Part 2 Election 2016

Edwards for continuing coverage of Bbc Election 2016.

A very good morning. Welcome to the BBC Election Centre. We will be here

throughout the day, bringing you up to date with what is happening

around the country after yesterday's elections. In Scotland, for example,

the SNP celebrates an historic third victory. They have two short of an

overall majority in their seat number.

An excellent night for the Scottish Conservatives in the Parliamentary

elections, their leader, Ruth Davidson, won a seat in Edinburgh

Central. The Scottish Labour Party was pushed into third place, a very

poor result for Scottish Labour. A different story for Labour and

Wales, they won 29 seats and will hold onto power. That is a very good

result for Welsh Labour, better than many had predicted. It was also, by

the way, in Wales, a very good night for Ukip, who have won 60 in the

National Assembly for Wales. The Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood

gained a notable win in the Rhondda from the Labour Party, but elsewhere

Plaid failed to make gains. With two thirds of the English council

results in, I think we are seeing that Labour have not said that the

kind of losses that some in the party with the ring. The only answer

that have slipped from their control is Dudley, they have held onto quite

a few others like Southampton, Exeter and Redditch.

They have started counting the votes in the London Assembly this morning

for the marrow of London, in a few minutes the Prime Minister is

expected to speak in the town where they have been making one game,

Peterborough. -- they have started counting the votes in the London

Assembly this morning for the Mayor of London.

With that in mind, B Brilliant Jo Coburn, who will be with us

throughout the day with her analysis. -- let me bring in Jo

Coburn. We expect the Prime Minister to speak in Peterborough soon, just

a thought on how the Conservatives have done? They will be very

pleased, at this point in the electoral cycle you would expect the

governing party on a historically, to have made significant losses. It

is time when the opposition make significant gains, that has not

happened for Labour. The Tories will be celebrating the results big-time

because, historically, they have gone into second place ahead of

Labour under their leader, Ruth Davidson. You will hear an awful lot

from the Conservatives. For David Cameron, when you think he is

leading a party at the moment that is deeply divided over Europe,

ministers were taking chunks out of each other, six years of rule and

austerity, you might have expected a very gloomy morning for the

Conservatives, but they will be able to look to places like Peterborough,

pointed to Scotland and say, actually, the people here have not

turned against us and have not gone to Labour in big numbers. They will

be playing up, particularly, the result in Scotland. Before we hear

from the Prime Minister, let's join Emily Maitlis. Give us the broad

picture of the local elections? Let me take you to the scoreboard.

Labour have the bulk of the councillors, don't be surprised, 49%

of those standing tonight or last night were Labour, down 25. The

Conservatives have made eight games, the Lib Dems on 13, the independent

are down nine, we have seen the gains from Ukip coming from a

standing start, they did not stand in many places last time. A less

good night for the Green Party and no change for the residents.

Looking at the councils, very little has changed hands. Labour has lost

one, the Conservatives have put one on, one has gone on to home

territory. This is interesting, I will bring it to you in full form, a

win for the Conservatives in Peterborough, a majority of two, but

do not be too confused. There have been boundary changes, it was an

all-out election, all the seat up for election and the boundary

changes may well have helped propel the Conservatives into a winning

position. They used to have it in 2012, it went home, they have taken

it back. The story of the night if you look at what is happening in

terms of the seats, a good night for the Lib Dems, they are up five. No

moves to the Conservatives, Labour and the independent are down. In

Kirklees, we were looking to see whether Labour could win an overall

majority. On a good night, pushing forward as the opposition, they may

have taken this. It is a hung council, are short by one, they are

the biggest party. They needed one more to turn this thread. The story

overnight in England has been how little change we have seen an

individual seats. No movement for Labour, the Conservatives up one,

the Green Party down one. That is the picture this morning,

where the English local councils are concerned. There are more to come,

some have not declared. I mentioned the fate of the parties in Scotland

and Wales, let's join Jeremy to hear more about what is going on.

We were talking 12 hours ago about the fact that the very impressive

performance in the 2015 general election by the SNP suggested that

they would build on their 2011 Parliamentary performance in

Scotland, and wipe even more yellow across the map. It has not happened.

A very interesting result in Scotland. To some extent the SNP has

been held back, a bit frustrated, maybe, in their aim of getting an

overall majority. This is the map now, a Liberal Democrat seat that

was not their 24 hours ago, some Labour red that people might not

have thought would be there. Let's flash the gains, you can see what is

going on. In Dumfriesshire, that is the additional Conservative seat, it

is creating a blue-collar around the bottom of Scotland. North East Fife,

the Liberal Democrat gain here came out of the blue in the middle of the

night. Not forgetting huge SNP gains in and around Glasgow. A game for

the Conservatives who have had a very good night in the Scotland. I

will zoom in, you can see the map. One thing we noticed was that in

places where the Yes vote in the referendum in 2040 was very

powerful, the SNP vote correlated. It sounds like it stands to reason,

but it might be that in other parts of the country the Association of

the SNP so directly with independence has hurt them. Not in

Glasgow, this wave of yellow that you can see.

This is the new Scottish Parliament, 2016, all the numbers are written.

If you are in Scotland you had a vote direct leave for a

representative elected locally in a seat, and a second vote that went to

the regional list. Let's see it all put together. 65 needed for an

overall majority, the SNP is just short with 63.

In second place, this is a big part of the story in Scotland, the

Conservatives are motoring past Labour. Let's look at the Labour

numbers, 24. The Green Party are in fourth and the Lib Dems in fifth.

One of the first things we found out was that these two areas of islands,

Orkney and Shetland, remaining Lib Dem. With the exception of North

East Fife it was not a good night for them.

These are the shares in the constituency party. This is roughly

what the SNP got five years ago, 47 or 48 ascent. As they were last

time, remember last time it was regarded as a stunning result, it is

just that they went even better in the general election so there was

expectation a might do better than this in the last 24 hours.

Labour pushed down in the constituency is just ahead of the

Conservatives. But the way the system delivered the MSPs to the

chamber it paid that the Conservatives slightly. Lib Dems on

8% only in the constituencies. -- it favoured the Conservatives

slightly. Labour down 9% in five years ago, the Conservatives up

almost as much. Let's have a look at the share change in the list system,

the second vote in Scotland, the SNP was not quite as high as in the

constituencies. The Conservatives were very much more, a strong

second-place overlay, 20 32 Labour's 19. The Greens, not really

representative in the constituency so much, a good showing ahead of the

Lib Dems, five for the Lib Dems and Ukip on 2%. And the changes what

stands out. Conservative SNP 's -- SNP is steady as they go. The

Conservatives packing in the votes when they did not expect it.

Scotland gave us a lot of interest over the last 12 hours or so.

