Results - Part 2

:00:26. > :00:36.It is 2pm. Welcome back to viewers on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel

:00:37. > :00:38.for our special live coverage of the local election results in England

:00:39. > :00:41.and Wales and Scotland. Thousands of councillors

:00:42. > :00:43.being elected overnight and today, responsible for delivering your

:00:44. > :00:45.essential public services and all of this happening, unusually,

:00:46. > :00:52.during a general election campaign. We'll have results as they're

:00:53. > :00:59.declared and we'll be getting reaction from the parties

:01:00. > :01:07.to what's going on. The Conservatives have had a very

:01:08. > :01:18.good set of results so far. Results coming in within the past

:01:19. > :01:22.hour, they've gained control of the Derbyshire, overall control of

:01:23. > :01:25.Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk. Making gains in Nottinghamshire and parts

:01:26. > :01:33.of Scotland as well. We'll have more details on that. Labour having a

:01:34. > :01:41.turbulent time in England, Scotland and Wales, parts thereof. Strong

:01:42. > :01:48.challenge from the SNP. In Wales they've lost Bridgend and Merthyr

:01:49. > :01:52.Tydfil, keeping hold of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport. In England

:01:53. > :02:00.they've lost more than 100 councillors, many to the Tories.

:02:01. > :02:05.They've won the male role contest in the Liverpool city region. -- lost

:02:06. > :02:10.the mayoral contest. And it has been a terrible night

:02:11. > :02:13.for Ukip, overnight they lost every And the party has been wiped out

:02:14. > :02:17.on councils like Lincolnshire, Their vote share is down

:02:18. > :02:21.dramatically, most of it going In Scotland - the SNP have managed

:02:22. > :02:26.to deprive Labour of an overall majority in Glasgow but we are not

:02:27. > :02:32.yet sure if they have won overall control of Scotland's biggest

:02:33. > :02:34.city for themselves. We're still waiting for most

:02:35. > :02:45.of the results in Scotland. We'll keep a close eye on Birmingham

:02:46. > :02:48.this afternoon. Not least for the Metro mayor race in the West

:02:49. > :02:51.Midlands, set to be a very tight contest between Labour and the

:02:52. > :03:02.Tories. We'll bring you the result in the West Midlands as soon as we

:03:03. > :03:06.have it. There's another Metro mayor race, we'll see if Andy Burnham can

:03:07. > :03:19.win the contest, another significant contest to keep tabs on today. So,

:03:20. > :03:23.we're in the election studio, Peter Kellner resident analyst is with me

:03:24. > :03:27.once again. I'm joined in the studio at this point by Karen Bradley for

:03:28. > :03:30.the Conservatives, John Nicholson for the Scottish National Party and

:03:31. > :03:35.down the line from Manchester, Andrew Quinn, Labour's campaign

:03:36. > :03:39.chair. Thanks for joining us. We'll be with you in a few minutes to have

:03:40. > :03:44.a chat about what's going on and ask you what you think of the trends so

:03:45. > :03:48.far. Before all of that, let's have a look at where we are on the

:03:49. > :03:52.scorecard, the all-important scorecard, to let you know where we

:03:53. > :03:56.are. For all of you joining the coverage, a morning of following the

:03:57. > :04:00.results. Lots of results to come, especially in Scotland. So far the

:04:01. > :04:06.Conservatives, having made significant gains, 365 up in terms

:04:07. > :04:08.of the number of seats. Labour having lost 258 councillors so

:04:09. > :04:19.far... The Lib Dems down 36. The Scottish

:04:20. > :04:24.National Party at this point having made one game in terms of seats. But

:04:25. > :04:29.of course more contests to declare. The Greens have made four gains,

:04:30. > :04:33.they are on 19 seats at the moment. We'll talk more about all of those

:04:34. > :04:36.performances later. I'd like to show you the results before we have a

:04:37. > :04:42.quick update on the news from Derbyshire. Let's have a look at

:04:43. > :04:47.Derbyshire. This is a very, very important contest that has happened.

:04:48. > :04:52.This is where Labour had its big majority of 22 after 2013. Look

:04:53. > :04:58.what's happened, Tories on 37. A game from Labour. 24 to Labour. Look

:04:59. > :05:02.at the difference from 2013, 19 seats up in Derbyshire. It was a

:05:03. > :05:07.Labour stronghold, Labour having lost 19 seats. A punishing result

:05:08. > :05:10.for Labour, a majority of ten in Derbyshire for the Conservatives.

:05:11. > :05:15.It's kind of telling us what's been going on in lots of parts of

:05:16. > :05:19.England. It's a complex picture and we're going to be looking in terms

:05:20. > :05:23.of the trends in Scotland and Wales, too. That's where we are at the

:05:24. > :05:28.moment. I'll be back in a second to talk about it all. It's a good

:05:29. > :05:31.moment to catch up with the election stories, see the memorable images so

:05:32. > :05:36.far, and the day's of the news. Let's say good afternoon to Jane.

:05:37. > :05:41.The Conservatives have made big gains in the local elections,

:05:42. > :05:42.recording their best results since 2008.

:05:43. > :05:45.Many of the votes cast yesterday across England, Scotland and Wales

:05:46. > :05:47.are still being counted, but Labour has fared

:05:48. > :05:48.badly in many areas, including losing control

:05:49. > :05:55.Ukip has seen its vote collapse, only winning a single seat so far.

:05:56. > :05:58.The Liberal Democrats have had a mixed result,

:05:59. > :06:01.and haven't found the breakthrough they had been hoping for.

:06:02. > :06:03.Our first report is from our political

:06:04. > :06:14.It's the Conservatives with the biggest cheers.

:06:15. > :06:18.They gained overall control in nine councils including Derbyshire,

:06:19. > :06:23.Cambridge and Lincolnshire. Tim Charles Bowles is duly elected

:06:24. > :06:25.as the West of England Here in the West of England,

:06:26. > :06:29.the Conservative candidate made history by becoming

:06:30. > :06:32.the regional mayor. In Cumbria, the Tories have replaced

:06:33. > :06:35.Labour as the largest party. But senior Conservatives are playing

:06:36. > :06:37.down expectations ahead The turnout in local elections

:06:38. > :06:43.of course, is much lower So it's wrong to predict what's

:06:44. > :06:49.going to happen on June the 8th. We still have a general

:06:50. > :06:51.election to campaign The Tories are celebrating in Essex

:06:52. > :07:01.too, where this time round, In Lincolnshire, where Ukip's leader

:07:02. > :07:08.Paul Nuttall will fight for a Westminster seat next month,

:07:09. > :07:12.the party was wiped out. And with such big losses,

:07:13. > :07:16.Ukip's future is in question. I've been in Ukip

:07:17. > :07:19.now for four years. The amount of times I've heard

:07:20. > :07:22.the phrase, "Ukip's finished, If I had a pound for every one,

:07:23. > :07:27.I'd probably be quite a rich woman. It's not over until it's over

:07:28. > :07:29.and despite these pretty poor election results so far,

:07:30. > :07:33.it's not over. The party's lost

:07:34. > :07:44.more than 250 seats. And in Glasgow, where Labour has

:07:45. > :07:47.been in power for more than 30 years, it's now

:07:48. > :07:49.lost overall control. These are counties which are

:07:50. > :07:51.the Tory strongholds. It was going to be a tough

:07:52. > :07:54.night for Labour anyway and we are in the middle

:07:55. > :07:56.of a general election campaign, People are voting largely

:07:57. > :07:59.on local issues, not What is coming across is where

:08:00. > :08:07.people were predicting we would be wiped out in places like Wales,

:08:08. > :08:10.we've done very well. The Lib Dems admit so far,

:08:11. > :08:12.it's been a mixed set We held our ground in the face

:08:13. > :08:21.of a massive shift, an enormous shift of Ukip voters

:08:22. > :08:24.to the Conservatives and you know, given that happened,

:08:25. > :08:26.we've done well to stay The Green party says

:08:27. > :08:31.with the Tories dominating, Well I am worried about how well

:08:32. > :08:38.the Conservatives have done in terms of both the Green Party,

:08:39. > :08:41.but more broadly for the future I think that has to be a wake-up

:08:42. > :08:45.call for parties on the left and the centre-left to think

:08:46. > :08:57.about how we work together under For some, the results today have

:08:58. > :09:00.been too close to call. The Tories denied an overall majority in

:09:01. > :09:04.Northumberland after the Lib Dem candidate literally drew the longest

:09:05. > :09:18.straw. For now, it's back to the counting. There is still plenty of

:09:19. > :09:22.that to be done. Mr Rotherham, who represented Liverpool Walton, won

:09:23. > :09:27.with 60% of the vote, he'll lead the region's combined authority in a

:09:28. > :09:32.newly created role. One of the story to bring you, Jean-Claude Juncker

:09:33. > :09:39.has said the English language is losing importance in Europe.

:09:40. > :09:54.I hesitated between English and French. I made my choice. I will

:09:55. > :10:03.express myself in French. APPLAUSE Because... Slowly but surely English

:10:04. > :10:10.is losing importance in Europe. LAUGHTER

:10:11. > :10:14.Jean-Claude Juncker speaking at a conference in Italy. That is all the

:10:15. > :10:17.news for now, more through the afternoon. Now, let's go back to the

:10:18. > :10:30.local election results and Hugh Edwards.

:10:31. > :10:37.We'll be back with Jane later for the news. We are focusing on quite a

:10:38. > :10:40.few big battle grounds this afternoon. There will be lots of

:10:41. > :10:45.results coming in we can try to unpick. One of the biggest ones,

:10:46. > :10:49.certainly, in terms of the power of the person being elected, in terms

:10:50. > :10:53.of the budget of the person being elected, in terms of the real clash

:10:54. > :10:59.of political cultures, is in the West Midlands, the contest for the

:11:00. > :11:03.Metro mayor, the city region mayor, a battle between Labour and the

:11:04. > :11:06.Conservatives. It's taking place under the preference system of

:11:07. > :11:14.voting, so there could be quite a few stages. Let's talk to Patrick

:11:15. > :11:20.Burns in Birmingham. Where are we on this Metro mayor election? Clearly

:11:21. > :11:24.heading towards a photo finish between the Labour candidate Sean

:11:25. > :11:34.Simon and conservative Andy Street. What we had so far is seven separate

:11:35. > :11:37.counts. This is the largest, Birmingham. There is one in each of

:11:38. > :11:41.the major metropolitan council areas in this part of the country. They

:11:42. > :11:46.are bringing these votes together on the first round to see if they need

:11:47. > :11:49.to go through to the second preference votes under the

:11:50. > :11:53.supplementary vote system. A rather complicated thing to explain.

:11:54. > :11:56.Essentially what we now know is Andy Street for the Conservatives, Sean

:11:57. > :12:04.Simon goes through to the second round. On the counter so far, Sean

:12:05. > :12:11.Simon has his nose ahead, if we're heading towards that photo finish.

:12:12. > :12:15.If you factor in the votes potentially from the other

:12:16. > :12:18.candidates now eliminated, second preference votes, there are enough

:12:19. > :12:25.there to tilt the final result one Way Or Another. I'm sorry I couldn't

:12:26. > :12:28.make it any more simple for you, it's a rather complex procedure. We

:12:29. > :12:37.recommend is probably another three hours or so left in this. Both sides

:12:38. > :12:41.say Labour say the battle is in play, the Conservatives say it is

:12:42. > :12:44.too close to call. It confirms the impression I've had during the

:12:45. > :12:48.course of this day, talking to people in the two principal parties

:12:49. > :12:54.camps, neither side is displaying a great deal of confidence, they are

:12:55. > :12:59.hoping for the best at this stage. It's a real knife edge photo finish

:13:00. > :13:03.as we expected it would be. That's exciting, let's hope it comes within

:13:04. > :13:09.the next three hours so we can report it and we're still on her. On

:13:10. > :13:11.the candidates will be eliminated, tell us more about them and where

:13:12. > :13:35.you think those votes could be expected

:13:36. > :13:39.to go the first thing that stands out is that Ukip, as elsewhere in

:13:40. > :13:42.the country, have performed very badly. Where we'll Ukip support go?

:13:43. > :13:44.The logical thing to say is maybe you would expect Ukip switches to

:13:45. > :13:46.head towards the Conservatives. The Greens have polled tolerably well

:13:47. > :13:52.but the Liberal Democrats began there is an anti-Brexit factor.

:13:53. > :14:01.Birmingham itself was evenly balanced between the two. Only 2000

:14:02. > :14:16.votes Leave and Remain out of a total of. These are very narrow

:14:17. > :14:22.margins. The vote... She finishes a third... When we're most of her

:14:23. > :14:25.second preference votes go? There is obvious speculation both ways, one

:14:26. > :14:29.Way Or Another, I don't want to add to the accumulation of fake news or

:14:30. > :14:37.alternative facts, but I think it's true to say both the main candidates

:14:38. > :14:44.have reason to consider their charge is alive. We'll be back to you if

:14:45. > :14:50.there is a development. That is one of the contest in play. We have a

:14:51. > :14:57.result in this group of six new mayors. They result in Liverpool.

:14:58. > :15:05.We'll join the victor, Labour's Steve Rotherham. Many

:15:06. > :15:09.congratulations to you. Thanks, Huw. I'm wondering what it is in terms of

:15:10. > :15:12.Liverpool, I'll ask you about the national picture in a second. Can we

:15:13. > :15:20.try to unpick the result in Liverpool. What was the campaign

:15:21. > :15:24.fought on there? Well, it was fought on a manifesto that I put forward to

:15:25. > :15:27.the 1.5 million people in our city region who overwhelmingly have

:15:28. > :15:35.supported a Labour vision of the future of our city region, which,

:15:36. > :15:39.when I say overwhelming, 60% overall. 70% in the city of

:15:40. > :15:42.Liverpool alone. Are you disappointed with the turnout?

:15:43. > :15:49.You'll be thrilled with the victory but the turnout was 26%, is it lower

:15:50. > :15:54.than you thought? It was about what we predicted in all honesty, that's

:15:55. > :15:58.because it's a new area, we haven't had a combined authority like other

:15:59. > :16:05.areas, like Manchester have had for 25 or 30 years. So it's a new thing.

