Rishi Sunak but the party should not change leader now, and that the PM needs to “own” the results and fix it
Mark Harper,
the transport secretary, predicts the local election results point to a hung
parliament at the general election
Harper adds that the Tories have a plan to
reach disillusioned voters, citing Ben Houchen's mayoral win in Tees Valley as an
example of the party successfully gaining back support
Pat
McFadden, Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator, says his party’s defence of Israel, following the 7 October attack, may have cost it some support
We also heard from Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande
Makolo who says her government cannot guarantee how many asylum
seekers it can take, but it "expects to
relocate thousands"
You can watch the entire programme on BBC iPlayer here.
Analysis
Braverman backs down from calling for Sunak's departure - for now
Hannah Miller
Political correspondent
BBCCopyright: BBC
Suella Braverman is not calling for Rishi Sunak to go. Surely a small relief for the Prime Minister, on a weekend where for Conservatives there isn’t much joy to go around.
But Sunak still finds himself pulled in two directions.
Those, like the former home secretary, who say he needs to be "more Conservative" and more radical on issues like migration, bigger with tax cuts, and faster on bringing down waiting lists.
Number 10 claim to be making progress on all of these things, but argue they haven’t had time to deliver all their plans just yet.
Then, on the other hand, the now former mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street. He lost - but only just - doing rather better than his party overall.
In defeat, Street has suggested the fact he came so close proves the value of "moderate" Conservatism - the exact opposite of Suella Braverman’s prescription.
The vast majority of Conservative politicians are of the opinion that Sunak can at this late stage be the only leader to take their party into a general election. They all say he needs to "deliver" - but on what, they don’t agree.
Rwanda won't guarantee how many people it will take from UK
Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
The Rwandan government won't guarantee how many people it can take from the UK if flights start to depart.
Rishi Sunak has promised that migrants arriving in the UK without permission will be sent to Rwanda rather than allowed to claim asylum in the UK.
Around 40,000 have come to the UK since the law was changed in 2023 and are in line for deportation.
Rwanda has signed a five-year deal with the UK, with costs estimated to be at least £300 million already.
Speaking on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Rwanda's government spokesperson Yolande Maloko said: "I cannot tell you is how many thousands we're taking in the first year or in the second year."
When asked if Rwanda could accommodate all of the people in the current backlog, Maloko said it would "depend on very many factors that are being worked out now".
Pressed to give a commitment on the number, Ms Makolo said "we are ready".
But, she would not give an assurance it would be able to take the 40,000 people the UK would like to send, merely saying it would be "thousands".
Watch: Labour grilled over Gaza position after losses in majority Muslim wards
Earlier, we heard from Labour's campaign chief Pat McFadden, who was asked if his party could lose votes in the general election over the position it has taken on Gaza.
At this year's local elections, in 58 local council wards analysed by the BBC, where more than 1 in 5 residents identify as Muslim, Labour's share of the vote was 21% down on 2021, the last time most seats were contested.
When McFadden was pressed by Laura Kuenssberg about this point, he began by saying that Labour defends Israel's right to defend itself after 7 October but added that the party also wants to get a better future for the Palestinian people.
You can watch that exchange below:
Video content
Video caption: Labour 'understands strong feelings on Gaza'Labour 'understands strong feelings on Gaza'
Sign up to Laura Kuenssberg's weekly newsletter
Week’s like this one provide just a taste of how hectic things will get in the lead-up to the general election.
To stay up to date with all of Laura’s political analysis throughout the week, sign up for the Off Air with Laura K newsletter, emailed directly to your inbox.
.Copyright: .
That's it for the show - but more to come from us
The Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme is over until next week, but stick with us as we bring you more analysis on what we heard from the Conservatives' Suella Braverman, Labour's Pat McFadden and the rest of our panel.
We'll continue to update you here with the latest updates from the local elections and what it means for the bigger picture. So stay with us.