I am just wondering if we can just remind people of what Jeremy Corbyn

was saying a short while ago, if you are just joining us it will be

something that you may have heard. If you're just joining us now, it is

worth reminding you that Jeremy Corbyn says all across England we

were getting predictions that Labour would lose councils, we didn't, we

hung on and grew support in a lot of places. That was just a short while

ago. And a note on the picture in the Welsh Assembly, where Labour did

better than some people thought and it has ended up on a 28 or 29 seats,

Carwyn Jones, the First Minister macro, saying he will talk to the

Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru about a possible working arrangement. He

can't work with the Conservatives or Ukip. By the way, if we look at some

of the new members of the Welsh Assembly from Ukip, they include

Neil Hamilton, the former Conservative minister, Mark

Reckless, the former MP, former Conservative MP, and Nathan Gill, an

MEP for Ukip at the moment, the leader of Ukip in Wales. They will

be joined by others. They will not be talking to Labour about a

possible working with Asian chip because Carwyn Jones has already

said he will not be doing that. -- a possible working relationship,

because Carwyn Jones has already said. Professor John Curtice has

been with us overnight. I would suppose that I would start with

local elections, and your take on how the Conservatives and Labour

have done? I think the truth is that Labour

will be the slightly happier party this morning than the Conservatives.

It is all to do with expectations. We were told that the party could

expect to lose at least some seats, 150 was bandied around, that is

based on the fact that Labour was behind the Conservatives in the

National opinion polls, that is what recent by-election performance are

pointed to. In the end, I think the Labour Party will be able to say

that, we more or less, in the end, hung onto most of what we were

trying to defend. Even though many of you told is that what we were

defending was a relatively good year, is it not a relatively good

performance by us? There will be a germ of truth in that, although what

we should also bear in mind is that once we look at the votes casting

keyboards, although Labour has indeed gone up I read 3.5 or four

points compared to last year, as it was they are about four points

adrift of where they were four years ago in 2012. The Conservatives, in

contrast, a few weeks ago we would have been expecting them to make a

number of gains. When you look at their vote as compared with 2012, it

has flat lined. The performance in 2012 was not regarded as very good

and the party seems to have done articulate badly in what I call the

classic Tory shire areas of the South of England. It may be a

question that David Cameron will have to ask himself, has his

position on remaining inside the EU and his decision to effectively

split his party on the eve of these elections meant that, particularly

in the Tory shires, he has cost his party some seats? A quick word about

Peterborough, he is going there and clearly he will be very pleased

about the results. I'll be adding any qualifications to that? Emily

mentioned boundary changes. -- are we adding? I think it is the

exception that proves the rule. Peterborough was no overall control.

There have been boundary changes, as a result of which it was estimated

that the Conservatives would have already been in control of

Peterborough if those changes already in place, the Conservatives

hang -- have hung on to the 31 seats that it was estimated they would

already have been controlling under the new boundaries. Peterborough is

one of those places where the local Government boundary commission has

intervened and said there will be a whole council election a new

boundaries, it makes the whole thing more difficult.

Before we leave you, a quick word about any signs of what is going on

in the London mayoral election? We have the people who are responsible

for counting the London website, they are very nicely putting up a

bar chart of the total votes for each of the candidates as the

ballots are verified. They are being counted electronically in London.

There are no numbers attached, but so far it is pretty clear that Sadiq

Khan is ahead. Unless the ballots being counted so far are very

atypical, it is probably a very good steer that, as opinion polls

suggested, Mr Khan will be the next Mayor of London. If people are

looking at that and think it is the guaranteed result, what would you

say? It is a sample of the ballots being counted so far, there is no

guarantee that it is representative but the truth is that the bar chart

has looked like that for quite a this morning. Thank you. I have been

joined by Lord Falconer, the former Labour minister.

I have been joined by Lord Falconer. What are you make of Labour's

performance? I think Scotland is an incredibly significant result. It is

the continuing flowing out of what happened in the referendum. I think

in Wales, I think we might have lost one seat net in the Welsh Assembly.

And that I think is a good result after 17 years in power. In England

and Wales, in England at least, it feels like a mixed picture in

relation to the results. We have done well in some places, lost

ground in other places. But you do not get the sense of the country, in

the local elections, moving strongly in any particular direction. One

feels, in what has been an incredibly turbulent political time

for both political parties, one gets the sense, except maybe in Scotland,

that people haven't made up their mind one way or the other about what

is the direction politically. How much of a test has this been Jeremy

Corbyn's leadership, bearing in mind this is eight months, first year of

his term in office? Well, it is a test, he's the leader of the Labour

Party. Has he passed it? Well, the results are very uncertain, I think,

in the sense that no clear sense of direction is coming from the public.

The public are I suspect looking at politics at the moment and things

are very, very unusual in politics at the moment and they are wondering

what to do. The impression I get is that maybe they are not leaving

necessarily their traditional landscape, except in Scotland, where

I think there is a significant change. Putting Scotland to one

side, because to some extent that ship had sailed before Jeremy Corbyn

became leader, although in a sense it has gone backwards since he

became leader, because you have gone to third place. I think your right

to point that out, it is a bad result. I think it has a great deal

to do with the template for Scotland, in the constitutional

issue, union or not, and in a way, the Tories... But the Conservatives

clearly are unionist, not backing independence. That's exactly right.

But in England, one of the MPs, Jo Cox, has said it was a weak,

disappointing performance. She is not hostile to Jeremy Corbyn's

leadership but if she is saying that, she was expecting big games,

so why did big gains not happen? I don't think big gains were ever

going happen. This is a period where there is immense uncertainty

politically. I think there is everything to play for the Labour

Party, because the Tories are in a real mess. Why didn't you do better?

Because I think that the public, it is this period of political

uncertainty and turmoil. The European Union referendum, where we

are going to next as politicians, raises real uncertainties in

people's minds. Liz Kendall and Michael Duggan, two Labour MPs, have

said that Labour needed to win hundreds of seats to show that they

had any chance of victory in 2020. I disagree with that proposition. I

don't think we were ever going to when hundreds and hundreds of seats.

That just isn't the way that politics has felt in the build-up to

this election. Away politics has felt to me is, the public are

watching and seeing how the politicians are acting, and reacting

to what is a very turbulence time both economically in the world and

in particular in the European Union referendum. John McDonnell was

quoted this morning as saying to those who would like Mr Corbyn may

be to move aside, to put up or shot up, if they are intending to

challenge - do you think that is the right message? Yes, at the moment he

won the leadership by a massive majority in September. The focus of

the Labour Party has got to be upwards, not inwards. It has got to

be focusing first of all on the European Union referendum. I think

the public are utterly fed up with division within the Labour Party. In

a way, I don't know if it was on your programme, but the vision of

Ken Livingstone and John Mann having what appeared to be almost a

punch-up. It was not edifying, was it? Not edifying at all. The idea of

anti-Semitism needs to be dealt with. But I think the division

within the party makes the public despair, as well as the party. So

there would be no leadership challenge at this point? I don't

think that is remotely the focus. I think it would be very, very wrong.

We have now had the final piece of the jigsaw in terms of the Welsh

Assembly, the final list selections have just been announced. I am going

to go to Jeremy to give us a full picture on the National Assembly.

Yes, I thought I was going to be giving you a forecast, but we have

now been able to put together the final picture for the Welsh

Assembly. I can show you that now. The Assembly chamber, this is the

result... 29 seats for Labour, one down on the figure from five years

ago. They have dropped right a lot of votes actually but maybe not been

punished overly for it. In second place, have the Welsh nationalists,

Plaid Cymru. Significant victory for Leanne Wood in that one particular

constituency. And then the Conservatives, just one seat behind

Plaid Cymru. And filling in the map for you, Ukip, in fourth place. This

looks like another bad days for the Liberal Democrats who are down to

one seat in the Welsh Assembly, and that seat is broken and Radnorshire.