:16:06. > :16:08.The first police and crime commission was about 12% so we've

:16:09. > :16:12.done considerably better than that. It's about in line with what we

:16:13. > :16:17.think is the turnout in the rest of the country. What is your message to

:16:18. > :16:20.those Labour colleagues including Stephen Kinnock who we spoke to

:16:21. > :16:23.earlier, saying results across Scotland England and Wales are a

:16:24. > :16:30.disaster for labour and raise questions about the leadership, what

:16:31. > :16:35.is your response to that? It's no surprise Stephen saying that, I know

:16:36. > :16:38.him very well. I play in the Parliamentary football team with

:16:39. > :16:42.Stephen and he's expressed his concerns before. What matters is

:16:43. > :16:46.that in areas like ours we were able to put our message over. We have a

:16:47. > :16:49.very strong mandate and our manifesto will be permitted in the

:16:50. > :16:55.first hundred days. It's the best platform we can have to demonstrate

:16:56. > :16:59.that Labour in power can be trusted. Fighting this campaign during a

:17:00. > :17:04.general election campaign. To what extent where you also having to

:17:05. > :17:11.contend with issues to do with the future of the UK in Europe and the

:17:12. > :17:15.rest of it? There are certainly Brexit on the doorstep, but there

:17:16. > :17:19.are all sorts of issues where that was confused. Local issues, local

:17:20. > :17:23.council issues with what was happening with the Metro Mayor

:17:24. > :17:25.because we've never had one before, so people didn't really understand

:17:26. > :17:31.what the Metro Mayor was. We've got somebody called the Liverpool city

:17:32. > :17:34.region including parts of Cheshire, there was confusion over that. It'll

:17:35. > :17:39.settle down in three years, the people will have another opportunity

:17:40. > :17:45.to decide who their Metro Mayor should be in 2020. I expect it will

:17:46. > :17:49.get a decent mandate again in 2020. Steve Rotherham were to talk to you,

:17:50. > :17:58.congratulations once again on your win in Liverpool. The new city

:17:59. > :18:02.region mayor in Liverpool. Steve Rotherham. 43 needed for a majority

:18:03. > :18:07.in Lancashire, the Conservatives have that. More results to come,

:18:08. > :18:12.this is a partial result. 43 to the Tories, 12 to Labour, two to the Lib

:18:13. > :18:17.Dems, what has happened since 2013? Let's have a look. The Conservatives

:18:18. > :18:25.have put on ten seats in Lancashire, so we have 59 wards declared out of

:18:26. > :18:32.84. Labour have lost nine. We have the Lib Dems 1-1, Ukip plus one, the

:18:33. > :18:40.independents minus one. It's a sense for you of another big battle ground

:18:41. > :18:43.going on. I'm going to bring in Andrew, the Labour campaign chair.

:18:44. > :18:51.He is in Manchester today. Your thoughts, given we've been

:18:52. > :18:55.talking to your colleague Steve Rotherham, on the board Labour

:18:56. > :18:58.performance. Diane Abbott today has said lots of it is disappointing,

:18:59. > :19:05.but she says everything is to play for on June the 8th. What is your

:19:06. > :19:11.take? Of course it's disappointing when we lose that Labour colleagues

:19:12. > :19:15.and good Labour candidates don't get elected. Some of the predictions,

:19:16. > :19:21.particularly in places like Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, haven't come

:19:22. > :19:26.out the way the pollsters suggested they might. We've had a good win in

:19:27. > :19:30.the Liverpool city region and predict a very good win here in

:19:31. > :19:35.greater Manchester. West Midlands is all to play for. It's a very mixed

:19:36. > :19:39.picture but it doesn't underestimate the challenge facing the Labour

:19:40. > :19:45.Party. And in parts of the country we've had results that aren't as

:19:46. > :19:50.good as we would hope. What accounts for that, do you think? I think

:19:51. > :19:55.there is a number of issues. Firstly, when you look at where we

:19:56. > :20:01.are in the national opinion polls, Labour has managed to hold its vote

:20:02. > :20:04.share reasonably well from 2013. What has happened is the Ukip vote

:20:05. > :20:08.has collapsed and it has come in the main, gone to the Conservatives,

:20:09. > :20:14.which has handed them a tranche of seats they lost four years ago. That

:20:15. > :20:20.has been part of the problem. We must also do a lot better. We have a

:20:21. > :20:23.general election on the 8th of June. We have five weeks to determine the

:20:24. > :20:28.future for the next five years for this country. I believe we now need

:20:29. > :20:35.to get on the ground, knock on doors, talking to people. Reminding

:20:36. > :20:43.them Labour values are fundamentally devalues the British people support.

:20:44. > :20:48.You didn't mention leadership as a factor, why is that? The leadership

:20:49. > :20:52.issue was resolved last year when Labour Party members decided Jeremy

:20:53. > :20:57.Corbyn would remain the leader of the Labour Party. We're in a general

:20:58. > :21:01.election and for us it's about setting out that vision of a better,

:21:02. > :21:06.fairer Britain, a Britain that works for the many, not the few. We've got

:21:07. > :21:11.five weeks to hit the ground speaking to people, find out what

:21:12. > :21:16.their hopes and worries are, as well as their dreams and aspirations. I

:21:17. > :21:19.think when we start speaking to people, when we get that

:21:20. > :21:23.transformational manifesto published, we can start to explain

:21:24. > :21:27.the difference that a Labour Party in government for the next five

:21:28. > :21:33.years will make to the communities we seek to represent in every part

:21:34. > :21:39.of the United Kingdom. Labour campaign chair Andrew Gwynne, thank

:21:40. > :21:42.you. We're in a position in BBC election Centre to give you a

:21:43. > :21:47.projected national share of the vote. Let me tell you not what this

:21:48. > :21:52.is but what it isn't. It's not some kind of forecast about Wolverhampton

:21:53. > :21:56.on June the 8th, nothing like that. This is really a figure we've put

:21:57. > :21:59.together, John Curtis and his team have put together, basically saying

:22:00. > :22:03.what would have happened if all the country had voted in these local

:22:04. > :22:07.elections yesterday. That is the sense of it for you. Let's have a

:22:08. > :22:13.look at the projected national share. This is it. Giving the

:22:14. > :22:25.Conservatives 38% on the projected national share. It gives Labour 27%,

:22:26. > :22:30.the Lib Dems 18%, it gives Ukip 5% and the others 12%. If we look at

:22:31. > :22:39.the change from the PNS we offered in 2015, it's showing the Tories up

:22:40. > :22:46.by 3%, Labour down by 2%, Lib Dems up by 7%, Ukip down by 8%, don't

:22:47. > :22:51.forget in 2015, we're not talking about 2013, the last local

:22:52. > :22:54.elections, this is PNS from 2015. No change for the others. It's a very

:22:55. > :23:02.important figure we've just offered you. I'll bring in John Curtis, the

:23:03. > :23:11.resident expert. I want you to explain in clear terms what this

:23:12. > :23:16.figure refers to. This is our estimate for how the country as a

:23:17. > :23:19.whole would have voted if the movement since the English county

:23:20. > :23:24.council election results were last fought over in 2013, if the movement

:23:25. > :23:27.since then had been reflected across the country as a whole. It means the

:23:28. > :23:35.calculation has been done on the same basis. As for the annual round

:23:36. > :23:39.of English local elections. As you've already said, first of all,

:23:40. > :23:42.this is definitely not a forecast of what will happen on June eight, it's

:23:43. > :23:47.not even a statement of what would have happened if the general

:23:48. > :23:51.election had been yesterday. It is an attempt to provide you with a

:23:52. > :23:55.simple summary measure of the overall performance of the parties

:23:56. > :24:00.in the English county council elections put together in such a way

:24:01. > :24:07.we can compare party performances in this year's local elections with

:24:08. > :24:12.2015, 2013, indeed pretty much any other year. With all the health

:24:13. > :24:16.warnings you tacked onto it, what does it tell us about the relative

:24:17. > :24:21.strengths of the party? I've got John Nicholson here, probably

:24:22. > :24:25.looking to see where the SNP is on that, you can tell us that in the

:24:26. > :24:31.second. Let's talk about relative strength as we go towards June the

:24:32. > :24:36.8th. What do you make of it? I guess the thing many people will notice is

:24:37. > :24:43.where the Conservative lead over Labour is substantial, while this is

:24:44. > :24:46.the best performance since 2008 for the Conservatives and the worst

:24:47. > :24:50.Labour performance since it was turfed out of office in 2010, the

:24:51. > :24:57.lead in this projected national share is rather less than the 17

:24:58. > :25:03.point lead that on average has been in the most recent opinion polls.

:25:04. > :25:06.And the swing since 2015 local elections is around half the swing

:25:07. > :25:13.the national opinion polls have been showing. As we've been trying to say

:25:14. > :25:17.throughout today, it was always clear the Conservatives were well

:25:18. > :25:22.ahead in these local elections, but it still leaves this question of

:25:23. > :25:25.whether they are doing well enough that if it were to be translated

:25:26. > :25:32.into the general election they would get the landslide they are looking

:25:33. > :25:35.for. In 2015 it took seven point lead in the parliamentary election

:25:36. > :25:40.just to get that majority of 12 Theresa May didn't want. It's one

:25:41. > :25:50.obvious technical point. The Liberal Democrats are doing much better in

:25:51. > :25:54.this projected national share. It's par for the course. Liberal

:25:55. > :25:57.Democrats nearly always do better in local elections than general

:25:58. > :26:02.elections, it tends to be the case even on the same day. That

:26:03. > :26:09.arithmetically begins to depress the Conservative lead to a degree. It's

:26:10. > :26:13.not going to account for all of it. For Liberal Democrats themselves,

:26:14. > :26:15.it's relatively good news. The best performance in local elections since

:26:16. > :26:21.they went into coalition with conservatives in 2010. Still well

:26:22. > :26:28.below the 25% figure is the party was getting regularly in the

:26:29. > :26:34.2005-2010 Parliament. It is partial recovery for the Democrats. For

:26:35. > :26:38.Ukip, we only started estimating in 2013 when they did so well in the

:26:39. > :26:41.elections. This is their worst performance so far. Overall the

:26:42. > :26:46.broad picture is what the opinion polls were telling us, Ukip

:26:47. > :26:51.squeezed, that progress by the Liberal Democrats, but not dramatic.

:26:52. > :26:56.Labour heading for a bad result. It's whether the Conservatives are

:26:57. > :27:01.doing well enough to get that big majority Theresa May would like.

:27:02. > :27:05.I'll put some of those points to Karen Bradley in a moment. What do

:27:06. > :27:11.you say to John Nicholson and the SNP? From the data I seen, it takes

:27:12. > :27:16.a while to put it together, because of the boundary changes north of the

:27:17. > :27:21.border. It looks to me as though the SNP might get 40% of the total vote

:27:22. > :27:25.in Scotland, but I'm not sure they are going to get much more than

:27:26. > :27:31.that. In Aberdeen for example, where we have the whole result, the SNP

:27:32. > :27:36.vote wasn't up that much. They failed to win North Ayrshire, that

:27:37. > :27:41.one would have expected them to win if they were doing the kind of

:27:42. > :27:45.performance they got in 2015-2016. I think in truth this is towards the

:27:46. > :27:51.disappointing. From what I've seen so far, limited, much more to come

:27:52. > :27:56.in terms of the expectations we had of the SNP. Karen, your response to

:27:57. > :28:00.the PNS. John suggesting it is a strong performance but not as strong

:28:01. > :28:06.as some have been predicting. You set yourself this isn't a forecast,

:28:07. > :28:10.and local elections are based on local issues. I pay tribute to all

:28:11. > :28:14.those Conservative candidates who have worked so hard over the last

:28:15. > :28:19.few years and months to get elected. Well done to them. There is no way

:28:20. > :28:24.anyone can take that and say, this is a foregone conclusion for June

:28:25. > :28:27.the 8th, absolutely not. It's a different election fought on

:28:28. > :28:32.different issues. That clear choice between who the British public want

:28:33. > :28:36.to be leader, strong and stable leadership with Theresa May, or

:28:37. > :28:42.coalition of chaos with Jeremy Corbyn. Dear, dear, two cliches one

:28:43. > :28:45.after another, Karen, you are the Secretary of State for culture,

:28:46. > :28:48.you're meant to be interested in language, you have to come up with

:28:49. > :28:52.better line than that, really. This is a really important choice, it's

:28:53. > :28:55.vital we make that point. Those lines were written for you, strong

:28:56. > :29:00.and stable leadership and coalition of chaos. It's like being with

:29:01. > :29:06.Stepford wives, the way politicians from the Conservative Party keep

:29:07. > :29:09.churning out the lines. People are frustrated by this patronising tone

:29:10. > :29:16.in the election. We've got to improve... What about the SNP

:29:17. > :29:23.performance? I was very intrigued with what John said, John said the

:29:24. > :29:27.SNP vote wasn't up that much in Aberdeen. The SNP has been in

:29:28. > :29:30.government for 11 years, and the vote is up in Aberdeen. That's meant

:29:31. > :29:34.to be the area where the Tories think they are having a great

:29:35. > :29:41.revival. I've seen the figures, the final figures are SNP 19

:29:42. > :29:48.Conservatives 11, Labour nine, Lib Dems four. That in Aberdeen.

:29:49. > :29:56.It is a curious criticism that the SNP isn't up that much, but I hope

:29:57. > :30:03.the Conservatives. Pretending there will be a hung parliament. You

:30:04. > :30:09.mentioned Aberdeen. Let's look at Aberdeen, as we know is a hung

:30:10. > :30:19.council. 19 to the SNP, 11 to the Tories, nine to the Labour Party,

:30:20. > :30:25.four seats to the Lib Dems. This is what has happened since 2008. Labour

:30:26. > :30:29.losing nine seats. But is the picture in Aberdeen. Your pieces

:30:30. > :30:36.there is what? They are clearly making progress, the Tories? Ruth

:30:37. > :30:40.Davidson gets up in the morning and she says, let's not talk about

:30:41. > :30:45.independence. She talks about independence all day and then says,

:30:46. > :30:51.I wish the SNP. Talking about independence. Maybe it is working if

:30:52. > :30:55.you look at that result? What she has done is peel away the right wing

:30:56. > :31:01.of the Labour Party. If you look at the votes in Scotland, there is a

:31:02. > :31:04.shift between labour to the Conservatives. The SNP vote is

:31:05. > :31:09.roughly static but the Labour Party is losing ground to the Tories.