Watch: 'Plan is working' despite election losses - Tory minister
Video content
Video caption: Mark Harper: 'Plan is working' despite Tory election lossesMark Harper: 'Plan is working' despite Tory election losses
Earlier on the programme, we heard from Transport Secretary Mark Harper, who defended his party despite its poor showing in this week's local elections.
Yes there was low turnout, he said, and our voters did not come out and support our candidates, but he insisted that his party does indeed have a plan and it is "working".
You can watch that clip above.
What did the panel make of all that?
BBCCopyright: BBC
Throughout today's programme we heard from a panel featuring Conservative MP Paul Scully, former Labour minister Jacqui Smith and Guardian political editor Pippa Crerar.
At the outset, Scully said the public sent the party a "really hard message" and said the Tories need to "take a breath and show humility".
Scully - who wanted to be the Conservative candidate for the London mayoral race - gave a scathing review of the party's performance in the capital. He said the party "botched" the selection process which saw Susan Hall become the candidate, and failed to inspire during the campaign.
Scully said voters have "stopped listening" to the government and agreed that many Tory voters have "gone on strike". He called for ministers to set out a more positive vision.
Smith admitted she was "rolling her eyes" at Scully, Harper and Braverman "wrestling for the future" of the party with the public left facing a raft of problems with public services and the cost of living.
Asked about Labour's prospects, she said there are "no easy answers" to the country's problems but that the the UK needs a government which isn't fighting in public.
What does this all mean for Rishi Sunak? Well, asked about what she's picked up from Tory sources about the mood among rebels, Crerar said she thinks they have decided against any sort of leadership challenge.
She continued: "The Tories have reached the end of the road when it comes to the public feeling they can improve their lives, especially after damage inflicted by Truss and Johnson."
'We are attacked unjustly' - Rwandan government
BBCCopyright: BBC
Yolande Makolo is a spokeswoman for the Rwandan governmentImage caption: Yolande Makolo is a spokeswoman for the Rwandan government
Makolo says the Rwandan government is "serious about offering people a home and we are doing it for the right reasons".
Asked about Labour saying they would withdraw from the scheme, Makolo says critics should "come up with another solution that is innovative and is not just deterrence and enforcement".
For many, Rwanda is associated with the 1994 genocide, which saw the country descend into brutal ethnic violence.
Makolo says the country has "worked very hard to get to where we are after basically an apocalypse".
She tells the BBC Rwanda is safe and committed to tackling discrimination, adding: "Discrimination is what almost destroyed this country."
"We are attacked unjustly. Living in Rwanda is not a punishment, it's a beautiful country."
Live Reporting
Edited by Johanna Chisholm and James Harness
All times stated are UK
![A dog sits beside a polling station sign](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
BBCCopyright: BBC - Rishi Sunak needs to own Tory local election defeats and change course, says Suella Braverman
- Chris Mason: An evening of drama as Labour squeak West Midlands win
![Sir Keir Starmer](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
PA MediaCopyright: PA Media -
The Conservatives suffered a set of local election results which point to an uphill battle to remain in Downing Street. The party lost 474 councillors and control of 10 councils. It had one big consolation in the Tees Valley mayor win - albeit with a nearly 19 point swing away from the Tories
- Labour are celebrating after picking up 186 new councillors, gaining control of eight councils and winning in 10 out of 11 mayoral races. Established mayors in places like Manchester, London and Liverpool cruised to victory and they won in Sunak's North Yorkshire backyard. Labour ended a run of big wins by defeating Andy Street in West Yorkshire after a knife edge mayoral race
-
The Liberal Democrats came second ahead of the Tories, which the party says is a sign their strategy of targeting the governing party in areas where they've won previously is bearing fruit. They picked up 104 new councillors and won control of two councils. The Greens also made gains by getting 74 new councillors elected.
- Rishi Sunak looks to be safe from an imminent leadership challenge but there is disquiet among some Tories concerned the party is heading for a heavy defeat in the general election.
-
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says the results show the country is ready for a change of government.