There is this one significant moment in terms of the constituency vote in

Wales, with Leanne Wood is winning the Rhondda. Right in the middle of

this sea of red in south Wales, which gives them a rather nice

foothold, maybe something to build on in the period come. There it is,

the map as it is now, flashing, the only change. And of course, the

abiding impression given by this is how little has changed on the map.

But changes in the share of the vote, as we shall now see. For

Labour first of all, remember, in Wales, you have to votes, one for

the constituencies, first-past-the-post, the second

going to a regional list. And here we have Labour on 35%. The

Conservatives and Plaid Cymru roughly tied on 21%. Those are the

first-past-the-post part of the election. It does not suit Ukip at

all. So this 12% for Ukip did not go very far. They did not get a single

bit of purple on the map. The Green is slightly disfavoured. Moving onto

the change in constituency share... Labour only dropped one seat but

they were down 8%. They have quite a lot of headroom in that 2011 vote,

quite a lot of votes they could lose before they started actually losing

seats. This rather impressive score for Ukip, as I say, it did not

really help them because it is first-past-the-post. Also, back in

2011, they were not really at the races. There is that second vote in

Wales, which goes to a regional list. The two votes work together

and one almost offsets the other. The list votes compensate for seats

not achieved in the constituency part of it. This is what helped Ukip

get their seven seats. Labour still very much in the lead in Wales.

So that was the list share in Wales. It shows Labour dominant. The map

reinforces that. But they have dropped since 2011. They dropped in

this part of the contest as well. Ukip, up 8%. So, the crucial thing

here is that Ukip actually enter the Assembly for the first time, under

the list system, which allows some element of proportional voting.

Labour have been hit here but not so much as to cause the number of

Assembly members they had to drop at all. They remain the biggest party,

with 29. They will have to find somebody to govern with, but they

are still set fair. Will it raise questions again, Jeremy, with this

system that they have in Wales, people say, even if you have big

movements in votes, actually, in seat results, often you do not see

much of a change, and in this one, we see Labour's vote going down but

seats more or less the same? It is a very peculiar system. Same in

Scotland. The more seats you get, the fewer seats you then get from

the regional list. So you get punished for winning constituencies.

It acts as a cushion when a party falls, which is what it has done for

Labour in Wales. It acts as a drag on a party which soars, as it has

done for the SNP in Scotland. That is deliberate but you do sometimes

get rather strange effects. You would think Labour would lose more

seats, but they haven't. We can now go to Cardiff bay, and to the

Senedd, to speak to Sian Lloyd. What are people saying this morning?

Well, Assembly members are already being sworn in in the Senedd behind

me. We are getting a sense of the dust settling, now that we have had

all the results in. It was interesting to hear Lord Falconer

talking to you earlier, saying that he thought it was a good result here

in Wales. I don't know whether the Welsh Conservatives will be thinking

that, because they have now fallen to third place behind Plaid Cymru,

having 11 seats, Plaid Cymru with 12, and last time, the Conservatives

had 14. They were riding the crest of a wave following general election

results, and they have failed to capitalise on that to an extent.

They have failed to win the seats but they were targeting. Welsh

Liberal Democrats are in a very strange position. Kirsty Williams,

the leader, she increased her majority in her constituency. It was

a great personal result for her for cashiers now the only Liberal

Democrat some remember hearing Wales. And we know that this Senedd

is going to have a different feel now for its fifth term of the

National Assembly for Wales, because there will be seven members of Ukip

here, including Neil Hamilton and Mark Reckless, the former

Conservative MPs. Ukip say this morning, we're going to bring a

breath of fresh air to the National Assembly, it has been a bit too cosy

here for too long. So we wait to see what impact they will bring. Labour

remain the dominant party hearing Wales, with the 29th votes. Leanne

Wood, the leader of Plaid Cymru, a great personal victory for her in

that seat. I have spoken to members of the Labour Party this morning,

and they are saying, it was a personal victory for Leanne Wood

because of her fantastic profile that she has now, having been on the

UK media as well as on the Welsh scene. But really they are only be

licking their wounds over that. However, they do feel, Welsh Labour,

that they have done better than they thought they were going to do a few

weeks ago. Sian Lloyd, thank you very much, for now. We are still

expecting the Prime Minister to arrive in Peterborough. Let's have a

look. They are just gathering there, the Conservatives, to celebrate the

gain in Peterborough. Although John Curtice was explaining earlier on

that boundary changes had a very big part to play in what has happened in

Peterborough. The Prime Minister turning up there because it is

something they can point to as again overnight, in terms of gaining

control of the council. We will come back to Peterborough in the second.

Earlier, I was mentioning that there was talk about the future for

Labour, and Lord Falconer is still with us. I mentioned that the Shadow

Chancellor, John McDonnell, had been giving his response not just to the

results, but also to the talk among some Labour MPs that they still

wanted to express dissatisfaction with Jeremy Corbyn. This is what

John McDonnell had to say... I have been talking to Labour Party members

all over the country. They are saying, for goodness sake, get

behind the leader of the Labour Party who was democratically

elected. It is time to put up or shot up. I think most of Labour

Party members are saying, you are damaging our campaign with this

continuous cropping. I have never been in a situation where two days

before a poll, a group of them are talking to the media about a

leadership coup. And yet we still do well! Everybody can make a

constructive and to cushioned, and that's what we expect them to do.

And this is what Boris Johnson had to say, the outgoing Mayor of

London. He says, Labour have had a absolutely punishing night. He says,

they are behind in Scotland. He says, they have lost the Rhondda,

for heaven's sake! He says, there is a crisis going on in the Labour

Party, as far as I can tell. OK, we know where Boris is coming from.

He's a Tory! He is a Tory, and thanks for pointing that out!

John McDonnell really wanting to make a forceful point there that he

clearly feels the night's events more than justify telling people -

purr off, we don't want -- push off, we don't want any more carping. Is

that going to find a home in the Labour Party? My feeling about where

the wider Labour membership is, is that they don't want carping about

the leadership. They want the Parliamentary leadership to focus on

talking to the population and they don't like this constant focus all

the time on rows within the Labour Party. Let's go to Peterborough. The

Prime Minister is just arriving. Hi there, how are we doing?

CHEERING It is absolutely great to be here,

not just in Conservative-led Peterborough, but

Conservative-controlled Peterborough. Congratulations on

your stunning result. It is remarkable that six years into

Government, six years into running our country we have got more

councillors than any other political party. Local election day for

sitting Prime Minister ises meant to be a day of dread. It's meant to be

a day when you're waiting for someone to knock on the door, like a

condemned man waiting for the hangman. That wasn't what it was

like last night or today. We have held councils across the country.

We've won seats in England and of course, here in Peterborough, we've

taken control of a really important City Council for the first time in

ages a huge congratulations to the team, to Stuart Jackson, to everyone

who's worked so hard. Thank you for what you've done. Brilliant.

CHEERING I think it's worth reflecting on why, after six years

in power, we're actually strengthening our position in local

Government. It tells us three things: First of all, it tells us

that we have amazing, hard-working councillors, hard-working council

leaders, hard-working campaigners, people who do a brilliant job

standing up for local people, standing up for local communities. I

pay tribute to all those Conservatives who've worked so hard

to deliver local services, to keep local taxes down and do a great job.