:31:10. > :31:14.There seems to be a straight shift from one to the other. How do you

:31:15. > :31:19.explain that, Labour straight to the Tories? I think Bruce has done a

:31:20. > :31:26.great job in Scotland from a very low base. Tributes to be paid to

:31:27. > :31:31.her. The point that this is not going to be a hung parliament, the

:31:32. > :31:35.results are clear. We have seen in Liverpool, 60% of the vote has gone

:31:36. > :31:42.to Labour. There is a real possibility of a Labour government.

:31:43. > :31:47.No there isn't. We will make it clear that is the choice that will

:31:48. > :31:50.be made by people on the 8th of June. We cannot take people for

:31:51. > :32:00.fools, we know what will happen in this election. I don't. I do. You

:32:01. > :32:03.cannot take anything for granted. That is the lying politicians use,

:32:04. > :32:08.but we know there will be a Conservative Government and you will

:32:09. > :32:12.win with a whopping great majority. So the question for voters across

:32:13. > :32:25.the country is, do you want the Tories to have a serious opposition?

:32:26. > :32:29.Conservative MPs make this point privately, it is good to have strong

:32:30. > :32:34.opposition. I think a lot of Tory voters must think, they are going to

:32:35. > :32:39.win, but maybe there should be a strong opposition also. I broadly

:32:40. > :32:47.agree that when you have whopping great majorities, in Scotland in the

:32:48. > :32:52.last general election, there were 56 SNP MPs out of 59. Buy your own

:32:53. > :33:00.arguments, wouldn't it be healthier for Scottish politics if there were

:33:01. > :33:05.slightly fewer SNP MPs and more Unionist MPs? You are comparing

:33:06. > :33:11.apples with pears. SNP MPs at Westminster are not attempting to

:33:12. > :33:16.form a government. They are not opposition bloc. The speaker from

:33:17. > :33:25.the opposition bloc said we are persisted because we support first

:33:26. > :33:35.past the post. We have a result, Tees Valley, the results for the

:33:36. > :33:39.mayor. 21% turnout. So the Conservatives on 40000 and close

:33:40. > :33:49.behind, Sue Jeffery on 39,000 for Labour. If we look at the figures,

:33:50. > :33:56.39%, each. It is a Conservative win in Tees Valley on 48,000 after

:33:57. > :34:03.everything is recalculated and 46,000 for Labour. So, what are we

:34:04. > :34:10.saying at this point? Let's go to College Green and talk to Steve

:34:11. > :34:14.Richards and another journalist. Steve, your take on what is going

:34:15. > :34:19.on? Sometimes politics needs decoding, it doesn't really at the

:34:20. > :34:24.moment. What we see is what is happening, it is interesting to hear

:34:25. > :34:27.Karen Bradley talk up the prospects of a Labour victory. Meanwhile we

:34:28. > :34:32.have Labour candidate saying, you can vote for me, don't worry because

:34:33. > :34:37.we will not win. When you are in that situation, the general

:34:38. > :34:41.narrative is pretty clear, the Conservatives are heading for a

:34:42. > :34:48.significant victory next month. These local election results on the

:34:49. > :34:52.whole, with John Curtis' brilliant qualifications do confirm that

:34:53. > :34:56.pattern. Julia, what are your thoughts? It is absurd to have a

:34:57. > :35:00.situation where the Conservatives are playing down what is a

:35:01. > :35:06.successful date and the Labour Party are trying to talk up what is a

:35:07. > :35:11.disastrous situation. The SNP talking up a Tory victory. The

:35:12. > :35:16.question is, how much we can read in to the general election in a few

:35:17. > :35:20.weeks. An awful lot of us, me included, want to vote on whether my

:35:21. > :35:30.bins are being collected or whether a local councillor is someone you

:35:31. > :35:32.know or not. Very different from general collections. As you have

:35:33. > :35:35.seen with some of the turnout, so few of the people who vote in a

:35:36. > :35:38.general election have turned out to vote. It is dangerous to read

:35:39. > :35:44.anything into what it might mean for the general election, other than a

:35:45. > :35:48.Tory majority. Significant contest, the new mayor of the West Midlands,

:35:49. > :35:52.which is a very powerful position and that is closed between the

:35:53. > :35:58.Conservatives and Labour. These results must not be discounted in

:35:59. > :36:05.terms of what they say? No, if Labour were to lose the contest for

:36:06. > :36:08.the mayor, that would be a big blow to their morale as they then look

:36:09. > :36:13.forward to the general election where morale is pretty dodgy anyway.

:36:14. > :36:18.As Julia said, it is important to remember with the mayoral contest,

:36:19. > :36:23.the local dimensional. What ever happens now and in June when Theresa

:36:24. > :36:28.May is now expected to win big, is that we will have these pockets of

:36:29. > :36:32.power elsewhere, in Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool. There is a

:36:33. > :36:37.Scottish parliament. It is one of the big differences to the 1980s

:36:38. > :36:41.when Margaret Thatcher won big. When she did, she ruled the whole of the

:36:42. > :36:44.UK, there was virtually no local departments, and a Scottish

:36:45. > :36:53.parliament. But if the Tories were to win this one, there would be a

:36:54. > :36:58.celebration at conservative HQ here because it will tell them what will

:36:59. > :37:02.happen in the general election. One of the big power bases, by the looks

:37:03. > :37:07.of it, will not be the Liberal Democrats. They are the one big

:37:08. > :37:14.party going for the Remain vote. It looks like a lot of leave voters

:37:15. > :37:17.have gone to the Tories and others have voted on the bin collection

:37:18. > :37:23.rather than voting for the Remain party. The party of the 11% rather

:37:24. > :37:31.than the 48% by the end of today. Steve and Julia, enjoy the rest of

:37:32. > :37:36.the results. Ranks for joining us. A little later than planned, we will

:37:37. > :37:38.get the news, not just the election news but the news as well let's join

:37:39. > :37:45.Jane Hill. The Conservatives have made big

:37:46. > :37:47.gains in the council elections in England and Wales,

:37:48. > :37:49.recording their best Many of the votes cast

:37:50. > :37:52.yesterday across England, Scotland and Wales are still to be

:37:53. > :37:56.counted, but Labour have suffered losses and Ukip have

:37:57. > :38:05.lost all but one seat. The kernel Edds have taken 11

:38:06. > :38:09.councils and gained more than 400 seats and be our head with Billy

:38:10. > :38:14.1500 councillors was but earlier the party was downplaying the

:38:15. > :38:20.significance of these victories. Many votes remain uncounted.

:38:21. > :38:22.I think the early results are encouraging, but

:38:23. > :38:25.We have seen less than a quarter of the vote actually

:38:26. > :38:29.The turnout in local elections, of course, is much, much lower

:38:30. > :38:33.It is wrong to predict what will happen on June 8th.

:38:34. > :38:35.We still have a general election to campaign

:38:36. > :38:42.for and to win after last night, but encouraging signs.

:38:43. > :38:46.Labour is on course to lose control of Glasgow,

:38:47. > :38:52.the party has been in control in the city since 1980.

:38:53. > :39:00.The party has lost five councils over role and more than 270 council

:39:01. > :39:03.seats but the party did hold onto Cardiff. Diane Abbott warned people

:39:04. > :39:05.not to read too much into these results.

:39:06. > :39:11.But I think we have to be careful from extrapolating from local

:39:12. > :39:15.The turnout is much lower and in many cases, people vote

:39:16. > :39:24.But, I'm not pretending that these aren't disappointing results.

:39:25. > :39:26.The results have been disappointing for Ukip.

:39:27. > :39:28.So far the party has only managed to win one

:39:29. > :39:31.of the the seats it has contested, losing 92 previously

:39:32. > :39:45.Including all four seats it held on Bevan County Council.

:39:46. > :39:47.Ukip says it still has sitting councillors in the country,

:39:48. > :39:49.although those positions were not up for election this time.

:39:50. > :39:51.The results have been mixed for the Liberal Democrats.

:39:52. > :39:54.A short time ago the Party had lost 39 council seats.

:39:55. > :39:56.The Lib Dems also failed to retake Somerset Council

:39:57. > :39:58.from the Conservatives, although the Tory leader John Osman

:39:59. > :40:07.was ousted by Lib Dem former MP Tessa Munt.

:40:08. > :40:09.Former Labour MP Steve Rotherham has become Liverpool's

:40:10. > :40:16.Mr Rotherham, a former bricklayer who represented Liverpool Walton,

:40:17. > :40:31.He said people had voted in favour of a bold manifesto and a fresh

:40:32. > :40:36.start. Tim Bowles weren't in the West of England for the

:40:37. > :40:41.Conservatives. Played Comrie in Wales and the Green party have made

:40:42. > :40:44.gains. The Greens are up two seen so far while Plaid Cymru has 33 more

:40:45. > :40:52.councillors. It's not just election season here,

:40:53. > :40:55.in France it's the last day of a contentious campaign to chose

:40:56. > :40:57.a new President. The two candidates,

:40:58. > :40:59.the centrist and favourite Emmanuel Macron, and the right wing

:41:00. > :41:02.Marine Le Pen, are out on the campaign trail

:41:03. > :41:04.for the last time today, before voters go to

:41:05. > :41:10.the polls on Sunday. Christian Fraser is

:41:11. > :41:21.in Paris for us now. What is your sense of it? It has

:41:22. > :41:26.been a long other times bitter campaign. I am not sure it has done

:41:27. > :41:32.much to heal the divisions in France and we have seen more hostility

:41:33. > :41:36.today. Marine Le Pen was at the cathedral which is where they used

:41:37. > :41:41.to crown the old Kings of France. But such is the hostility from the

:41:42. > :41:44.crowds that whether, after she had been around the cathedral, she had

:41:45. > :41:49.to go out through a Robing Room at the back and to a waiting car.

:41:50. > :41:54.Earlier we saw a huge banner that was unfurled under the arches of the

:41:55. > :42:01.Eiffel Tower, it had been put up by Greenpeace which had hash tag resist

:42:02. > :42:08.on it. So the hostility to Marine Le Pen is there. Although a Emmanuel

:42:09. > :42:12.Macron has a big lead, 62-38, the talk is, they don't want anyone to

:42:13. > :42:16.take the vote for granted and they don't want complacency. The biggest

:42:17. > :42:27.threat to him is the abstention rate, which could be quite high.

:42:28. > :42:33.Thank you, Christian. We have been hearing from Michel Barnier at a

:42:34. > :42:36.conference about EU's citizens rights in Florence. He warned there

:42:37. > :42:38.are concerns about the right to free movement which has been given to

:42:39. > :42:49.European citizens. We should not allow populace to take

:42:50. > :42:54.the political debate hostage. But we should not ignore what are often

:42:55. > :43:02.deeply felt opinions and reactions. People are concerned about the free

:43:03. > :43:05.movement of EU workers, not only in the UK, but also in many other

:43:06. > :43:08.member states. That's a summary of the news,

:43:09. > :43:36.now back to Local Elections Welcome back. We are covering the

:43:37. > :43:40.results of the local elections in England, Scotland and Wales and we

:43:41. > :43:44.will be focusing on lots of these results still coming in. Some of

:43:45. > :43:48.them in big contest such as the West Midlands for the new city and

:43:49. > :43:53.regional mad. But the results coming in. Norfolk has come in. This is a

:43:54. > :44:00.conservative gain. A familiar story in lots of parts of England from no

:44:01. > :44:07.overall control, 55 seats to the Conservatives in Norfolk. 17 to

:44:08. > :44:11.Labour, 11 the Lib Dems. It is a familiar picture in terms of the

:44:12. > :44:17.collapse of Ukip. Let's look at the difference because we have 15 games

:44:18. > :44:21.for the Conservatives and 15 losses for Ukip. The East of England

:44:22. > :44:26.telling us quite a familiar story by now. Those are the Norfolk figures,

:44:27. > :44:31.I want to go straight to Andrew Sinclair, our correspondent in Great

:44:32. > :44:36.Yarmouth, that is where he was earlier. Andrew, where are you? I am

:44:37. > :44:42.now at County Hall in Norfolk. With the Wii would come here for the

:44:43. > :44:45.final declaration. This place was technically in no overall control,

:44:46. > :44:49.this Conservatives were just about able to run it for the last year now

:44:50. > :44:54.they have a majority of 26 and across Norfolk, the Conservatives

:44:55. > :44:59.brought in some very impressive majorities, as the counting went

:45:00. > :45:03.ahead. The other headlines in Norfolk, yes, Ukip have been wiped

:45:04. > :45:08.out, as they have been across East Anglia but also the Green party have

:45:09. > :45:12.been wiped out. They were wiped out because of a small Labour surge

:45:13. > :45:16.which we saw in Norwich in the Labour heartland of Norfolk really.

:45:17. > :45:21.This is quite important, because this part of Norwich, the seat was

:45:22. > :45:31.held up the last election by Clive Lewis from Labour. The former

:45:32. > :45:34.Business Secretary, seen by some as being a future leadership contender.