Video caption: Watch: The 2024 mayoral elections... in 90 secondsWatch: The 2024 mayoral elections... in 90 seconds ![](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/live-experience/cps/96/cpsprodpb/vivo/live/images/2022/8/30/815986ae-eacf-4b3e-8756-65c5e22de395.jpg)
![Rishi Sunak applauds with suppoas he visits Teesside in Tees Valley the morning after the local elections](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
ReutersCopyright: Reuters ![Keir Starmer smiles broadlt as he greets people in Blackpool](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
ReutersCopyright: Reuters ![Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey greeted by Tory 'dinosaurs' at his party's celebration in Winchester](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
PA MediaCopyright: PA Media Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey celebrated election gains with a (not so) subtle celebration suggesting the Tories are dinosaurs heading for extinctionImage caption: Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey celebrated election gains with a (not so) subtle celebration suggesting the Tories are dinosaurs heading for extinction ![A street sign reads Ultra low emissions ULEZ zone](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images Drivers must pay a charge of £12.50 per day to drive a non-compliant vehicle anywhere in the zoneImage caption: Drivers must pay a charge of £12.50 per day to drive a non-compliant vehicle anywhere in the zone ![Woman hangs a polling station sign](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
BBCCopyright: BBC ![The results from the local elections are shown in a graphic, which shows Labour with 50, Liberal Democrats with 12, Conservative with 6, Independents and others with 1 and all others with no majority as 37.](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
.Copyright: . - Salford - A third of councillors are up for re-election on Salford City Council. Labour already have a massive majority and only three Conservative wards went to the polls, so there's not much up for grabs here. That result is due at 17:00 BST.
- Kent - Voters in Kent will find out if Conservative police and crime commissioner Matthew Scott will win a third term. He was last elected with 57.8% of the vote, compared to Labour on 25.3%, so a change here would be a surprise. We'll know more at 15:00 BST.
- Sussex - Another police and crime commissioner election has taken place in Sussex. Conservative Katy Bourne has held this post since it was established in 2012 and won by around 130,000 votes last time. Again, no upset expected here - but we won't know for sure until 15:30 BST.
![Suella Braverman and Laura Kuenssberg in the studio](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
BBCCopyright: BBC Suella Braverman was the first guest on today's showImage caption: Suella Braverman was the first guest on today's show -
Former home secretary Suella
Braverman has said the “terrible” local elections results make a Labour government
at the next general election likely, which fills her with “horror”
-
Braverman
says she regrets backing Rishi Sunak but the party should not change leader now, and that the PM needs to “own” the results and fix it
- Mark Harper,
the transport secretary, predicts the local election results point to a hung
parliament at the general election
-
Harper adds that the Tories have a plan to
reach disillusioned voters, citing Ben Houchen's mayoral win in Tees Valley as an
example of the party successfully gaining back support
- Pat
McFadden, Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator, says his party’s defence of Israel, following the 7 October attack, may have cost it some support
-
We also heard from Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande
Makolo who says her government cannot guarantee how many asylum
seekers it can take, but it "expects to
relocate thousands"
Analysis![](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/live-experience/cps/96/cpsprodpb/vivo/live/images/2024/3/7/8a0a1cd6-8a14-45af-b1e5-566c143fab9e.jpg)
![Suella Braverman speaks to media outside the BBC New Broadcasting House in a red suit.](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
BBCCopyright: BBC ![](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/live-experience/cps/96/cpsprodpb/vivo/live/images/2022/8/30/815986ae-eacf-4b3e-8756-65c5e22de395.jpg)
Video caption: Labour 'understands strong feelings on Gaza'Labour 'understands strong feelings on Gaza' ![Graphic says "for more insight like this every week straight to your inbox"](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
.Copyright: . Video caption: Mark Harper: 'Plan is working' despite Tory election lossesMark Harper: 'Plan is working' despite Tory election losses ![Laura Kuenssberg](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
BBCCopyright: BBC ![Yolande Makolo speaking from a studio](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
BBCCopyright: BBC Yolande Makolo is a spokeswoman for the Rwandan governmentImage caption: Yolande Makolo is a spokeswoman for the Rwandan government
Latest PostThat's a wrap on local elections 2024
After four exciting days of polls, results and reactions, we're now going to be closing up our live coverage of the local elections.