I think it tells us something else, which it tells us that six years

into Government, of course, we don't get everything right. Of course we

can make mistakes. Of course, sometimes, things go wrong. But

people look at the big picture and they want us to go on delivering

what we promised in our manifesto, that security for working people at

every stage of their lives. They want us to go on creating those

well-paid jobs. They want us to go on cutting people's taxes. They want

us to go on building homes that people can afford to own and having

great schools for their children to go to. That is what we've got to

focus on. That is what these elections have really been all

about. I think these elections tell us something else as well. That is

that the Labour Party have completely lost touch with the

hard-working people they're supposed to represent. They're so obsessed

with their left-wing causes and unworkable economic policies that

they've forgot that people want jobs, people want livelihoods, lower

taxes, people want homes they can afford to own, the things that we're

now delivering. What these elections show is that where we are a united,

mainstream, one nation, compassionate Conservative Party we

can win, we can serve our country and communities and we can deliver

the things we believe in. Nowhere is that more the case than with those

remarkable results north of the border in Scotland. Let us pay huge

tribute to Ruth Davidson for the extraordinary campaign that she's

won with those absolutely stunning results that see the Conservative

Party, for the first time in a very long time, to be the official

Opposition in the Scottish Parliament. It was a great result

and she deserves huge credit. APPLAUSE

Frankly, It's something of a re-alignment in Scottish politics.

If someone said to me six years ago, when I became Prime Minister, if

someone had said, "Prime Minister, pretty soon the Conservatives will

be the second biggest party in Scotland...

LAUGHTER... I would have told them to go away, lie down, stop taking

what they were taking, come back and tell me what they really thought.

That is what has happened. That's so extraordinary for our party and a

great opportunity for our country that we see in Scotland now, the

Conservative Party as a one nation, mainstream, united party, with an

inspirational leader that is able to say to people in Scotland - if you

want an alternative to the independence and the separation

offered by the Scottish National Party, the Conservative Party and

Ruth Davidson, we are there for you to represent you in the Scottish

Parliament and to win in Scotland, win for Scotland and go on at the

next election and keep winning in Scotland and keep winning for our

United Kingdom. It's a great day for our party to see us recovering like

this in Scotland. I think it could be a re-alignment taking place north

of the border, which is all to those, to the good of those of us

who want to see a strong and successful United Kingdom.

Now I was in Peterborough just a week or so ago, talking about

another issue and I said if you won, I might just come back and say well

done. That's what I've done. It's down to your hard work as

Councillors, campaigners, a huge thank you for what you've done. We

do have in 48 days' time another big decision, we all have to make. I say

nothing about it today, apart from this, never forget why we're having

this referendum, because it was promised by a Conservative

Government and it's being delivered by a Conservative Government.

Let me just finish by saying this: In 48 days, whatever the result,

let's be absolutely clear that our job as Conservatives will be to come

together and to work even harder to deliver the things that we promised

and we committed to the British people in our manifesto, to keep

creating those jobs, building those homes, providing those good schools,

cutting those taxes, providing dignity and security in old age,

strengthening our defences, keeping our country safe, fighting terrorism

- all those things we promised - those are the things that we will

come together and unite over and work even harder than ever before,

because when we were put into Government, we were given a sacred

trust by the British people to work as hard as we can to deliver for

them this year and all the years, out to 2020 and, I hope, beyond.

Above all today, the people in Peterborough, who've worked so hard

and done so well representing the people of this great city, that are

seeing jobs being created, seeing businesses come to Peterborough,

seeing great regeneration happening, homes being built in Peterborough,

you won because you worked hard and you deserved to win. Have a

celebration USA Today. Have a sell -- have a celebration today and over

the weekend. I have a small majority and John's got a small majority,

with the dedication you've all shown you will do great things for this

great city. Thank you very much indeed.

REPORTER: Prime Minister, you say Labour is out of touch, how

disappointed that you didn't make greater gains?

STUDIO: No answer from the Prime Minister there in terms of the scale

of the gains, but a very rousing speech for the Conservative

supporters there in Peterborough. We'll discuss this in a moment. I'm

pleased to say we're joined by Greg Clarke the Communities Secretary.

Thanks for joining us No problem. Good to have you with us. We come to

you in a second. A few more council results that Emily can share with

us. Just to remind you David Cameron

paying tribute to the workers there in Peterborough. Peterborough was an

all-out collection. Under those boundary changes they favoured a

Conservative win. There would have been a Conservative-led council even

before the election. Just put that into context. It's still a nice

result for the Conservatives, but just be cautious about seeing that,

necessarily, as a big leap forward. Going to take you to some of the

others that we've been looking at. This is the problem when there's

little movement of seats you can plant a narrative on whatever story

you want. So, in other words, Calderdale, a hung Council here.

It's been hung for 16 years. Labour might have hoped on a good night to

take this. They haven't. They're the largest party, though. Not slipping

back, not making gains. Very little movement. Here's an interesting

pattern that might give you a sense of what's happening generally

overnight - if I take you back to 2012, what you see is the Labour

Party share of the vote slipping down and Ukip making those gains.

2012, the high water mark for Ed Miliband as Labour's leader, over

that course, the last time these seats were fought not very good for

Labour. Now going back just one year, to see how the party is

looking under Jeremy Corbyn and how the Lib Dems are faring under Tim

Farron, it's a different picture. Labour starting to make gains. The

Conservatives have taken the hit here down 8% and the Lib Dems coming

through, they'll be relieved, there is not a lot of movement for Lib Dem

seats, odd ones here and there, up one, down one. If you look at the

share of the vote, there is a suggestion that they are starting to

come back from, let's be honest, rock bottom. In Milton Keynes, the

same sort of thing here. One seat change was for the Lib Dems. The two

parties pretty much neck and neck. Labour short by seven to take it.

And the story of the Lib Dems, I think can you see here. This is

south Cambridgeshire. This has happened overnight. The Lib Dems are

taking seats here. A little bit from the Conservatives, a bit from the

two independents, coming back in a part of the world where they could

even start to see a council being gained, maybe Watford, if it's going

well for them tonight. Well in Hatfield. This is their good night

here. Conservative held, 28. Never any question really that would stay

Conservative. Look, the Conservative seats are dipping, down four. Lib

Dems making those gains. Even Labour up here. What can I say, it is a

mixed bag of results, Lib Dems starting to see themselves coming

back and the Labour narrative written, depending on whether you go

back to 2012, the last time the seats were fought, or 2015 to look

for signs under the new leadership. We'll speak to the Lib Dems in a

second. First, your broad reading of what's happening to your party

overnight in the local elections? It's been a very good result. You

talked a lot about Scotland, that is a phenomenal win for Ruth Davidson

there. If you look across the country, the expectation of any

sitting Government is that you lose seats mid-term to the Opposition.

But the fact that we are holding our own in places right across the

country, we won Peterborough, as you saw with the Prime Minister there.

We held onto Trafford, this key northern marginal, big target for

Labour there. We held onto it comfortably. Talking about years

that you might go back to, actually 1985 is an important year, because

that is the last time, the last year in which an Opposition did not

increase its number of seats at a council election. Over 30 years.

Just going to bring in the Lib Dem MP, Tom Break. Just a thought on the

Lib Dem performance. Let's leave Scotland and Wales for a second.