:45:35. > :45:37.He was going to face a big fight in the forthcoming general election. He

:45:38. > :45:41.still does face a fight, but I think he will sleep a little bit more

:45:42. > :45:46.happily the night, knowing Labour have done so well in Norwich. The

:45:47. > :45:50.other bits of news from Norfolk, is we see a bit of a Liberal Democrat

:45:51. > :45:54.surge on the North Norfolk coast. They have taken seats from Ukip and

:45:55. > :45:59.also took one seat from the Conservatives. That will go down

:46:00. > :46:03.with Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, who is

:46:04. > :46:13.facing a big challenge from the Conservatives on the North Norfolk

:46:14. > :46:15.coast, because he only has a majority of 4000. At the end of the

:46:16. > :46:18.day, the main story, from the whole of East Anglia is, this Ukip

:46:19. > :46:22.wipe-out. It is significant for this part of the world because this is

:46:23. > :46:28.where Ukip started to see its first signs of support, it won its first

:46:29. > :46:34.ever town council in Ramsey in 2010. Since then, it went on to pick up a

:46:35. > :46:38.load of smaller council seats, District Council level and then in

:46:39. > :46:45.2013, at the last County Council elections, Ukip sprung onto the

:46:46. > :46:49.stage by winning a lot of seats here in Norfolk. So many that at one

:46:50. > :46:54.stage it was the second largest party in the council. It won a lot

:46:55. > :46:58.of seeds in Cambridgeshire and six. The story here, is Ukip has

:46:59. > :47:05.absolutely no seats at a County Council level. That is Norfolk, just

:47:06. > :47:10.putting the figure is up for. Can you talk us through that and it is

:47:11. > :47:15.the Ukip loss and the search for the Conservatives? Yes, that is

:47:16. > :47:20.interesting in Cambridgeshire. Cambridge was put into no overall

:47:21. > :47:24.control. It is normally a solid conservative council, but it went

:47:25. > :47:29.into no overall control, like Norfolk, because Ukip did well. For

:47:30. > :47:34.a while, they brought in changes to something called the cabinet system,

:47:35. > :47:37.which was a change in the way local business was done. They did make

:47:38. > :47:43.quite an impact in Cambridge, but they have lost the seats. A lot of

:47:44. > :47:48.the seats were up in the Cambridge offends, area is seen as traditional

:47:49. > :47:56.Ukip territory. Remember, it was the surge of these seats for Ukip in

:47:57. > :47:59.places like Cambridge, Norfolk and six which made the Conservatives,

:48:00. > :48:06.under David Cameron realise, they had to stay true to their pledge to

:48:07. > :48:09.grant a referendum. But Ukip support has dissipated. Before we left Great

:48:10. > :48:14.Yarmouth, we went into the street to talk to people to say, what do you

:48:15. > :48:18.think has happened to the Ukip vote? Every person we spoke to in Great

:48:19. > :48:21.Yarmouth said the same thing, we think Ukip's job is done. And that

:48:22. > :48:37.echoes Ukip's one former MP, Douglas Carswell, who when he

:48:38. > :48:39.left Ukip two weeks ago, said the same thing- job done. Andrew, thank

:48:40. > :48:42.you very much from Norfolk with the latest picture in the East of

:48:43. > :48:46.England. Peter, talk us through your thoughts of this Ukip collapse on

:48:47. > :48:49.the fact it has fed very strongly into a very big conservative surge

:48:50. > :48:54.in some of these counties. We are being told by some conservatives, it

:48:55. > :48:57.is not all about that, there are other reasons for Conservatives

:48:58. > :49:04.doing well, but we cannot discount this as a very, very big factor? It

:49:05. > :49:09.is a huge factor. I am looking at the seeds Ukip were defending. We

:49:10. > :49:15.have the voting numbers in. In those seats where Ukip 14 years ago, they

:49:16. > :49:23.are now forth. They got fewer votes in their own seats. The Conservative

:49:24. > :49:31.vote has gone up massively in those areas. I think part of the

:49:32. > :49:35.significance is this, one of the reasons why the Conservatives did.

:49:36. > :49:40.Get a bigger majority in 2015 was, a lot of people who would have

:49:41. > :49:45.otherwise voted Conservative, voted Ukip because of the European issue.

:49:46. > :49:50.Those Conservatives have gone back to being Conservative voters. If

:49:51. > :49:55.nothing else changes in the general election, that will deliver a bigger

:49:56. > :50:00.majority to Theresa May. Overall, compared with four years ago, if

:50:01. > :50:05.anything there is an overall swing from right to left, if you add up

:50:06. > :50:09.Tory and Ukip on one side and the Liberal Democrats, labour and the

:50:10. > :50:14.Greens on the other. The Tories have huge gains, Ukip have a number of

:50:15. > :50:19.losses, Labour down, Liberal Democrats down. Under our voting

:50:20. > :50:23.system, this coming together of the right of centre votes behind the

:50:24. > :50:28.Conservatives, where it was more split two years ago, that is

:50:29. > :50:31.terrific news for Theresa May. What ever happens to the Labour vote,

:50:32. > :50:36.people on the left is what they think about Jeremy Corbyn. Barry,

:50:37. > :50:41.we'll be with you in a second. I know Ruth Davidson is also waiting

:50:42. > :50:47.to talk to us, why don't I bring us up today so far on the Scottish

:50:48. > :50:54.result so Ruth Davidson can address some of those. 21 losses in terms of

:50:55. > :50:57.seats for the SNP. The Conservatives, having gained 91 seat

:50:58. > :51:10.so far in Scotland, and the independents down 11. Labour on 122,

:51:11. > :51:19.the Lib Dems on 37. Let's look at Dundee. The SNP losing its control

:51:20. > :51:26.in Dundee, they are on 14 seats, Labour are and nine, and just short

:51:27. > :51:31.of that control, look at the change from the last time in 2012. In

:51:32. > :51:33.Dundee, it the SNP have lost two seats which accounts for the loss of

:51:34. > :51:42.overall control. That is the picture in Dundee, do I

:51:43. > :51:50.have any other Scottish results to show? I have Aberdeenshire. This is

:51:51. > :51:55.a hung council. The Tories on 23, SNP on 21. Lib Dems on 14,

:51:56. > :52:00.independence on ten. This is another case of the Conservatives are making

:52:01. > :52:05.progress. If we look at the change from 2012, they have put on nine

:52:06. > :52:11.seats and the SNP have gone down eight seats in Aberdeenshire. The

:52:12. > :52:16.Lib Dems up two, independents down two and labour are down one seat. I

:52:17. > :52:21.will bring Ruth Davidson in. Thanks for joining us, Ruth. Headline

:52:22. > :52:25.thoughts on where you are today? I think today is shaping up to be a

:52:26. > :52:31.good day for the Scottish Conservatives. It consolidates some

:52:32. > :52:34.of the gains we made last year at the Scottish parliament and became

:52:35. > :52:38.the second party in Scotland. People across Scotland are looking for the

:52:39. > :52:44.Scottish fight back against the SNP where they have tried to create a

:52:45. > :52:48.sense of momentum. Wherever you are, from the Borders to the Highlands,

:52:49. > :52:52.the only party strong enough to lead the fight back is the Scottish

:52:53. > :52:57.Conservatives. We have John Nicholson, and I wonder what he

:52:58. > :53:02.might have to say about that. It is always good to see Ruth, I am

:53:03. > :53:06.looking at her local government leaflet in front of me. She always

:53:07. > :53:12.says, get on with the job and stop obsessing about the constitution.

:53:13. > :53:17.This leaflet doesn't mention bins, transport or education. What it says

:53:18. > :53:22.is, we need to send Nicola Sturgeon a message. What Ruth does, she gets

:53:23. > :53:27.up every morning and she talks about independence all day long. The

:53:28. > :53:31.narrative is, I wish those nationalists would stop talking

:53:32. > :53:37.about independence. Somebody looking on, on the basis of these results,

:53:38. > :53:42.it she is right. All credit to Ruth, she has achieved her aim and she has

:53:43. > :53:49.peeled away the right of the Labour Party and successfully managed...

:53:50. > :53:54.Lets let Ruth answer that. There is a simple way of John and his

:53:55. > :53:58.colleagues to want me to stop talking about independence and that

:53:59. > :54:11.is the Nicola Sturgeon to do what she said you do, respect the

:54:12. > :54:17.decision from the last referendum. Because of electoral rules, we don't

:54:18. > :54:22.mention the individual candidate or individual seats, every one of our

:54:23. > :54:25.candidates put forward their election address that had the key

:54:26. > :54:29.points of their area, had priorities for the local council. It is making

:54:30. > :54:34.sure we do both things, we fight on a national level and local level. I

:54:35. > :54:37.think it is sour grapes on John, a man under pressure in his own seat

:54:38. > :54:44.and has a minority that he has to defend. At least I am fighting my

:54:45. > :54:52.own seat again, Ruth because you had to cross the country to fight for a

:54:53. > :54:57.different seat. Let's not project too much ahead. Peta wants to talk

:54:58. > :55:00.about the voting system which will help viewers understand the

:55:01. > :55:04.situation in Scotland and the dynamics are often different? In the

:55:05. > :55:11.English elections it is traditional first past the post system. In

:55:12. > :55:16.Scottish local elections it is the single transferable vote. If you are

:55:17. > :55:19.wondering how some of these councils are coming up nowhere overall

:55:20. > :55:23.control, because of proportional voting you tend to get nowhere

:55:24. > :55:28.overall control. Unless one party is miles ahead of the others, they

:55:29. > :55:32.might get the majority. But it does raise the question, at local

:55:33. > :55:37.government level, Scotland only works when parties get together and

:55:38. > :55:42.cooperate. Either as a joint Administration, or issue by issue.

:55:43. > :55:47.What we are seeing between John and Ruth, the tone will have to change

:55:48. > :55:50.when the Conservatives in local councils and the SNP in local

:55:51. > :55:55.councils find they have to get together to get things done. We have

:55:56. > :56:00.ruled out any coalition with the Conservatives and we have been

:56:01. > :56:04.clear, that will not be happening. Ruth, on the basis of the results we

:56:05. > :56:09.have already, not just in Scotland, but across England and in Wales, how

:56:10. > :56:14.confident are you as a Conservative, we have Karen Bradley here as well,

:56:15. > :56:19.looking forward to Julia Tooth? We have got to continue to work hard,

:56:20. > :56:23.we take nothing for granted. It is different elections north and south

:56:24. > :56:27.of the border. I will stick with Scotland, Peter is right we have a

:56:28. > :56:33.system in Scotland where it is transferable vote our local

:56:34. > :56:37.elections. We have to look at indicators and it is who got the

:56:38. > :56:43.largest preference share of the votes. If you look across the

:56:44. > :56:48.borders, Perthshire, Aberdeenshire, Angus Robertson's seat, John

:56:49. > :56:52.Nicholson's boss in Westminster, easy it is the Scottish

:56:53. > :56:56.Conservatives. We need to use this as a platform to take this fight to

:56:57. > :57:01.the SNP and lead the fight back against the SNP. Ruth Davidson,

:57:02. > :57:05.thanks for joining us today. We will carry on the debate in a moment and

:57:06. > :57:08.bring Karen Bradley in on Conservative prospects and Barry, we

:57:09. > :57:15.will be in and talking to you as well.

:57:16. > :57:22.In the meantime, what I would like to do is maybe take a quick break

:57:23. > :57:28.and have a look at the weather prospects. Will

:57:29. > :57:34.we are ending the week with similar weather as to what we had at the

:57:35. > :57:36.start. Things haven't changed that much and that means another sunny

:57:37. > :57:44.day across parts of Northern Ireland. The best of the sunshine is

:57:45. > :57:47.across northern areas where we are closest to this area of high

:57:48. > :57:51.pressure. We have had an easterly wind making it feel chilly across

:57:52. > :57:56.the East and extra cloud in the south. That is how it looked earlier

:57:57. > :58:02.on in Devon. There are some breaks in the cloud in southern areas. Not

:58:03. > :58:06.continuously grey skies, there will be a fair amount of blue sky, a

:58:07. > :58:09.mixture of patchy cloud and sunny spells in the East Midlands and

:58:10. > :58:15.Wales. Best of the sunshine in Northern Inman, Scotland. Further

:58:16. > :58:19.west, temperatures up to 19 possibly 20 degrees in places. As we go

:58:20. > :58:23.through this evening, cloud will thicken up across England and Wales

:58:24. > :58:27.I produced the odd spot of drizzle. More persistent rain trying to push

:58:28. > :58:31.into the far south-west, but it will be the far south-west, Cornwall,

:58:32. > :58:37.South West Devon, Channel Islands. It may be cold across Scotland, and

:58:38. > :58:41.Northern Ireland for a touch of frost. This high pressure will try

:58:42. > :58:46.to bring a change, introduce rain into the South. But not having a lot

:58:47. > :58:50.of luck. It will be Cornwall, parts of west and south Devon and the

:58:51. > :58:53.Channel Islands that see the rain tomorrow. More cloud across England

:58:54. > :58:56.and Wales but Northern Ireland and Scotland, is where we will have the

:58:57. > :59:01.best of the sunshine. The far north-east will hold onto low cloud,

:59:02. > :59:05.particularly a wrong coast. It should be a warmer day for the likes

:59:06. > :59:09.of Glasgow and Edinburgh. To Northern Ireland and northern

:59:10. > :59:12.England, sunny spells. East Anglia, Wales and towards the south coast,

:59:13. > :59:16.more in the way of cloud. Writer glimpses and parts of West Devon,

:59:17. > :59:20.Cornwall and the Channel Islands, rain splashing through at times.

:59:21. > :59:24.Even that isn't going to last too long. That will clear away during

:59:25. > :59:34.Saturday evening. On Sunday evening, it looks like more of the same. But

:59:35. > :59:36.a subtle change in the wind direction, more of a North or

:59:37. > :59:39.north-easterly wind. That will feed clouding across northern and eastern

:59:40. > :59:44.Scotland, down the east of England and places exposed to the wind, it

:59:45. > :59:53.will feel chilly. Cooler weather on Sunday across north-west Scotland.

:59:54. > :59:54.What about next week? No changes there, it is going to stay largely

:59:55. > :00:14.dry. Very good afternoon. It is three

:00:15. > :00:17.o'clock, welcome to view was on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel. This

:00:18. > :00:21.is our special live coverage of the local elections in England, Wales

:00:22. > :00:24.and Scotland. We're making good progress getting some results

:00:25. > :00:28.through. Thousands of council has been elected overnight, this morning

:00:29. > :00:31.and this afternoon. They are responsible above all for delivering

:00:32. > :00:38.very important public services in your areas. All of this happening

:00:39. > :00:47.during a general election campaign, it's affected some of the dynamics.

:00:48. > :00:53.It will be getting reaction from the parties as to what is going on. This

:00:54. > :00:54.is where they stand, Conservatives having a very good set of results so

:00:55. > :00:55.far. This afternoon, they've taken

:00:56. > :00:57.Derbyshire council from Labour and they've also won overall control

:00:58. > :01:00.in Cambridgeshire, Lancashire, They've also made gains

:01:01. > :01:09.in Scotland and Wales as well. And the Tory candidate

:01:10. > :01:17.for the Tees Valley mayoralty, in North East England,

:01:18. > :01:19.has narrowly beaten his Labour they've lost control

:01:20. > :01:26.of Glasgow City Council, which they've held

:01:27. > :01:30.for nearly 40 years. And they've now lost over 100

:01:31. > :01:33.councillors in England and in Wales. But they have won three mayoral

:01:34. > :01:47.contests - in Liverpool, A pretty terrible night and day for

:01:48. > :01:51.Ukip, they've now lost over 100 seats, most of them in England. The

:01:52. > :01:58.party has been wiped out on consuls like Cambridge, Northamptonshire and

:01:59. > :02:04.Essex. Most of that going to the Conservatives.