Before we go, there are still two police and crime commissioner results that are outstanding in Kent and Sussex. But you'll be able to follow our live results board here to find out who wins there.
And to get all caught up to speed on every thing that happened this weekend, you can read some of our analysis here:
This page was written and edited by: Johanna Chisholm, James Harness, Nathan Williams, Sophie Abdulla, Sean Seddon and Gabriela Pomeroy. Thanks for joining us.
Key takeaways from the 2024 local elections
We've been bringing you live updates on the 2024 local elections since Thursday morning and will soon be wrapping up. Before we go, here's a reminder of the what we've learned.
You can follow all the fallout in Westminster from the local elections here, and see a table of the full results here.
Watch: Who won the mayoral elections... in 90 seconds
A big feature of these local elections were the mayoral races taking place across England.
It included three new positions: East Midlands, North East and York & North Yorkshire. London's incumbent Sadiq Khan was bidding for a record third term.
Watch the video below to see who won and where:
Video content
Are Tories resigned to electoral fate under Sunak?
Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
On Saturday night, West Midlands Mayor Andy Street lost his berth after a nail-biting count.
That will be a huge disappointment to the Conservatives who had hoped to hang on there. Especially with a razor thin margin, and after counting some votes again and again.
But even with the Street defeat, it seems "the moment" is more likely to be the one where Rishi Sunak's position as leader has been confirmed. So far.
Why?
Well, Tory HQ can't mention the mayor in Tees Valley, Ben Houchen's victory, often enough.
Second, the pundits' calculators suggested that if the whole country had voted on Thursday, the gap between the Conservatives and Labour comes out at 9%: not, theoretically, an insurmountable gap to close when the general election campaign is miles away and could bend the curves.
Read Laura Kuenssberg's full article here
Sunak puts positive spin on Tory local election losses
We are almost at the end of this election - just two more results are yet to come through.
What did Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have to say about his party's performance?
Sunak’s immediate reaction to his election losses in the local elections was that they were “disappointing” but stressed the win in the Tees Valley mayoralty.
That victory was the rare bright spot for the Tories. The party had lost more than 470 council seats, while Labour won the Blackpool South by-election.
Speaking on Friday, Sunak cited his party’s success in Teesside as proof that results in the “key battleground” showed that at the next general election voters "are going to stick with us".
He added that Labour "knew they have to win here in order to win a general election", but voters know "the Conservatives are building a brighter future for Teesside and a brighter future of Britain".
Britain 'has had enough' - Starmer's message to Sunak following Labour victories
The polls opened on Thursday at 06:00 BST. That's a long time ago in politics.
Let's have a look back at what the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had to say about his party's gains.
Starmer didn’t hesitate long after it became clear that Labour would be taking home a major victory in the Blackpool South by-election, with a massive 26% swing, that he believed time was up for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
“That wasn't just a little message, that wasn't just a murmur, that was a shout from Blackpool - we want change,” Starmer said in the small hours of Friday morning.
In a more personal blow to the prime minister, Labour's David Skaith won the York and North Yorkshire mayoral election - an area covered by this mayoralty contains Sunak’s own constituency of Richmond.
"Keir Starmer's Labour Party is now winning in Rishi Sunak's backyard,” remarked a Labour spokesman.
And at a rally last night with the new West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker, Starmer said Britain has "had enough of 14 years of decline, chaos and division" and that voters want "to usher in national renewal with Labour".
Lib Dems encouraged by gains and 'Tory extinction'
While Labour has found reason to celebrate in the results of this year's local elections, so too have the Liberal Democrats, after they gained 104 councillors and won control of Tunbridge Wells and Dorset council.