Focus on the English local elections, what is your reading of

that? There are good signs there for us. In the last seven years, we've

been losing seats. It looks as though we are going to be winning

seats. What we've seen in the areas where we are very organised and very

active, like Portsmouth or Cambridge, that we are gaining. I

think although we're not going to be cracking open any bottles, I think

this is a good sign for the party and a good sign for Tim Farron. If

somebody is writing this up as a process of rebuilding, what would

you say? There's a process of rebuilding. What we've tried to do

in the last 12 months is rebuild our identity, which I think got lost in

the coalition. Tim has done a good job on starting that process. At the

moment, we're looking at around 14 gains for you. What were your honest

expectations going into last night? Well, my honest expectations were

that any gains would be good news. We've exceeded that slightly. But

there's clearly still a lot more to do, the fact that we've increased

our level of support on last year by 6% is significant. Although, of

course, the results last year were challenging for us. I think the

party, as a whole, will feel that we fought a good battle yesterday and

it has paid off and I think we're positive about our future now. A

less encouraging picture for you in the Welsh Assembly? Yes, clearly in

the Welsh Assembly, with the rise of Ukip, that did do us damage. In

terms of council seats, we far outstrip Ukip in terms of the

performance. The results in Scotland were good for us. Pleasing that

Willie Rennie took north-east Fife back. Good of you to join us, thanks

very much. Just picking up on the conversation from earlier, thoughts

about the Conservative performance overnight? I wanted to ask Greg

about the fact that really there's little evidence of enthusiasm for

the Conservatives, if you look at the predictions, they were that the

Labour Party were going to lose anything between 100 and 200 eats.

You didn't pick any of -- seats. You didn't pick any of those up. In

terms of the predictions you need to look at what what has to Opposition

parties, especially when they change the leader. They expect to make -

Let's look at the governing party. You didn't do as well as was

predicted, which is why it's been a fairly boring result.

I don't accept that. You have seen the Prime Minister in Peterborough,

if you look at places up and down the country, Nuneaton, we may not

have taken it, but we have an 11% swing, I mentioned Trafford. On

Portsmouth, what Tom Brake had to say about the Liberal Democrats, Tim

Farron going in said winning Portsmouth was the test of a Liberal

Democrat resurgence, they did not do that. The Labour leader in

Portsmouth said the national leadership is a disaster. For 30

years, 31 years, every opposition has taken seats from the governing

party. This was from a high watermark for Labour in 2012, they

had a very good performance and Ed Miliband in 2012. If the limit of

the ambition of the Labour Party is what Ed Miliband achieved four years

ago and went on to a defeat at the general election, that is

interesting. That is a fair point. I understand Greg to say that we lost

ground, we were not as unpopular as governments previously have been.

That is his defence. As Emily showed... It is unprecedented for

Government... You are less unpopular than other governments? My

observation is that up and down the country the people have chosen

Conservative councillors to continue, to back them. When they

looked at the alternative, the Labour Party, they decided, for the

working people of this country, this was not a party that was going to

help them. They have... What happened in Crawley, Southampton,

Norwich and Hastings? These councils Labour has retained. There is

evidence beginning to suggest your vote was down in southern England.

Your heartland. Would you accept that it has come to a thing when the

EU referendum, which has been cited, has been divided your party and

putting off voters? The fact we can even have a conversation about

Conservative councils and gains that might or might not be made, this is

unprecedented that a Government in power should be defending so well

the places that we have that we can be talking about making gains. In

terms of the referendum, a year ago we were sitting here and the results

were coming through and the referendum on Europe was promised.

In the election campaign, people were sceptical, but I am proud,

whatever you think on the question of Europe, we have delivered the

manifesto promise. Even though it has divided your party? There is a

debate in all parties, there should be a vigorous debate about something

so important, but there is unity of pride in the fact it took a majority

Conservative Government to deliver the manifesto. Without it, we would

not have it. We will come back to the referendum. That will fill a lot

of time! We have discussed Labour's performance in local elections and a

bit about their performance in Wales. Let's look at their

performance in Scotland. We were talking about, should we go

back to 2015 or 2012? What about 1929? Join us in our virtual Central

Lobby and let's look at the history of the Labour Party in Scotland.

Their close links with the Scottish nation. 20 years after the birth of

Labour, this is the vote in a general election in Scotland.

For the Labour Party. You can see how quickly they connected with

Scotland. Clement Attlee just after the war, will he get to half the

votes in Scotland? By the time of Wilson, they do. This is a really

impressive, powerful progression for the Labour Party, connecting with

the people of Scotland. It then takes a turn for the worse, the 70s,

80s, modern politics does not quite help them with their connection.

Michael foot is the Labour leader, he was a struggling opposition

leader. Still pretty good figures compare to today. It is not over by

any means between the party and the nation. When Tony Blair comes in in

1997, they are not quite with half the vote, but very impressive. In

the years that followed, they posted these very high votes, lots of MPs

coming to Westminster with the red rosette. Then Gordon Brown comes in.

He was outperforming his party in Scotland, maybe partly because of

his constituency, Kirkcaldy. He may have been disguising some of the

disaffection we are now seeing. Still, 42% in 2010 in the general

election. By 2015, they have been not quite half, but slashed. What

has happened in between? The Scottish referendum on independence.

Although the SNP lost it, somehow the bounce that came out of it for

those parties, or the SNP, who wanted independence was impressive,

and it took the wind out of the Labour Party. Here we are, 2016, and

they have 23%. The others are general elections, this figure for

Jeremy Corbyn is the constituency vote in the Scottish parliament

elections. Put it in context, there we are, 80 years of history.

I will go straight to Holyrood and talk to the SNP MSP for Renfrewshire

North. Just a thought about the SNP performance, clearly Nicola Sturgeon

has her own personal mandate. If the fact that there is no majority going

to cause you a problem? There is no doubt this is a big victory for the

SNP, 63 seats. In 2007 when we first came into Government as a minority,

we had 47 seats, so we have shown the SNP continues to grow. It is a

strong block. We have won this election in Scotland, it is an

historic victory, the third time in a row we have won the Scottish

Parliament elections. With more votes than the constituency vote

than ever before. In Parliament, it is quite a commanding group that we

will have. We will reach out to the other parties, as we have always

done, to try to get good governance. Learned in a consensual style. I am

sure Nicola Sturgeon has secured the personal mandate that she looked

for, and the SNP has had this spectacular result. I am not denying

the skill of the victory, but in the week leading up to it people were

talking about the SNP taking every constituency seat, and very

confidently about you getting a majority. What would account for the

fact you did not get to that point? Most political parties around the

world would be celebrating such a six is, as we have seen in Scotland.

Expectations were high. This is our third successive victory in the

Scottish Parliament elections. When we first entered office we had 47

seats, and we ran a minority Government, now we are elected with

63. Our best ever result in the constituencies, more constituencies

than before, more votes, and more votes than late and the

Conservatives combined. When it comes to working in the Scottish

Parliament, we have had a vote of governors for the people of Scotland

-- a vote of confidence from the people of Scotland, we will get to

do to grow, record membership, and a vote of confidence in the First

Minister, the only credible candidate, who secured the personal

mandate. That will be recognised by the other political parties in

Scotland. A spectacular result, and a catastrophe for the Labour Party.