:02:05. > :02:06.In Scotland - the SNP have managed to deprive

:02:07. > :02:09.Labour of an overall majority in Glasgow but we are not yet sure

:02:10. > :02:12.if they have won overall control of Scotland's biggest

:02:13. > :02:20.But elsewhere in Scotland - the SNP have lost some seats.

:02:21. > :02:25.are on Birmingham this afternoon for the West Midlands mayoral race.

:02:26. > :02:29.It's set to be a tight contest between Labour and the Tories -

:02:30. > :02:35.we'll bring you the result as soon as we have it.

:02:36. > :02:40.It has been created under the devolution strategy of the

:02:41. > :02:46.government. Big budget jobs, big spending jobs, where the new mayor

:02:47. > :02:49.will be in charge of housing and transport in some areas, too.

:02:50. > :02:53.Conservative Andy Street is a fraction ahead on the first round.

:02:54. > :02:54.We'll bring the result as soon as we have it.

:02:55. > :02:58.to see if Labour's Andy Burnham can win the regional

:02:59. > :03:18.Lots to come. It's 3pm. We started at 9am. The Scottish counting

:03:19. > :03:23.started at nine and lots of results coming through. We expect more this

:03:24. > :03:26.afternoon. We're keeping an eye out for those big mayoral contest in the

:03:27. > :03:30.West Midlands and greater Manchester. Peter Kellner is still

:03:31. > :03:38.with me, Karen Bradley from John Nicholson for the SNP, and we have

:03:39. > :03:47.Gary Gardner. You're there, aren't you? We're going to talk to you. --

:03:48. > :03:51.Barry Gardiner. Lots of people will say, why hasn't he spoken to Barry.

:03:52. > :03:54.We'll come to you in a second. We'll go to the news of Jane Hill. Then

:03:55. > :04:00.we'll be back to talk to Barry Gardiner.

:04:01. > :04:04.The Conservatives have made significant gains

:04:05. > :04:06.in the local elections - with Labour performing poorly

:04:07. > :04:11.The Tories have gained 7 councils - including most recently winning

:04:12. > :04:13.Norfolk from no overall control and taking Derbyshire County

:04:14. > :04:19.Labour have lost 6 councils - including Glasgow City Council

:04:20. > :04:29.Our Political Correspondent Eleanor Garnier has more.

:04:30. > :04:32.It's the Conservatives with the biggest cheers.

:04:33. > :04:34.They gained overall control in nine councils including Derbyshire,

:04:35. > :04:44.The party's won control of Warwickshire, Gloucs,

:04:45. > :04:51.The Conservative Party candidate is elected as mayor for the Tees Valley

:04:52. > :04:54.authority. A huge win in one of Labour's former heartlands saw the

:04:55. > :05:00.Conservative candidate elected mayor. Senior Conservatives are

:05:01. > :05:04.playing down expectations ahead of the general election.

:05:05. > :05:06.The turnout in local elections of course, is much lower

:05:07. > :05:13.So it's wrong to predict what's going to happen on June the 8th.

:05:14. > :05:15.We still have a general election to campaign

:05:16. > :05:22.The Tories are celebrating in Essex too, where this time round,

:05:23. > :05:26.In Lincolnshire, where Ukip's leader Paul Nuttall will fight

:05:27. > :05:28.for a Westminster seat next month, the party was wiped out.

:05:29. > :05:37.And with such big losses, Ukip's future is in question.

:05:38. > :05:39.I've been in Ukip now for four years.

:05:40. > :05:42.The amount of times I've heard the phrase, "Ukip's finished,

:05:43. > :05:47.If I had a pound for every one, I'd probably be quite a rich woman.

:05:48. > :05:50.It's not over until it's over and despite these pretty poor

:05:51. > :05:57.election results so far, it's not over.

:05:58. > :06:05.Steve Rotherham has won the role of mayor of Liverpool city region.

:06:06. > :06:10.Elsewhere it has been a torrid time for the party, losing more than 280

:06:11. > :06:14.seats so far. In Glasgow where Labour has been in power for more

:06:15. > :06:17.than 30 years, it has lost overall control.

:06:18. > :06:19.These are counties which are the Tory strongholds.

:06:20. > :06:22.It was going to be a tough night for Labour anyway

:06:23. > :06:24.and we are in the middle of a general election campaign,

:06:25. > :06:27.People are voting largely on local issues, not

:06:28. > :06:31.What is coming across is where people were predicting we would be

:06:32. > :06:35.wiped out in places like Wales, we've done very well.

:06:36. > :06:39.The Lib Dems admit so far, it's been a mixed set

:06:40. > :06:46.We held our ground in the face of a massive shift, an enormous

:06:47. > :06:48.shift of Ukip voters to the Conservatives and you know,

:06:49. > :06:50.given that happened, we've done well to stay

:06:51. > :06:58.The Green party says with the Tories dominating,

:06:59. > :07:02.Well I am worried about how well the Conservatives have done in terms

:07:03. > :07:05.of both the Green Party, but more broadly for the future

:07:06. > :07:10.I think that has to be a wake-up call for parties on the left

:07:11. > :07:13.and the centre-left to think about how we work together under

:07:14. > :07:18.For some, the results today have been too close to call.

:07:19. > :07:22.The Tories denied an overall majority in

:07:23. > :07:24.Northumberland after the Lib Dem candidate literally drew the longest

:07:25. > :07:37.There is still plenty of that to be done.

:07:38. > :07:41.We must leave it there because there is a significant result expected.

:07:42. > :07:59.Let's go back to Huw. Welcome back to the election Centre,

:08:00. > :08:04.we expect a result any time in Manchester. This is the result of

:08:05. > :08:08.one of the Metro Mayor contests. We were talking about the West Midlands

:08:09. > :08:13.where there is a big contest between the Conservatives and Labour.

:08:14. > :08:18.Another big contest in Manchester where Andy Burnham is one of those

:08:19. > :08:24.contesting this new post, newly invented post. We expect a

:08:25. > :08:29.declaration soon. Barry Gardiner is with me in the studio with Peter

:08:30. > :08:34.Comer, John Nicholson and Karen Bradley. The significance of these

:08:35. > :08:38.new jobs? There are power bases around the country. What we've seen,

:08:39. > :08:43.if you look to North America, you look at the influence state

:08:44. > :08:48.governors or layers of big cities have, it's a real counterbalance to

:08:49. > :08:53.the weight of the Centre. I think they are important, a new way of

:08:54. > :08:57.getting more democracy into that system, getting government more

:08:58. > :09:00.localised, getting local people to have their say that much better. I

:09:01. > :09:04.think there will also be power bases. The key thing is what

:09:05. > :09:08.resources they are going to get from the centre. What we've seen with

:09:09. > :09:13.this Conservative government is they've given greater responsibility

:09:14. > :09:16.to local government, but given less resource to match the

:09:17. > :09:19.responsibility. That is very difficult then because they say,

:09:20. > :09:23.look, it's not a matter for us in the centre, it's a matter for local

:09:24. > :09:30.government. It's the decisions taken down there. Republicans are saying,

:09:31. > :09:35.if given us the responsibility but not the money to deal with the

:09:36. > :09:38.problems you've given us. Yet this devolution package looking at the

:09:39. > :09:44.city regions has come with quite a big budget attached. These mayoral

:09:45. > :09:48.jobs were conditions attached to that devolved budget in many ways.

:09:49. > :09:52.They will have quite a lot of money to look after, in some cases more

:09:53. > :09:56.than ?1 billion, when you look at the West Midlands and greater

:09:57. > :10:01.Manchester. There are vague resources. The extent to which they

:10:02. > :10:04.can cooperate with local government, let's say Andy Burnham the Labour

:10:05. > :10:06.candidate wins in greater Manchester, what are the prospects

:10:07. > :10:14.for cooperating with centre government? All politicians have to

:10:15. > :10:20.work in the national interest, work in the interest of the people they

:10:21. > :10:25.serve. We may not like the result of the electorate often delivers for

:10:26. > :10:32.us, but nonetheless, it is our job to make the system work for the

:10:33. > :10:37.people who elected us. That is what our mayor, as Andy I expect will be,

:10:38. > :10:42.is elected as mayor of Manchester. I'm sure that's precisely what he'll

:10:43. > :10:45.do. He's a very experienced politician, of course, he's been

:10:46. > :10:50.Shadow Secretary of State, he's been in the cabinets before. Is somebody

:10:51. > :10:56.who knows the workings of Westminster, and I think we'll do a

:10:57. > :10:59.superb job for his city and region. I'm being told there is a

:11:00. > :11:02.declaration imminent in Manchester, so we'll stay with it. I'll bring in

:11:03. > :11:09.Karen Bradley if I may. This devolution strategy was very much

:11:10. > :11:13.something George Osborne for example was in charge of, something he

:11:14. > :11:18.pushed strongly. Is there the same commitment under Theresa May to this

:11:19. > :11:21.strategy of devolving to the big city regions? Theresa May has been

:11:22. > :11:25.clear she wants a country that works for everyone, not just the

:11:26. > :11:30.privileged few, that means the whole country. We've seen the success the

:11:31. > :11:34.Mayor of London has been. We need to counterbalance it with the regions

:11:35. > :11:40.and cities, I represent a seat in North Savage, I want to see strong

:11:41. > :11:44.government in the region, so we can get the kind of infrastructure and

:11:45. > :11:49.facilities we need. And we have the economic growth needed across the

:11:50. > :11:52.country. Discussing resources and budgets, when I ask you about

:11:53. > :11:59.commitment, really it is a resource question. This Theresa May likely,

:12:00. > :12:05.Philip Hammond in future, if re-elected, are they likely to be as

:12:06. > :12:10.committed in terms of the resources to these jobs? Without resources

:12:11. > :12:14.it's difficult to see how these Metro mayors can do the job quickly.

:12:15. > :12:19.There has been a commitment to making sure the funding goes across

:12:20. > :12:23.the whole country. You need a strong economy to do that. The only way you

:12:24. > :12:28.will have a strong economy is if you have strong and stable leadership.

:12:29. > :12:32.If I can bring Peter Kellner in, we have these images of Manchester, the

:12:33. > :12:37.expected result in the Metro Mayor contest in Manchester and greater

:12:38. > :12:44.Manchester, where it's due in the next few minutes. There are people

:12:45. > :12:51.congregating, ready to come forward to the stage. Peter Kellner, A

:12:52. > :12:54.thought about the significance of the restructuring. This is a very

:12:55. > :13:00.big departure in terms of the power base in some of these big regions.

:13:01. > :13:07.It is, yet it has to be said, the voters don't seem to be quite as

:13:08. > :13:13.excited as the politicians, the highest turnout in the mayoral

:13:14. > :13:18.contest is 34%, they've been down as low as 22. I think it'll take time,

:13:19. > :13:24.perhaps five or ten years, when mayors become personalities, things

:13:25. > :13:27.happen, they get rivals that get momentum, maybe turnouts will go up.

:13:28. > :13:32.But at the moment I have to say something like three out of four

:13:33. > :13:38.voters have stayed at home rather than take part. I'm going to gamble

:13:39. > :13:42.a little because I'm thinking, do I have a couple of minutes before the

:13:43. > :13:48.greater Manchester result is true? I'm going to gamble, and going to

:13:49. > :13:51.say, hold these pictures. If you're listening in Manchester, we don't

:13:52. > :13:55.want a declaration in the next couple of minutes, we want you to

:13:56. > :13:59.stay for a second because I have results from Scotland. Let's have a

:14:00. > :14:05.look at Fife, it's come through, a hung council. 29 to the SNP, 24 to

:14:06. > :14:12.Labour, 15 to the Tories, seven to the Lib Dems. What has changed since

:14:13. > :14:19.2012? The SNP have made four games, Labour downturn, the Tories 12

:14:20. > :14:23.games. It ties in with the conversations we were having earlier

:14:24. > :14:27.about the patterns of support, where conservatives are gaining in some

:14:28. > :14:30.parts of Scotland, Lib Dems have lost three, the independents have

:14:31. > :14:34.lost three as well. If we look at the Scottish Borders, this is one of

:14:35. > :14:46.the areas the Conservatives would be hoping to do well. It's a hung

:14:47. > :14:50.council, shot by three of overall control. Conservatives putting on

:14:51. > :14:55.five, no change for the SNP. The Lib Dems losing ground in the Scottish

:14:56. > :15:03.Borders. That is the hung council in the Scottish Borders. A quick

:15:04. > :15:08.comment? One of the quiet stories, quietly disastrous stories, of the

:15:09. > :15:10.day is how the Lib Dems are performing across Scotland. I know

:15:11. > :15:16.they are doing quite well south of the border, especially in certain

:15:17. > :15:21.areas that voted against Brexit. But in Scotland where I think they are

:15:22. > :15:24.on 7% in the national opinion polls they have encountered the figures,

:15:25. > :15:30.every time I see one of your bar graphs seem to have been down a few

:15:31. > :15:33.seats, held on, certainly not doing well. The idea of the Liberal

:15:34. > :15:39.Democrat fight back in Scotland doesn't seem to be catching fire. A

:15:40. > :15:42.quick recap of the figures in Scotland, the SNP down 17 at the

:15:43. > :15:50.moment but still by far the biggest number of seats. The Conservatives

:15:51. > :15:56.are firmly established in second place. One of the problems for the

:15:57. > :16:01.Lib Dems is its only two years after the last election to memories of the

:16:02. > :16:05.coalition and the bedroom tax, putting up VAT 20%, all the things

:16:06. > :16:10.we remember about the Lib Dems are still fresh in people's memories.