Sarah Olney, the Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park, tells BBC Radio 5 Live her party was delighted with the results.
Alluding to the party's dinosaur-themed stunt, she points to Cheltenham Borough Council - where the Lib Dems retained control - and where "the Tories are now extinct... it’s a very encouraging sign for us".
She says the picture emerging "is that people are sick to death of this Conservative government, they’re tired of being ignored, they’re tired of this right-wing rhetoric".
Last local council result of 2024 announced
Salford City Council has just announced its results, meaning we now have a complete picture from the 2024 local authority elections.
A third of councillors were up for election and Labour have picked up one at the Conservatives' expense.
It doesn't have any impact on who runs the council or the overall national picture, but it wraps up a bleak run of results for the Tories with another Labour gain.
We're just waiting for police and crime commissioner results in Sussex and Kent before we can officially declare the 2024 local elections over.
Khan's London Ulez 'a dog that didn’t bite' says former campaign director
Sadiq Khan securing a third term as London mayor confirmed “Ulez isn’t the big election issue that some people thought it was,” says Nick Bowes.
Bowes – who worked with Khan on his 2016 mayoral election campaign – says opinion polls had pointed "for a while" that the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) in August 2023 was not a big factor for voters.
He adds: “It looks like Ulez was a dog that didn’t bite.”
Speaking to Radio 5 Live Breakfast, Bowes says some voters realised Ulez “didn’t affect them” and within a couple of weeks the “noise” around the policy dampened down.
He continues: “Some people like politicians that stick to their guns and principles and don’t back down.
“You can’t argue that Sadiq hasn’t done that with Ulez. To a group of voters, that matters. I think that got people out to vote for him.”
When is the next general election?
There was a lot of chatter on Laura Kuenssberg's show earlier about the general election - despite the fact that we're still awaiting the last results from the local elections.
In January, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he expected to go to the polls "in the second half" of 2024, but there has been speculation that an election could take place earlier.
The latest a Parliament can be dissolved for a general election is on the fifth anniversary of the day it first met.
That means 17 December 2024. However, 25 working days are then allowed to prepare for the election.
So, the very latest the next election could be is 28 January 2025.
Read more about the next election here
Which local election results are still to come?
The local elections are not quite over yet as we're still waiting for three more results.
As ever, all timings are subject to change - but by late afternoon, we should finally be able to officially declare local elections season done and dusted for another year.
What happened on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg?
If you missed Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, here’s a quick roundup of what the guests said this morning:
You can watch the entire programme on BBC iPlayer here.
Braverman backs down from calling for Sunak's departure - for now
Hannah Miller
Political correspondent
Suella Braverman is not calling for Rishi Sunak to go. Surely a small relief for the Prime Minister, on a weekend where for Conservatives there isn’t much joy to go around.
But Sunak still finds himself pulled in two directions.
Those, like the former home secretary, who say he needs to be "more Conservative" and more radical on issues like migration, bigger with tax cuts, and faster on bringing down waiting lists.
Number 10 claim to be making progress on all of these things, but argue they haven’t had time to deliver all their plans just yet.
Then, on the other hand, the now former mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street. He lost - but only just - doing rather better than his party overall.
In defeat, Street has suggested the fact he came so close proves the value of "moderate" Conservatism - the exact opposite of Suella Braverman’s prescription.
The vast majority of Conservative politicians are of the opinion that Sunak can at this late stage be the only leader to take their party into a general election. They all say he needs to "deliver" - but on what, they don’t agree.
Rwanda won't guarantee how many people it will take from UK
Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
The Rwandan government won't guarantee how many people it can take from the UK if flights start to depart.
Rishi Sunak has promised that migrants arriving in the UK without permission will be sent to Rwanda rather than allowed to claim asylum in the UK.
Around 40,000 have come to the UK since the law was changed in 2023 and are in line for deportation.
Rwanda has signed a five-year deal with the UK, with costs estimated to be at least £300 million already.