I was just about to ask. What does it mean for you that your main

opposition now in Scotland will be the Conservatives? Given that with

Davidson fought a clear campaign in terms of the union and the

opposition to any notion of a second referendum, how will that pan out?

As it happens, there are more pro-independent parliamentarians in

the Scottish Parliament than those against independence. There would

only be a referendum if the people of Scotland want one. What we have

secured is a mandate to transform our public services and deliver good

governance and the manifesto we set out. We have set out the

circumstances in which we think there could be a further referendum,

but it will only happen if the people of Scotland want one. In

terms of the opposition, Labour has had a terrible result. In terms of

the Tories, they did not win, but they have come second, so that will

transform the nature of debates in the Scottish parliament. We will

continue to put forward a positive vision and a manifesto delivery, a

programme for Government, and Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister. We said

-- we expect the Conservatives to be a constructive opposition, not a

shouting one that we have seen in the past. He was drawing attention

to the fact that Labour have had their problems in Scotland

overnight. A different story for the Labour Party in Wales. Let's go to

Cardiff Bay. I just wonder what you make of the results overnight in

Wales, give us your reading. They were excellent for us. For us to be

in power, possibly governing on our own, with 29 seats, most

commentators were anticipating is losing significant numbers of seats

in Wales, especially after the Conservatives did well at the last

general election. The Tories failed to make any of those key seats they

were targeting. We failed by the narrowest of squeaks from having 30

seats this morning, as we had yesterday. Awful for us to lose

Leighton Andrews in the Rhondda are a great Labour seat that is now a

Plaid Cymru seat, but we can be pleased. Your constituency vote is

down 8%, your regional vote is down 5%. Some people will look at the

seat result and think, how can the system deliver the same number of

seats for a party when their vote is down quite considerably in the

constituencies? That is the first past the post system. It throws up

those questions at every election. We also have PR, so that compensates

some of those other parties, by boosting their numbers. We only get

a couple of seats on the list, others will get a significant

number. That is why we have seen Ukip, unfortunately. The truth is,

nobody can see anything other than this was a good night for Carwyn

Jones and Jeremy Corbyn and for Welsh Labour. We fought a positive

campaign on the record of the Labour Party in Wales, we have been in

power for a long time in Wales, and the Welsh people have endorsed the

programme that we have put in place over the last few years and that we

put forward in the election. We can be pleased, with London looking

good, council victories in Cambridge and Norwich and Sunderland, real

gains that we have made in some of those seats, hanging onto Exeter and

some of those councils in the south-east that people thought we

would lose. It was not a good night for the Conservatives. There is lots

for us to build on. We have to be united and build on this across

Britain. You mentioned the loss of the Rhondda. Our Plaid Cymru the

natural working party for collaboration with Labour going

ahead, or do you think Carwyn Jones will simply try to govern by

himself? That is a question for him and his ministers in the assembly. I

will not tell them what they should do, but I think they have enough to

govern on day own if they wish. They do not need to forge an alliance.

The key question is, Labour put forward a strong manifesto we talked

about, the things that people in Wales care about, Carwyn Jones

played a national role in fighting for the steel jobs, and the Welsh

people saw Labour standing up for working class people, working

communities, our values and speaking their values. That is why we have

been so successful. There are lessons right across the country. Do

you think Labour was held in Wales by Carwyn Jones' request for Jeremy

Corbyn not to campaign in the final week's that is not true -- the final

week? It is not true, Jeremy decided not to come to Wales. He came to

Wales on the last day, he was in Maesteg on Wednesday. He has been

Wales a knot over the last few months, just as he has travelled

across the whole of the UK. He has seen that in Wales, if you have a

united party fighting shoulder to shoulder across the political

spectrum within parties, you can continue to make great inroads and

win Labour victories. We can learn more from Wales in the future and

Labour needs to use this as a springboard to try and move towards

a victory in 2020. That is Labour's Owen Smith, the MP

for pont preening and the -- Pontyprith. We will get a round up

of everything that's been happening so far with Jane.

Yes, good afternoon. These are today's main stories: The Scottish

National Party is celebrating after winning a third victory in the

Holyrood election. The party failed to get an overall majority, but

Scotland's First Minister has called the result a huge vote of

confidence. The Conservatives exceeded expectations in Scotland,

pushing Labour, a former powerhouse there, into third place. In the

local elections in England, Labour has retained control of councils

that some had regarded as vulnerable, but it lost seats as

well. One Labour MP called the result "not good enough" and said

the clock was now ticking on Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. Our political

correspondent, Carole Walker, has the latest.

A third term in power for Nicola Sturgeon, though the SNP fell just

short of an overall majority, the result confirm's her party's grip on

politics in Scotland. We're seeing a huge vote of confidence in the SNP's

record in Government and an enormous vote of trust in our ability to lead

the country forward. The Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson,

had reason to be cheerful too, winning Edinburgh central and

overtaking Labour to become the second largest party at Holyrood.

The beleaguered Liberal Democrats retained their five seats in

Scotland, but the result was a serious blow for Labour, with the

former party leader Joanne Lamont one of the casualties. The current

leader said she was heartbroken that her party had been pushed into third

place, but she said she would remain as leader no matter what. Good

morning everybody. Jeremy Corbyn went to Sheffield to congratulate

one of two New Labour MPs jil Furnace, would won the by-election

caused by the death of her late husband. These elections are being

seen as a test of his leadership. We were getting rediction that's Labour

was going to lose councils. We didn't. We hung on and we grew

support in a lot of places. APPLAUSE

There's a lot more results to come today. Labour hung onto some of the

councils considered vulnerable in the northern Heartlands and retained

control of Southampton and Hastings along the south coast. Critics say

the party should have done much better. I think it was a really

disappointing night for all those Labour activists who've been out

campaigning for months. Jeremy needs to take responsibility for what was

a poor performance yesterday. The Conservatives made some modest

gains. The party will be relieved to have held its ground at a time when

ministers are openly disagreeing over Europe. I think for us, as a

party, normally Governments mid-term expect to lose ground. We have held

our own. We have taken Peterborough council, for example. Labour have

lost control of Dudley. So, I think it's much Bert than might be

expected -- much better than might be expected. Ukip has won seats in

Wales for the first time. A big breakthrough night for us, Wales in

particular. But right across the country, our vote share up. In

England, coming second almost everywhere, beginning to break

through and get more firsts as well. There are many results still to

come, including the contest for London Mayor. But already these

elections are providing an important insight into public opinion, a year

after the general election. In the rest of the day's news, the

management buyout team Excaliber says it hopes to secure funding to

rescue Tata steel's UK operations within a meet, to meet -- it's to

meet bankers next Friday on talk to finance a deal. They say any buyout

proposal is likely to involve the loss of a thousand job.