:16:11. > :16:14.Plus we've got Tim Farron coming up with this disastrous line that he's

:16:15. > :16:18.a bit of a Eurosceptic. It reinforces the impression they can't

:16:19. > :16:24.be trusted. I'm sure we'll have a Lib Dem in the studio later. Lib

:16:25. > :16:28.Dems are down in England, Wales and Scotland. Scotland very marginal,

:16:29. > :16:32.they've got 44 councillors, downfall. It may move around a bit.

:16:33. > :16:35.The Lib Dems must be pretty disappointed. They talked up the

:16:36. > :16:39.prospect in the south-west of England which I never understood,

:16:40. > :16:44.because since the south-west of England voted heavily for Brexit,

:16:45. > :16:51.why would people replace a Brexit Tory with an anti-Brexit Lib Dem?

:16:52. > :16:55.One county that will have done well is Oxfordshire, where they had been

:16:56. > :17:01.gaining and it was a Remain county. We haven't had voting... In London

:17:02. > :17:05.where Vince Cable is standing in Twickenham, there is hardly a Ukip

:17:06. > :17:09.vote to squeeze, so Conservatives might be quite vulnerable in some

:17:10. > :17:12.parts of England, where we didn't have votes yesterday. Yesterday's

:17:13. > :17:20.English elections were preponderantly in areas that voted

:17:21. > :17:25.Leave. Twit that is the latest tally in Scotland. We've had some social

:17:26. > :17:28.media messaging from Jeremy Corbyn. Barry will be pleased to see this.

:17:29. > :17:36.Jeremy Corbyn says congratulations to Welsh Labour a specifically Welsh

:17:37. > :17:38.from Jeremy Corbyn. For defying the pundits, he says, winning outright

:17:39. > :17:45.in Cardiff and Swansea and Newport...

:17:46. > :17:52.That is the latest message from Jeremy Corbyn. I suppose there will

:17:53. > :17:57.be people in Welsh politics who will come back to you on that and say,

:17:58. > :18:00.bragging about hanging on to some of these areas which should and always

:18:01. > :18:06.have been Labour is not a big thing to brag about. I don't think it's

:18:07. > :18:09.bragging, I think what he is doing is congratulating the candidates

:18:10. > :18:13.have worked very hard. You will know some of those areas were very, very

:18:14. > :18:19.heavily targeted by the Conservatives. The overall picture

:18:20. > :18:24.in Wales is one we can take heart from, given that it was a key target

:18:25. > :18:28.area. The more interesting picture across the whole of the United

:18:29. > :18:31.Kingdom is the way in which these local elections are really the

:18:32. > :18:37.elections of two referenda. What we've seen both in terms of the

:18:38. > :18:43.referendum in Scotland, the hangover from that, the division in Scotland

:18:44. > :18:45.between the parties is now very much between the Nationalists and

:18:46. > :18:50.unionists. What the Tories have tried to do, clearly with some

:18:51. > :18:55.success, is to paint themselves as the only Unionist option against the

:18:56. > :19:04.Nationalists. And within the rest of the country, of course, it's the

:19:05. > :19:08.Leave and Remain axis working. Interesting, as John was noting, the

:19:09. > :19:14.Liberals haven't picked up the 48%, they are becoming the party of the

:19:15. > :19:17.11 or 12%. It's a very difficult picture for Labour, of course, to

:19:18. > :19:24.actually address this question, because so many of our

:19:25. > :19:27.constituencies, where constituencies were preponderantly people voting to

:19:28. > :19:30.leave, though our party and those members who vote Labour

:19:31. > :19:35.preponderantly those who voted to remain. I think what you're seeing

:19:36. > :19:38.is the Labour Party trying to put a message across which I believe is

:19:39. > :19:45.the right one, which says we mustn't go for this hard deregulated Brexit

:19:46. > :19:49.off the coast of Europe. And equally we have to respect the referendum

:19:50. > :19:53.result by saying we will leave the EU. It's a difficult message, but

:19:54. > :19:58.it's the message we have because we believe it's the weight we unite

:19:59. > :20:02.both the 48 and 52%. What is happening in this election is, we're

:20:03. > :20:06.seeing both those referendums, where the polarisation has taken place

:20:07. > :20:10.between unionists and nationalists, between believers and Remainers, it

:20:11. > :20:16.is then worked to massage the figures in the way we are seeing.

:20:17. > :20:20.Let's have a look at Manchester. Do we have guidance on what is going on

:20:21. > :20:24.in Manchester? OK, they keep telling us it's another few minutes. I don't

:20:25. > :20:31.want to stay on that too long. Let's go to Glasgow. I think Anita is in

:20:32. > :20:40.Glasgow. She has more on the results and what has been going on. Anita?

:20:41. > :20:46.Yes, 55 out of 85 seats declared here in Glasgow, let me give you a

:20:47. > :20:51.tally. The SNP have 24 of those seats, Labour 19, Conservatives six,

:20:52. > :20:54.the Scottish Green party six. Let's analyse what we have so far with our

:20:55. > :21:02.Scotland correspondent Stephen Godden. First of all, can the SNP,

:21:03. > :21:08.based on these figures, still win overall control, have overall

:21:09. > :21:12.majority of Glasgow City Council? Put simply, it's theoretically

:21:13. > :21:15.possible but unlikely, it's fair to say that. This is the fun time of

:21:16. > :21:21.the election count where we have to do the arithmetic. 43 is the magic

:21:22. > :21:27.number in Glasgow. We need 43 seats to have overall majority. The SNP

:21:28. > :21:32.have 23 candidates still in the election at the moment. They would

:21:33. > :21:39.need to return 19 of those. Still a lot of work to do. It's typed. It

:21:40. > :21:44.is. We still have that symbolic moment from this morning. It wasn't

:21:45. > :21:48.unexpected. Labour losing their majority, losing control of the City

:21:49. > :21:52.Council, hugely symbolic for what was traditional heartland for them.

:21:53. > :21:56.The Scottish Conservatives, talking to one MSP earlier, she said they

:21:57. > :22:01.hoped they would need more than a table for four in the Glasgow City

:22:02. > :22:06.Council canteen. They have six so far with more games to come

:22:07. > :22:10.possibly. It's striking where they have made those games. Shettleston,

:22:11. > :22:13.one of the most deprived areas in Scotland, you wouldn't expect

:22:14. > :22:18.Conservatives to make gains in an area like Shettleston. It fits into

:22:19. > :22:22.the national picture, Tories making gains in places they wouldn't

:22:23. > :22:26.expect. Gains in Dundee have made the difference between the SNP

:22:27. > :22:31.losing overall control of their majority of Dundee City Council. The

:22:32. > :22:35.reason they put that down to is they campaigned heavily on this note to

:22:36. > :22:45.second independence referendum. This was about to deliver is council

:22:46. > :22:50.services. Thank you very much. You can pick your headline here in

:22:51. > :22:53.Glasgow. There are lots of them. Let's discuss all these developments

:22:54. > :22:59.with three journalists. We have Richard Walker, consulting editor

:23:00. > :23:03.and co-founder of the pro-independence, the National.

:23:04. > :23:06.Kevin McKenna, columnist for the Herald and Observer and Paul

:23:07. > :23:15.Sinclair, former adviser to Gordon Brown. Hamza Yusuf of the SNP told

:23:16. > :23:20.me it was a huge disappointment for the party not to win overall control

:23:21. > :23:25.and have overall majority in Glasgow at the last local elections. They

:23:26. > :23:30.may end up the biggest party this time but still not have overall

:23:31. > :23:34.control. It's bound to be another disappointment isn't it? We have to

:23:35. > :23:38.keep things in perspective. It's disappointing we haven't got enough

:23:39. > :23:41.members to form a majority in Glasgow, to form an administration,

:23:42. > :23:48.but we'll be able to form one with the Green party, I'm sure. It is a

:23:49. > :23:50.cause for celebration. It's still true Glasgow has rejected the Labour

:23:51. > :23:56.Party. The story of this election is the demolition of the Labour Party

:23:57. > :24:03.in Scotland, transfer of support to the Conservatives. The SNP would

:24:04. > :24:08.want to frame any gains as a vote for another independence referendum.

:24:09. > :24:13.If it doesn't get the majority here, it would suffer loss of control in

:24:14. > :24:19.other Scottish councils. Does that damage that agenda? They would say

:24:20. > :24:25.not. If, as expected, they win a majority of seats, they are the

:24:26. > :24:29.biggest party through Scotland. If, as they are expected to do, they win

:24:30. > :24:36.a majority of seats in the general election on June eight, that will be

:24:37. > :24:42.four national elections either side of the border, which the SNP have

:24:43. > :24:49.won overwhelmingly. And in each of them they carried the message of

:24:50. > :24:52.saying yes to a second referendum. If there had been material and

:24:53. > :24:57.significant changes in the make-up of the UK, which of course we've

:24:58. > :25:05.seen by Theresa May's approach to a hard Brexit. How significant are the

:25:06. > :25:10.losses for Labour year, which has held overall control of this council

:25:11. > :25:13.for 40 years. You've got to look at the fact it was remarkable, they are

:25:14. > :25:20.meant to get an overall majority in 2012. What's important, everything

:25:21. > :25:24.in Scotland is seen through the constitutional prison. Let's look at

:25:25. > :25:30.the trajectory of the vote. This city voted for independence in 2014.

:25:31. > :25:35.55% of people voted SNP in 2015, 53 last year in the Scottish elections,

:25:36. > :25:40.now it looks like the SNP won't get above 45%. They may be winning, but

:25:41. > :25:47.in a downward trajectory. Somebody in the Labour Party I know what it

:25:48. > :25:52.feels like and it doesn't end well. It's very difficult for them, once

:25:53. > :25:55.you start losing momentum it's very difficult to reverse it. I think if

:25:56. > :26:00.the vote, particularly in the general election, goes below 45% of

:26:01. > :26:04.the SNP, if there are more conservative games, and it looks

:26:05. > :26:09.like there will be, at the very hard for Nicola Sturgeon to justify

:26:10. > :26:12.another referendum. I asked if these could be the least local local

:26:13. > :26:18.elections we've had on that constitutional question of whether

:26:19. > :26:25.voters were pro independence or prounion. How important has it been

:26:26. > :26:29.in the Conservative 's success in Glasgow? That's a key question, I

:26:30. > :26:34.was speaking to a senior Labour candidate a few minutes ago who told

:26:35. > :26:39.me she felt heart sorry for the local candidates in these elections

:26:40. > :26:41.of all parties because until Theresa May called the snap election they

:26:42. > :26:50.were campaigning on local issues and services. The referendum dominated

:26:51. > :26:55.everything. It's certainly dominating more now. These are small

:26:56. > :26:57.communities who have a deep sense of identification with their

:26:58. > :27:01.candidates, then they suddenly had to switch and know they would be

:27:02. > :27:07.overwhelmed by the European and Scottish constitution. In a line,

:27:08. > :27:14.are the result is going to have an impact on the general election? This

:27:15. > :27:18.isn't a referendum on independence or a general election. We can see

:27:19. > :27:23.what we might expect in the general election.

:27:24. > :27:28.Keep very much and thanks to your guests. There were several

:27:29. > :27:33.interesting things there, not least this whole issue of campaigning.

:27:34. > :27:37.Indeed the point you raised earlier about the reasons for the success of

:27:38. > :27:42.the Conservative campaign in Scotland, and to what extent with

:27:43. > :27:46.Davidson has managed to nail attention on the prospect of a

:27:47. > :27:50.second independence referendum. On a constitutional issue early on you

:27:51. > :27:55.were clearly irritated by the leaflet you were brandishing. I just

:27:56. > :28:01.made the serious point it may have worked. Irritating is maybe too

:28:02. > :28:04.strong, it is what it is, I think it is a bit disingenuous to run a local

:28:05. > :28:09.government campaign entirely about the constitution while saying how

:28:10. > :28:14.outraged you are about other people talking about the constitution. With

:28:15. > :28:17.couldn't answer that which is why she started talking about Tory

:28:18. > :28:22.election spending and said it was charged to a different budget. That

:28:23. > :28:25.wasn't the point, the point was it didn't mention beans, roads or

:28:26. > :28:31.education. It has been a theme of the Tory election campaign. Is it

:28:32. > :28:37.not unavoidable, the sense this has been such a massive issue, not just

:28:38. > :28:41.in the referendum 2014, but ever since, since the call came for a

:28:42. > :28:47.second referendum and Parliamentary debate, that such high profile it

:28:48. > :28:50.would be difficult to avoid. Bayfront local campaigning and

:28:51. > :28:55.national campaigning, your right to say it was Nicola Sturgeon who

:28:56. > :28:59.raised the prospect of a second referendum, not with Davidson. I

:29:00. > :29:04.think it's absolutely right with Davidson should raise that point and

:29:05. > :29:08.make that point to voters. Local candidates have been fighting on

:29:09. > :29:13.local issues, as they have up and down the whole country across

:29:14. > :29:18.England Scotland and Wales. I want better bins, and I care about

:29:19. > :29:21.independence. It's absolutely intellectual evacuates as a campaign

:29:22. > :29:28.it might be successful, but it hardly reaches the sunlit uplands of

:29:29. > :29:30.political debate, does it? They are not mutually

:29:31. > :29:38.In my own house I've had one leaflet from the Tories in the course of the

:29:39. > :29:41.local government election campaign, and it was exclusively about

:29:42. > :29:45.independence, it did not mention local services.