Speaking on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Rwanda's government spokesperson Yolande Maloko said: "I cannot tell you is how many thousands we're taking in the first year or in the second year."
When asked if Rwanda could accommodate all of the people in the current backlog, Maloko said it would "depend on very many factors that are being worked out now".
Pressed to give a commitment on the number, Ms Makolo said "we are ready".
But, she would not give an assurance it would be able to take the 40,000 people the UK would like to send, merely saying it would be "thousands".
You can read Laura Kuenssberg's full article here.
Watch: Labour grilled over Gaza position after losses in majority Muslim wards
Earlier, we heard from Labour's campaign chief Pat McFadden, who was asked if his party could lose votes in the general election over the position it has taken on Gaza.
At this year's local elections, in 58 local council wards analysed by the BBC, where more than 1 in 5 residents identify as Muslim, Labour's share of the vote was 21% down on 2021, the last time most seats were contested.
When McFadden was pressed by Laura Kuenssberg about this point, he began by saying that Labour defends Israel's right to defend itself after 7 October but added that the party also wants to get a better future for the Palestinian people.
You can watch that exchange below:
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Week’s like this one provide just a taste of how hectic things will get in the lead-up to the general election.
To stay up to date with all of Laura’s political analysis throughout the week, sign up for the Off Air with Laura K newsletter, emailed directly to your inbox.
That's it for the show - but more to come from us
The Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme is over until next week, but stick with us as we bring you more analysis on what we heard from the Conservatives' Suella Braverman, Labour's Pat McFadden and the rest of our panel.
We'll continue to update you here with the latest updates from the local elections and what it means for the bigger picture. So stay with us.
Watch: 'Plan is working' despite election losses - Tory minister
Video content
Earlier on the programme, we heard from Transport Secretary Mark Harper, who defended his party despite its poor showing in this week's local elections.
Yes there was low turnout, he said, and our voters did not come out and support our candidates, but he insisted that his party does indeed have a plan and it is "working".
You can watch that clip above.
What did the panel make of all that?
Throughout today's programme we heard from a panel featuring Conservative MP Paul Scully, former Labour minister Jacqui Smith and Guardian political editor Pippa Crerar.
At the outset, Scully said the public sent the party a "really hard message" and said the Tories need to "take a breath and show humility".
Scully - who wanted to be the Conservative candidate for the London mayoral race - gave a scathing review of the party's performance in the capital. He said the party "botched" the selection process which saw Susan Hall become the candidate, and failed to inspire during the campaign.
Scully said voters have "stopped listening" to the government and agreed that many Tory voters have "gone on strike". He called for ministers to set out a more positive vision.
Smith admitted she was "rolling her eyes" at Scully, Harper and Braverman "wrestling for the future" of the party with the public left facing a raft of problems with public services and the cost of living.
Asked about Labour's prospects, she said there are "no easy answers" to the country's problems but that the the UK needs a government which isn't fighting in public.
What does this all mean for Rishi Sunak? Well, asked about what she's picked up from Tory sources about the mood among rebels, Crerar said she thinks they have decided against any sort of leadership challenge.
She continued: "The Tories have reached the end of the road when it comes to the public feeling they can improve their lives, especially after damage inflicted by Truss and Johnson."
'We are attacked unjustly' - Rwandan government
Makolo says the Rwandan government is "serious about offering people a home and we are doing it for the right reasons".
Asked about Labour saying they would withdraw from the scheme, Makolo says critics should "come up with another solution that is innovative and is not just deterrence and enforcement".
For many, Rwanda is associated with the 1994 genocide, which saw the country descend into brutal ethnic violence.
Makolo says the country has "worked very hard to get to where we are after basically an apocalypse".
She tells the BBC Rwanda is safe and committed to tackling discrimination, adding: "Discrimination is what almost destroyed this country."
"We are attacked unjustly. Living in Rwanda is not a punishment, it's a beautiful country."