Syrian rebel fighters have captured a strategic village south after

lepo, despite a supposed ceasefire in the city itself. The Syrian Army

denies the claim. The rebel fighters are part of an alliance, which along

with the Al-Qaeda-linked nusra front hasn't agreed to abide to any of the

recent truce announcement. It's reporting fighting was intense and

In Canada, thousands of people who fled their homes because of

wildfires are having to be moved again. Many people in Alberta had

travelled north as part of a mandatory evacuation order. There

are fears they could become trapped by the growing inferno and will now

be airlifted south. The evacuations were ordered as the wildfire

threatened to consume the city of fort McMurray and two other nearby

towns. Those are the main stories so far this lunch time. Now it's back

to Election 2016. Thanks very much. So, what is going

on in the race to be the Mayor of London to succeed Boris Johnson and

in the race to elect members to the Greater London Assembly? I'm Joeing

to join my colleague, Tim Donovan. What are you picking up there at

City Hall? It looks very likely that Labour's Sadiq Khan is heading for

victory here. About half the votes have been scanned, have been read

and he looks, from the screens we've got here, as if he's comfortably

ahead. There are a couple of other quite good indicators, which are

that in Zach Goldsmith's, his Conservative opponent's backyard, if

you like, south-west London, where he lives, Labour appear to be, Sadiq

Khan, appears to be ahead. There the significance of that is not only

that Zach Goldsmith has a considerable majority and extended

it at the last general election, but it looks as if Liberal Democrats may

have done something strategic in and interesting, which has come across

to Labour, perhaps because of the big row over the tone of the

campaign, which there has been. Even on the London Assembly, it looks as

if the Conservative there, who has been an Assembly Member here since

this body was created in 2000, it looks like he is behind Labour too.

Already, you can see here the recriminations among Conservatives,

some Conservatives about how this campaign has been run, particularly

in the latter stages. When do you think, I mean at this rate, because

in the past this process has taken a very long time, what is your sense

of the timings today, before we'll be able to say something confident

about the outcome? We had one of the senior officials who is running the

campaign here, moments ago, refusing to be drawn, as you can well

imagine. There have been four mayoral elections and none has

finished on time. There have been various delays. The whole process

appears to have been jinx over past elections. It is looking good. No

problems reported from the three venues where the votes are being

counted at the moment. There are hints that the turnout could be a

little bit higher than four years ago. People had said that it might

be disastrously low. The indications are it could be around 40%. But not

much higher than four years ago. A lot of people are hoping, the way

things are looking at the moment, that we might have a result by early

evening, 7pm, but mere speculation. OK, Tim. If there's an update we'll

be back to you straight away. A quote from David Lammy, this has

to do with an event that's happened today.

I should point out that Lynton Crosby hasn't personally been

running Zach Goldsmith's campaign, but his firm has.

He has receive aid knighthood today and that timing is curious. It is.

Because there have been a lot of complaints from the Labour side, as

you would understand about the campaign. I wanted to ask Greg

Clarke, are you proud of the campaign that Zach Goldsmith and the

Conservatives ran with London Mayor with accusations of dog whistle

politics. Zach Goldsmith has fought a positive campaign building on the

successful term of Boris Johnson. You have interviewed over the course

of many weeks both candidates, talking about housing in London,

talking about transport, you've been talking about green issues across

the piece. In recent weeks, I mean, you have seen, we've all seen, that

there has been a big row about the association of extremists trying to

get in and associate themselves with the Labour Party and the slowness of

the Labour leadership and the officials to deal with that. That is

a matter of common regret, I think. Even senior Labour people regard

their response has having been too slow. It is right to call that out

and to be firm on it. One of the Tory Assmebly Members said it was an

outrageous campaign for trying to smear Sadiq Khan and link him, in

terms of sharing platforms, as Tories have said, with terrorists. I

don't accept that at all. If you look through the whole campaign, all

of the issues have been robustly debated. Anyone that looks at the

mayoral I of Boris Johnson and the candidacy of Jack Goldsmith, they

have -- Zach Goldsmith, it's important to be robust when there

has been these accusations and evidence that people have been

trying to come into the Labour Party... Well robust is one thing,

you know, I suppose when you're in the business of trying to single out

ethnic backgrounds and communities, possibly that's not just being

robust. What does Charlie Falconer think? I'm disgusted by Greg, woulds

got quite a reputation -- who's got quite a reputation for being a

decent guy for defending this. I don't know what he would say about

an article which Zach Goldsmith, which he wrote, illustrated by the

picture of the bus that went off in Tavistock Square, which was an

attack on Sadiq Khan You know perfectly well, and you're a

civilised man as well to return the compliment, you know the headline

was not chosen by HM. You've written enough - So Zach Goldsmith is trying

to distance himself from that? What o say about the deliberate decision

taken to smear Sadiq Khan. It was a revolting campaign and the

Conservatives should be ashamed of it. You should condemn it. You

should not be slipperily defending it as you are at the moment. I'm not

doing any such thing. But it's important in London, when you have

accusation that's are backed up by what we've all seen over recent

weeks. We've been looking at various - You're doing it again. Various

figures have been saying outrageous things. We know there is a problem -

You're repeating the slur, Greg. #1y50 People associating themselves,

trying to ally themselves to the Labour Party. It needs to be dealt

with, it needs to be gripped. You yourself, Charlie and, colleagues,

know this needs to be dealt with firmly. It's reasonable to raise

that. I will ask Charlie Falconer to defend the accusations in a moment.

Even senior Tories in your own ranks, I refer again to the Assembly

Member who says it's set by the Conservatives for years. I disagree

with that. If you don't win, do you have to accept that it will be

because of the nature of the campaign. We wait for the results.

But if you look through what has been a very long campaign, no-one

could say that the breadth of issues, from housing to transport -

We're talking about the row - It's been very well debated. When there

are concerns that have been raised about extremists trying to use the

parties in politics for their own ends, it's right to be robust about

it. There are some questions, legitimate questions, that have been

asked during this campaign. What's wrong with putting those questions

to Sadiq Khan and his team, people that he did share platforms with in

the past, if there is nothing for him to be ashamed or worried about,

why not just declare it? He did declare it repeatedly. What is so

revolting about the campaigning that Greg's party ran was it sought to

suggest subliminally that Sadiq was in some way a supporting of

terrorism. That's not true. It's simply not true. He denies it, but

that's what they were trying do. -- to do. Greg is beyond unreliable

when he is saying that Zach Goldsmith's campaign was primarily

focussed on the issues. It became a campaign focussed entirely on the

sort of base campaign to which I refer. That is completely untrue.

Campaigning with Zach Goldsmith on these issues. Housing is part of my

responsibility. During the housing Bill, Zach Goldsmith secured an

amendment from the backbenchers to increase the supply of affordable

housing. This is not what we're talking about. We've taken your

point about the wide range of issues discussed. This was the soul of a

dominant campaign weeks. Not in the closing weeks. Throughout the whole

of the campaign the issues facing London were well debated. About Jo's

point, it was the dominant point made by Zach's campaign. In the last

few days, there was a national controversy about people associated

with the Labour Party, including some Labour - You're talking about

the row on anti-Semitism? The row on anti-Semitism, oftening, was very --

of course, was very prominent. You took advantage of that and tried to

smear him. It was right toe give a robust response to that. I think

everyone in London knows who's had the manifestos, the campaign visits,

the interviews, the hustings will know that the full range of issues

was pursued, including a positive agenda by Zach Goldsmith. How queasy

do you feel about the campaign? The legacy. A bit queasy? The legacy of

Boris Johnson has been positive for London. On both sides, in terms of

dog whistle politics, which is the accusation that's been made about

both parties by Baroness Warsi, she says the left needs to root out

anti-Semitism and the right needs to weed out people who are Islamphobes.

Dog whistle politics is damaging the UK. Do you both accept that you have

a responsibility to deal with this type of campaigning?