:29:46. > :29:53.Barry, given the challenge Labour is having and has had in Scotland, on

:29:54. > :29:58.this debate which is meant to be about local issues, to what extent

:29:59. > :30:01.has the massive shadow of the constitutional question really make

:30:02. > :30:06.that campaign for you more challenging? It clearly has. I

:30:07. > :30:13.regard this as an absolute clarion call to people in the Labour Party,

:30:14. > :30:18.that if they want a fairer society, if I want to see better education

:30:19. > :30:23.than the SNP have been able to provide and to end the austerity,

:30:24. > :30:28.both of the Conservatives and indeed of the SNP, but wider in this

:30:29. > :30:32.country. If you look at the way in which services have been cut, if you

:30:33. > :30:38.look at the way in which social care has lost ?4.6 billion, you cannot

:30:39. > :30:42.sit there as a member of the Labour Party and think, I think the right

:30:43. > :30:49.things, I believe in the right policies, you have got to get out in

:30:50. > :30:53.the next four weeks on the doorsteps and campaign for them. It is the

:30:54. > :30:57.only way we will be able to deliver the fairer more equal society we

:30:58. > :31:01.want. You look at what happened today with the government being

:31:02. > :31:05.forced by the High Court to publish its air pollution strategy. We see

:31:06. > :31:10.exactly why we need a government that is going to be able to change

:31:11. > :31:16.this and redress the balance in favour of working people. Let's go

:31:17. > :31:20.straight to Manchester. Andy Burnham and the candidates for the Metro

:31:21. > :31:25.Mayor. We are expecting the declaration to come any minute. All

:31:26. > :31:29.the candidates lined up, an important post, one of six that have

:31:30. > :31:33.been created and we will be looking to the one in the West Midlands

:31:34. > :31:36.where there is a close contest between the Conservatives and the

:31:37. > :31:47.Labour Party. But Andy Burnham is smiling. Yes, Labour had a 20 point

:31:48. > :31:51.lead in Manchester. I Margaret Asquith, returning officer appointed

:31:52. > :31:56.for the district of Bolton at the Greater Manchester combined

:31:57. > :32:02.authority mayoral election, held on the 4th of May 2017, hereby certify

:32:03. > :32:11.and declare that the total number of verified ballot papers was 58,165.

:32:12. > :32:17.The total number of first preference votes given the East candidates was

:32:18. > :32:27.Sean Anstey, the Conservative Party candidate, 16000 and 68. Mohamed

:32:28. > :32:37.Salah 's Lynn, independent, 865. Jane Elizabeth Brophy, Liberal

:32:38. > :32:40.Democrats, 2248. Andy Burnham, labour and co-operative party,

:32:41. > :32:51.34,000... CHEERING and APPLAUSE

:32:52. > :33:08.Marcus Jonathan Farmer, independent, 242. Stephen Morris, English

:33:09. > :33:17.Democrats is putting England first, 1158. The UK Independence Party

:33:18. > :33:23.1378. Will Patterson, the Green party, 868. The total number of

:33:24. > :33:33.first preference votes, 57,477 and the total number of ballot papers

:33:34. > :33:37.rejected but 688. So a declaration. As I understand it, those are the

:33:38. > :33:44.figures for Bolton. Now some of the other figure 's. Returning officer

:33:45. > :33:48.appointed for the district of Berhe at the Greater Manchester combined

:33:49. > :33:55.authority 's mayoral election held on the 4th of May 2017, heh by

:33:56. > :34:02.certify and declare that the total numbers of verified ballot papers

:34:03. > :34:10.was, 45,000 387. The total numbers of first... We are getting the

:34:11. > :34:15.results in four Bury, we have had Bolton. There are ten districts in

:34:16. > :34:20.Greater Manchester. We will be back for the one right at the end where

:34:21. > :34:28.they add them all up and tell us who has won. At the moment, Andy Burnham

:34:29. > :34:33.is looking cheerful. It looks to me as if he has probably improved

:34:34. > :34:38.Labour's share around Manchester from two years ago. We will see when

:34:39. > :34:43.the other figures are in, but this is a strong performance. Whereas, in

:34:44. > :34:49.the West Midlands, where it is very tight, it looks as if this is a less

:34:50. > :34:54.good performance by Labour for the general election. What would account

:34:55. > :35:00.for that, is this a matter of Andy Burnham being a prominent candidate,

:35:01. > :35:09.what else would lend itself to that narrative. He is very popular. Both

:35:10. > :35:15.as a Cabinet minister, attractive personality. And also, around the

:35:16. > :35:21.Hillsborough tragedy, he didn't do it as a partisan politician. He came

:35:22. > :35:29.out as a politician in a really impressive light. That is right. He

:35:30. > :35:33.embedded himself into the spirit of the north-west, right in the heart

:35:34. > :35:38.of the community in that way. His work on that public enquiry was

:35:39. > :35:42.quite superlative. But this was an area in the north-west where the

:35:43. > :35:48.Tories have been expecting to make gains. What this shows is that for

:35:49. > :35:52.all the resources they have put into this, for all the expectation that

:35:53. > :35:57.they've had to make gains in this part of the country and for all the

:35:58. > :36:00.talk they had about northern Powerhouse, that is not going

:36:01. > :36:06.according to plan for them. It doesn't mean that whilst I am

:36:07. > :36:11.delighted for Andy Burnham, I look at these results overall in England.

:36:12. > :36:14.Here we are only defending what are basically the rural constituencies

:36:15. > :36:20.and we only had three councils in the whole of England to defend. But

:36:21. > :36:25.nonetheless, the clear message is that we have gone down in our share

:36:26. > :36:31.of the councils and the seats we have been able to hold onto. , Andy

:36:32. > :36:35.Berman was an opponent of Jeremy Corbyn the first time he stood for

:36:36. > :36:40.the party leadership. He is known not to be a CORBA nights, known as a

:36:41. > :36:44.Labour moderate. He seems to have outperformed labour in most of the

:36:45. > :36:47.rest of England, do you think there is a connection between his very

:36:48. > :36:56.good personal performance and the fact he is a standout and non-Corbin

:36:57. > :37:01.politician? Let me say, Andy Burnham served in Jeremy's Shadow Cabinet.

:37:02. > :37:05.He came back in after the initial resignations, as all others did and

:37:06. > :37:09.decided we would get on with the job of opposing the government because

:37:10. > :37:14.it is the government implementing the cuts to local government, cuts

:37:15. > :37:22.to social care services, cuts to funding in schools... So you don't

:37:23. > :37:30.think there is any connection... He is an immensely popular politician,

:37:31. > :37:34.but what you have to say is this is a concentrated, urban area. The rest

:37:35. > :37:40.of the results we're looking at in these local elections are much more

:37:41. > :37:45.rural constituencies. I don't think there is a straight read across, now

:37:46. > :37:49.don't. That means Labour should be doing better in the West Midlands,

:37:50. > :37:57.rather than it being a close contest with Sean Simon losing. If what you

:37:58. > :38:03.say is right about concentrated urban areas... It goes across the

:38:04. > :38:09.gain your own thesis because Sean Simon was not somebody associated

:38:10. > :38:15.with Jeremy Corbyn. He was somebody with very strong local connections,

:38:16. > :38:18.a well loved local MP. He had 20,000 more votes in Birmingham van Andy

:38:19. > :38:24.Street did where Sean had served as an MP. He is somebody, like Andy,

:38:25. > :38:28.who had the local connection. I don't think there is the read across

:38:29. > :38:33.you want to make about personalities. I deprecate in way

:38:34. > :38:38.our whole political culture is becoming increasingly presidential.

:38:39. > :38:42.I don't want to be America. I want to be be United Kingdom where we

:38:43. > :38:47.talk about policies, we understand the policies of government stands

:38:48. > :38:52.on, that it has in its manifesto, things that matter. Whether it is

:38:53. > :38:55.local government or housing, if you look at Labour councils, labour

:38:56. > :39:01.councils builds on average, 1000 more houses each year than their

:39:02. > :39:05.Conservative counterparts. These are the figures that matter to

:39:06. > :39:09.people'slives. These are the ways in which young people can get on the

:39:10. > :39:14.housing ladder, who are finding themselves trapped in 0-hours

:39:15. > :39:19.contracts, cannot even get a deposit for a mortgage, not even the deposit

:39:20. > :39:22.for rent sometimes. This is the difference Labour councils can make

:39:23. > :39:29.and it is the difference a Labour government can make. Let's go back

:39:30. > :39:33.and listen to what is going on in Manchester. I think they are making

:39:34. > :39:44.steady progress through some of these ten declarations before we get

:39:45. > :39:52.to the end. Independent, 490. Jane Elizabeth Brophy, Liberal Democrats,

:39:53. > :40:00.2187. Andy Burnham, 24,000... CHEERING and APPLAUSE

:40:01. > :40:05.. Going Andy Burnham's way. I think we have reached Oldham or Rochdale

:40:06. > :40:11.in the Greater Manchester declaration, so not many to go.

:40:12. > :40:15.Let's stay on that for a second, because I am wondering if we can

:40:16. > :40:19.bring in Karen quickly just to answer the point about this being a

:40:20. > :40:24.platform for a Labour politician might Andy Burnham to show what

:40:25. > :40:28.Labour might do if it were in power. And in that sense, it is creating a

:40:29. > :40:31.power base for one of your opponents, which you might think

:40:32. > :40:39.down the cause, might be less than helpful? We have been clear we want

:40:40. > :40:44.to see strong devolution and to see strong, local and regional

:40:45. > :40:46.government. I think what this election the show, throughout the

:40:47. > :40:51.course of the afternoon there has been an assumption on the 8th of

:40:52. > :40:55.June this will be a walk in the park for the Conservatives. Clearly,

:40:56. > :40:59.there are votes for Labour and there are people who will vote for Labour

:41:00. > :41:03.and they will vote for parties other than the Conservatives. It comes

:41:04. > :41:06.back to the clear choice people will have on the 8th of June as to

:41:07. > :41:13.whether they want the strong and stable leadership of Theresa May or

:41:14. > :41:16.they want coalition chaos. John has said he would not go into coalition

:41:17. > :41:24.with the Conservatives, so he obviously is prepared to go into

:41:25. > :41:35.coalition with Jeremy Corbyn propping him up. You are right, we

:41:36. > :41:38.have debated the rape clause, which is absurd, we are seeing what the

:41:39. > :41:44.Tories are doing with disability cuts. So on a range of issues, both

:41:45. > :41:49.you and I get on great, the policy is your government is putting

:41:50. > :41:53.through our obnoxious in many areas. Absolutely, we would not help

:41:54. > :42:00.implement them with the Tories. The point is, your Prime Minister called

:42:01. > :42:04.this election, not for the national interest, but purely party political

:42:05. > :42:09.advantage. And we all know it. She thought she had a window in the

:42:10. > :42:13.polls, she had previously known very well when Article 50 was going to be

:42:14. > :42:18.triggered and when the negotiations would start and when they will

:42:19. > :42:23.finish. At that point she said, she would not call a general election

:42:24. > :42:30.until 2020. Now, she has decided to do it at this window because she

:42:31. > :42:33.knows the negotiations are not going to go in the way the British people

:42:34. > :42:37.think is well. Afterwards she doesn't want to be boxed into a

:42:38. > :42:41.general election. That is why she wanted an overwhelming majority. She

:42:42. > :42:44.may find that actually, if you look at the figures, the figures that

:42:45. > :42:50.have been put up by the national share of the vote, it is coming in

:42:51. > :42:55.at 38% for the Conservatives. It is coming in at 27% for Labour and

:42:56. > :43:00.about 18% for the Liberal Democrats. That is why you should be very

:43:01. > :43:05.worried. Because actually, the Liberal Democrats have nine MPs in

:43:06. > :43:09.Parliament, we have 229 and if we have that surge, you will have

:43:10. > :43:13.called a general election for your own benefit and it will not work.

:43:14. > :43:21.She called the election at the only time an election can be held between

:43:22. > :43:25.now and the end of the negotiations of Article 50. This is the only

:43:26. > :43:30.window there is. She said she would not do it. She repeatedly said she

:43:31. > :43:34.would not do that. I don't talk over you. She said she had the mandate

:43:35. > :43:40.that is needed to get the best result for Britain and the right

:43:41. > :43:46.deal with Europe. Seven times she said she wouldn't. She has decided

:43:47. > :43:51.in the national interest to do that. That is not true. Nothing is taken

:43:52. > :43:53.for granted, no politician goes into a general election on the assumption

:43:54. > :44:11.the polls will be working for them, you do it because it is in the

:44:12. > :44:14.national interest and it is the right thing to do. This narrative

:44:15. > :44:17.would work if you had been in lots of troubles in the Commons over

:44:18. > :44:20.Brexit. Can I Askew how many votes on Brexit... We know the answer to

:44:21. > :44:25.that. It is clear, and the House of Lords, they will hamper anything. It

:44:26. > :44:30.is the job of politicians in a democracy to hold the government to

:44:31. > :44:34.account. It is chilling to hear the Prime Minister angrily denouncing

:44:35. > :44:39.the role of the opposition. You haven't lost one vote in the House

:44:40. > :44:41.of Commons over Brexit. Your Prime Minister promised on seven separate

:44:42. > :44:45.occasions that she would not hold an election. She has clearly lost faith

:44:46. > :44:51.with the British public over what she has done. You have gone to the

:44:52. > :44:55.electorate because you know you can whip Labour now and when Brexit

:44:56. > :45:01.starts to go badly wrong in about 18 months' time, there will be no

:45:02. > :45:05.opposition because there will be ranks of Conservative MPs, possibly

:45:06. > :45:10.as much as 100 all tripping through the lobbies. It is bad for

:45:11. > :45:14.democracy. I take issue that any others have lost faith with the

:45:15. > :45:19.British public. We are implementing what the British public asked her to

:45:20. > :45:29.do. I am talking about calling the election. I am going to pause it

:45:30. > :45:33.there because we are representing the Conservatives, the SNP and

:45:34. > :45:38.Labour of course, we want to get the Liberal Democrats perspective. We

:45:39. > :45:42.were talking earlier on to Tom and Jenny, but Tim Farron, the party

:45:43. > :45:50.leader is in Saint all buns today. This is what has been going on

:45:51. > :45:55.there. You guys deserve the applause. Well done.

:45:56. > :46:01.Congratulations. Great news, all of you. Thank you so much all of you

:46:02. > :46:05.for being here. I am not here by accident, St Albans is a wonderful

:46:06. > :46:12.place to visit, but particularly on the day the Liberal Democrats top

:46:13. > :46:15.the poll here in the constituency. It bodes incredibly well for Daisy

:46:16. > :46:19.in five weeks but she could be our new member of Parliament. This is

:46:20. > :46:26.one of many constituencies around the country where the Liberal

:46:27. > :46:29.Democrats top the polls, double our seats, as things would appear at the

:46:30. > :46:34.moment on the general election on the 8th of June. Increasing our vote

:46:35. > :46:38.share by 7%, are best in any election nationally for seven years.