All politicians have a duty to bring people together, and part of that is

to be firm about those people who divide us and would undermine our

society. I agree, --. We will return to it, we will look at the London

results in more detail. More results in the local elections.

The breaking news in Manchester, there is now an official opposition.

Labour on 75 seats, they have held that, mathematically impossible to

lose, but one seat for the Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats

have come back in Manchester, they are now the official opposition, one

seat. They'd used to have 33 councillors here. In 2010 they had

33, they were all wiped out. It is a very British Liberal Democrat

recovery in England, very gradual, nothing dramatic, but Tim Farron has

commended and congratulated John Leech, the one councillor in

Manchester. A better story in Burnley for the Lib Dems. It is a

Labour hold, never any chance they would not hold on, but if you look

at what has happened overnight, the Lib Dems have taken three seats.

They will be pleased to see the start of the recovery. You can see

gains the Labour of 7% and for the Lib Dems of 4%, falls for the

Conservatives and Ukip, in the last 12 months. This is what is happening

to the Green Party. They are having the opposite sort of night. Let's go

to Oxford. Very quickly. A different pattern. They are not having a great

time. They have lost four seats. Sorry, that is Norwich. We have a

few gremlins in the system, but the Green Party falling in Oxford and

Norwich and the Lib Dems starting to come back in some of those north of

England seat. It is a good moment for us to look

at some of the key board analysis. Jeremy has got some more. We often

start talking about change and looking for places where a party has

lost or gained or taken control or whatever. In the English council

election, the striking thing is how much has not changed.

This is the map with 100 councils, much of it is the same, as it was.

It is hard to identify places where councils have changed hands. The

Prime Minister was here, visiting Peterborough, because this was a

Conservative gain from no overall control. I am flashing places where

ownership has changed, but there are not many of them. Nuneaton result

here. We all sat up and watched because we remembered the general

election, the Conservatives held Nuneaton, everybody thought it would

go Labour. So then we thought, Ed Miliband is in trouble. The opposite

situation with Nuneaton, Labour have held it, which is a good sign for

Jeremy Corbyn. What is going on? We started looking at the south, the

last time these seats were up in 2012, Ed Miliband was in a honeymoon

period, he did well, Labour were controlling Exeter, way outside

their natural territory, in Southampton, just next to Eastleigh,

Hastings, you can point out the red. Councils where Labour are in

control. Crawley, Slough, Stevenage, Harlow. This is the result, they

still there. They have not been knocked out of those southern

councils. People thought they would be punished in them, because of

additional disaffection with Jeremy Corbyn. Whatever the pundits said,

it was wrong on those councils, they still in control. The fact that so

little has changed, it is interesting. We take about 900

council wards and we analyse them, because they are representative of a

national result. Bear in mind the camp parrot in --

the comparison is the general election year, when Labour did

badly. Labour have gone up, the Conservatives have gone down, as you

would expect. The Liberal Democrats up on what was a shocking year last

year. The change since 2012 now. This is interesting. At the start of

the night, we were looking at figures of Labour going down eight

or 9%, struggling to replicate anything like what Ed Miliband got

in 2012 when these seats were last contested. Actually, they are only

down 4% since 2012, or 3%, much less of a dip and was being predicted.

The Conservatives, who had a bad result in 2012, are just steady.

Although the minister said it was a good night for the Conservatives,

because they have held onto their councils, 2012 was a bad night for

them, and one reason Labour have not been evicted from some of the red

councils is there hasn't been no warmth in the Conservative

performance. -- note oomph. Let's look at the share in the South.

Labour down 4% overall, and 3% down in the south, so they are losing a

bit less in the south. He would not have thought that. They are a bit

more stable in the areas they find most difficult. The Conservatives

down on a bad result in 2012 in their heartland, so crumbs of

comfort for Labour. Not a lot of change, but the map telling us quite

a lot. But go to Norwich, Norman Lamb is

waiting to talk to us. Your sense of what your party has done on the

basis of a very challenging couple of years, where are you today? It is

many years since I was last able to say the Lib Dems have gained, but

that is what we are seeing today. It is modest, there is nothing dramatic

happening, but we have just heard from Jeremy Vine we are up four

points on last year. We have gained two constituencies from the SNP in

Scotland. That would be hard to imagine just a few months ago.

Kirsty Williams in Wales gaining a seat that we lost to the

Conservatives in the general election last year. Across England,

modest gains. Green shoots, after a near fatal knockout blow last year.

It shows there is still life there, and we are fighting back. That

thought is interesting, for now, on this basis, given that you are

coming from a pretty low base in some of these areas, what is the

route to get back to a serious share representation in some of these

local authorities? We have to continue what we are doing,

identifying seats which we are capable of winning and targeting our

effort to make sure we make the breakthrough. It is brilliant to see

John Leech, the former MP for Manchester Withington, getting back

onto Manchester council as the sole opposition member to Labour.

Nationally, work is under way, but we have to be clear to the public

about what we stand for. So that people understand the point in

voting for the Lib Dems. I am very clear in my view that there is a

desperate need for a liberal, progressive movement to challenge

the Conservatives. Labour has taken itself way off to the left. If you

just get a sense that the Tories have no challenge, you get arrogant

and complacent Government. That is why it is important we rebuild as

fast as we can. It is good to talk to you. The First Minister in

Scotland will be making a statement in Edinburgh at 2pm, which we will

cover live. Let's go to Gavin Esler. Can we expect the message to be

roughly what we heard in that speech she gave overnight, where she gave

her personal pledge to all people in Scotland about the form of

governance they can expect? I think that is right. It has been a good

result for the SNP, they are just short of an overall majority, but

she is capable of governing in Scotland is a big minority

Government. That kind of message of bringing people together is what we

will hear. It has been a terrible night for Labour, their woes may

continue into next year, with the local council elections in Scotland,

people talking about them facing a disaster even in Glasgow. It has

been a huge day for the Conservatives. Ruth Davidson knows,

we have joked about it in the past, that in some areas you are more

likely to bump into Elvis than somebody who would be prepared to

say that they vote Conservative. She is trying to change that and she has

done very well for her party, partly by distancing herself from the

Conservatives in London. She promises to be the unofficial Leader

of the Opposition. Very interesting, back with you later. A quick update

on the London mayoral election, John Curtice has sent me a message. Given

the current state of the first preference count of the election, it

looks as though Sadiq Khan might win by 57% to 43%. That is a very big

margin. We are not there yet, but that is what John is suggesting at

this point. Counting is still going on. This is what City Hall are

showing us in terms of the progress of the boat. It is continually being

updated on their website, it is a very transparent process. Before we

leave you for the lunchtime news, a quick look at the Council tally as

it stands across England. It is important. That is far better than

the Labour Party were expecting. A quick look at the councillors.

People had been talking about possible losses of 150 or 200 for

the Labour Party, nowhere near that. The Conservatives pointed to that is

a positive thing. After listening to Norman Lamb, you can understand the

Lib Dems are pleased to be talking about gaining councillors.

More results to come, because we are keeping tabs on what is going on in

London, the London assembly, and the Mayor of London, not forgetting

there are results coming in from Northern Ireland. And there are

dozens of results from the Police and Crime Commissioner is across

England and is all to come. I thank my guests for joining us. We are

back at 2pm. The first, the BBC News at 1pm with Kate Silverton. Goodbye

for now.