:46:39. > :46:42.Double the increased the Tories have experienced in terms of a shower

:46:43. > :46:46.around the country with the Labour Party utterly imploding and

:46:47. > :46:49.devastated like no other opposition party in recent memory. But there is

:46:50. > :46:53.another lesson to learn from last night about as apart from the

:46:54. > :47:00.Liberal Democrats' revival and success around the country, we still

:47:01. > :47:03.see Britain headed for a Conservative landslide. Now, imagine

:47:04. > :47:08.this, imagine the reason may on the 9th of June with a majority larger

:47:09. > :47:12.than Margaret that should's. Imagine what that means for your family,

:47:13. > :47:18.what it means for you, what it means for your job security, what it means

:47:19. > :47:21.for your hospital, schools with a colossal Conservative majority like

:47:22. > :47:25.that. I don't need to imagine it, I grew up in a community under a

:47:26. > :47:29.government like that. I grew up in a community in the 1980s with a

:47:30. > :47:33.government with that kind of majority taking us for granted. I

:47:34. > :47:40.grew up in a community where half of my mates' parents and me included,

:47:41. > :47:43.spent time out of work because we had a government that at Tate

:47:44. > :47:47.Britain for granted. They can take you for granted, your family for

:47:48. > :47:52.granted. I want to leave the country that says that is not acceptable. I

:47:53. > :47:55.am determined over the next five weeks, we will put an end to that

:47:56. > :47:59.Coronation Theresa May now expects. If you wanted prevent the

:48:00. > :48:04.Conservatives taking you, your family, your schools and hospital

:48:05. > :48:08.for granted, it is only a liberal Democrat who will stand up for you.

:48:09. > :48:12.I want my children to grow up in a country where people are decent to

:48:13. > :48:16.one another and can expect the state to be decent to them. I am

:48:17. > :48:21.determined I will leave that kind of country here in St Albans and in

:48:22. > :48:25.campus places around the country, we have shown it is only the Liberal

:48:26. > :48:30.Democrats who can offer you the hope that Britain will not be led by a

:48:31. > :48:36.1-party state on the 9th of June. Do not let Theresa May take you for

:48:37. > :48:42.granted. Imagine a better Britain. Thank you. Tim Farron in St Albans.

:48:43. > :48:47.He chose St Albans because the one for wards in the city of St Albans

:48:48. > :48:57.and the Liberal Democrats won all four of them. It was 70% Remain.

:48:58. > :49:02.Most of the contests yesterday where in leave England rather than remain

:49:03. > :49:11.England. There are a handful of liberal target seat where people

:49:12. > :49:15.voted remain. These results over the country will be disappointing for

:49:16. > :49:19.the Liberal Democrats. But that result in St Albans gives them hope

:49:20. > :49:24.that it may be half a dozen target seats where there went election just

:49:25. > :49:30.sedate where there was a big Remain vote last year and maybe the Liberal

:49:31. > :49:35.Democrats are back in play. Can I pick up on what Tim Farron was

:49:36. > :49:41.saying? I think that is right, what we may see a few extra liberal seats

:49:42. > :49:47.in those Remain areas because they appealed directly only to the 48%

:49:48. > :49:50.Remain. They ignored the second part of their title, Democrat in ignoring

:49:51. > :49:56.the referendum, but that is another matter. We are just watching Nicola

:49:57. > :50:01.Sturgeon arriving at SNP headquarters. Those are the images.

:50:02. > :50:07.Tim Farron was pointing out we don't want to wake up on June nine in a

:50:08. > :50:11.1-party state. Even if he gets five or six and increases his share of

:50:12. > :50:18.members in the House of Commons by 50, 60%, he will have 14, 15

:50:19. > :50:22.members. We have 229 in the Labour Party. The only party in the House

:50:23. > :50:25.of Commons who will be able to stop what Tim Farron was talking about

:50:26. > :50:29.which is an monolithic government trampling over people in this

:50:30. > :50:33.country, is the Labour Party and that is why we need to get out on

:50:34. > :50:38.the doorstep and get the message across. This is Nicola Sturgeon, the

:50:39. > :50:42.First Minister, congratulating her campaigners. We will come back to

:50:43. > :50:46.talk about the results in Scotland, including Edinburgh in a moment.

:50:47. > :50:51.Let's go to Manchester because they are now in the final stages of this

:50:52. > :51:03.declaration in the Metro Mayor, that is Andy Burnham. Putting England

:51:04. > :51:10.first, 11,000 115. UK Independence Party, 10500 and 83. Will Patterson,

:51:11. > :51:17.the Green party, 13400 and 24. The total number of first preference

:51:18. > :51:22.votes was 566,000 735. The total number of ballot papers rejected at

:51:23. > :51:26.first count or 6808. Therefore I declare that Andy Burnham is duly

:51:27. > :51:36.elected as the mayor of the Manchester combined authority. Those

:51:37. > :51:42.are the figures. A turnout of 29%. Taking more than 350,000 votes.

:51:43. > :51:47.Conservatives in second place. Let's listen to what Andy Burnham has got

:51:48. > :51:52.to say. Thank you everybody. This is an

:51:53. > :51:56.historic day for Greater Manchester. I want to thank all those who have

:51:57. > :52:01.worked so hard to make it happen, particularly so Howard Bernstein and

:52:02. > :52:05.Tony Lloyd. I want to thank the staff of our ten councils who have

:52:06. > :52:09.been working to count the votes. The combined authority and Greater

:52:10. > :52:17.Manchester Police, who have run the selection so smoothly. I must thank

:52:18. > :52:24.my incredible campaign team chaired by Andrew Quin MP and of course,

:52:25. > :52:31.Kevin Lee. Thanks so much to you all. I want to also thank my fellow

:52:32. > :52:34.candidates, particularly from the main parties under Green Party for

:52:35. > :52:38.making this a friendly and positive campaign which has set the right

:52:39. > :52:41.tone for a new era in Greater Manchester. But most of all I want

:52:42. > :52:48.to thank the people of Greater Manchester. You have given me a big

:52:49. > :52:58.job to do and a big mandate with which to do it. I will give it my

:52:59. > :53:11.all and I will let you down. -- will not let you down. All I can say is,

:53:12. > :53:18.63% of the vote! I hear that down the road in Liverpool, the candour

:53:19. > :53:30.that there got 59% of the vote. I think we can all say today, that is

:53:31. > :53:36.Manchester 1-0. Whether you voted for me or not, it doesn't matter, I

:53:37. > :53:40.will be the mayor for you, for the people, a strong voice for all of

:53:41. > :53:44.Greater Manchester. This is the dawn of a new era, not just for the city

:53:45. > :53:50.region but for politics in our country. It has been to London

:53:51. > :53:55.centric. The old political party structures haven't delivered for all

:53:56. > :53:59.people and all places. They have created this crisis in politics,

:54:00. > :54:03.which we are living through now. And do you know what? We can hold as

:54:04. > :54:07.many general elections as we like and that would never solve the

:54:08. > :54:12.problem. People here have worked hard to get to this moment and we're

:54:13. > :54:22.not going to waste it. Greater Manchester is going to take control.

:54:23. > :54:28.We are going to change politics and make it work better for people. We

:54:29. > :54:34.will give power and purpose to those people and places Westminster has

:54:35. > :54:38.left behind. We will get the voice of the North heard more loudly than

:54:39. > :54:43.ever before. We ask that people are Greater Manchester to help us write

:54:44. > :54:48.the manifesto and now I invite them to help us implement it. We will

:54:49. > :54:52.leave the same old politics behind in Westminster, create a new

:54:53. > :54:58.politics here and involve people in new ways. Here, focus will be on

:54:59. > :55:03.making a difference, not point-scoring. Here, people won't be

:55:04. > :55:09.the target for cuts, you will be the priority for investment. Here, older

:55:10. > :55:16.people won't be labelled bed blockers, but treated with respect.

:55:17. > :55:21.And here, in this great city, we will never accept it as an

:55:22. > :55:24.inevitable fact of modern life, that for some people to succeed, others

:55:25. > :55:34.had to sleep rough on a cold streets. Andy Burnham, the newly

:55:35. > :55:38.elected Metro Mayor, one of six posts created. He thanked the Green

:55:39. > :55:44.Party for the spirit in which the campaign has been conducted. The

:55:45. > :55:46.Greens getting 2% in the Greater Manchester contest. Jonathan Bartley

:55:47. > :55:52.of the Green Party has been waiting patiently to talk to others. Your

:55:53. > :55:56.thoughts on, not just Manchester, but the broad results? I noticed in

:55:57. > :56:01.Edinburgh are you had done well with eight seats, but your thoughts on

:56:02. > :56:08.your performance overall? A tough night for progressive parties.

:56:09. > :56:11.Coming up with national gains, openings from the Isle of Wight 's,

:56:12. > :56:15.the Highlands down to the Somerset levels, we have made gains. I wonder

:56:16. > :56:18.if you should have a word with your boss because you are giving

:56:19. > :56:25.disproportionate coverage to far right politicians from Ukip and they

:56:26. > :56:29.have ended up with one seed. We are going to make in excess of 20 just

:56:30. > :56:33.in England and Wales and we are showing we are a national party. All

:56:34. > :56:40.the other parties are losing seats on the progressive side. Let's have

:56:41. > :56:44.some fair coverage. Show us on the telly, let people see what we have

:56:45. > :56:48.got because when people do see the Green Party, they vote for the Green

:56:49. > :56:53.Party. The total collapse in the Ukip seat numbers is a story,

:56:54. > :56:57.Jonathan, which ever way you look at it? It is a story and there is a

:56:58. > :57:01.lesson to be learned. There was a big surge nationally and it wasn't

:57:02. > :57:04.about engaging with local communities, they went in on the

:57:05. > :57:09.tide and now the tide has gone out and they have collapsed. With the

:57:10. > :57:16.Greens, we are holding a lot of seats and we are working to get the

:57:17. > :57:23.nitty-gritty sorted out, the bins collected and standing up in the

:57:24. > :57:25.context Brexit. What is a local authority if it isn't about

:57:26. > :57:29.protecting the environment and things around us. People do vote for

:57:30. > :57:33.the Greens. I have just been in the Isle of Wight where we have our

:57:34. > :57:37.first counsellor. We hope to make again on the back of that with a

:57:38. > :57:40.surge in the next general election and maybe win the Parliamentary

:57:41. > :57:46.seat. It is about gaining the trust of local communities and offering

:57:47. > :57:51.ourselves as a vote for people to centre Westminster. Why did you lose

:57:52. > :57:59.your representation in Oxford and Norfolk? In Norfolk, there is a very

:58:00. > :58:05.left move within the Labour Party there which came on to some of our

:58:06. > :58:10.territory. Whether they were called and sympathisers, it is harder to

:58:11. > :58:16.distinguish. There are local factors at play but also national factors at

:58:17. > :58:24.play as well. Thank you for joining us. Well, that's it from the

:58:25. > :58:29.election Centre. If you are watching on BBC Two. The BBC News channel

:58:30. > :58:39.coverage will continue. Thanks to my guests in the studio who have been

:58:40. > :58:42.in the studio. Our coverage continues for another couple of

:58:43. > :58:46.hours and there are still results to come, so don't think the story is

:58:47. > :58:51.over. Coverage continues for a couple of hours on the BBC News

:58:52. > :58:55.channel. Lots more to come. Join me then with a new panel in just a

:58:56. > :58:59.moment. But if you are watching on BBC Two, it has been good to have

:59:00. > :00:21.your company, thanks for watching and the bye for now.

:00:22. > :00:29.Good afternoon. It is 4pm. Welcome to our special live coverage of the

:00:30. > :00:34.local elections in England, Wales and Scotland. Lots of results in but

:00:35. > :00:38.quite a few still to come. Thousands of councillors being elected and

:00:39. > :00:42.they are responsible for delivering what's of your essential services.

:00:43. > :00:46.That's the real importance of this democratic exercise. It's all

:00:47. > :00:49.happening under the shadow of a general election campaign which

:00:50. > :00:52.slightly changes things as well. We'll have the results in as they

:00:53. > :01:00.are declared, we've just had the results on the Manchester mayoral

:01:01. > :01:06.contest. The Conservatives having a very good set of results, they've

:01:07. > :01:09.gained over 500 councillors across England, Scotland and Wales. They

:01:10. > :01:19.took Derbyshire from Labour, that was a big result and they've also

:01:20. > :01:26.one two -- they've also won two mayoral contests today. Labour have

:01:27. > :01:32.lost overall control of Glasgow City Council which they've held for

:01:33. > :01:40.nearly 40 years. In wealth they have lost several councils but in Cardiff

:01:41. > :01:45.they kept control, also Swansea and Newport. In England so far they've

:01:46. > :01:51.lost nearly 150 councillors, many of those to the Conservatives. Andy

:01:52. > :01:54.Burnham has been elected to the first Metro Mayor position in

:01:55. > :02:04.greater Manchester. He took 63% of the vote. What about Ukip who did so

:02:05. > :02:06.well four years ago? They've had a terrible time, losing virtually

:02:07. > :02:13.every seat they were defending. They are down by nearly 150 councillors

:02:14. > :02:17.so far. The party has been wiped out in Lincolnshire, Hampshire and

:02:18. > :02:21.ethics and their vote share is down dramatically, most of it going to

:02:22. > :02:24.the Conservatives. We'll be keeping an eye on quite a few areas

:02:25. > :02:30.including Birmingham for that crucial race for the Metro Mayor of

:02:31. > :02:35.the West Midlands, another new position created. This is a fight

:02:36. > :02:38.between Labour and Conservatives, between Andy Street and Sion Simon.

:02:39. > :02:43.We hope that result will be in in the next hour or so. Stay with us

:02:44. > :02:55.for that. Very soon these seats will be filled

:02:56. > :03:00.next to be and we'll have Iain Duncan Smith, John McDonnell for

:03:01. > :03:03.Labour. They are on their way to the studio and Peter Kellner is with me

:03:04. > :03:08.once again and we will be talking about some of the trends we've been

:03:09. > :03:09.spotting today. Let's have a quick look at the scorecard because I'd

:03:10. > :03:40.like to look at that now. We spoke to Jonathan Barkley a few

:03:41. > :03:47.minutes ago. Ukip have lost 139 seats so far, they have the one

:03:48. > :03:56.council seat in these results. It's been a very turbulent time for them.

:03:57. > :04:02.We'll be back in a few minutes to speak to our guests and to pick up

:04:03. > :04:04.on the latest results coming in. In the meantime let's join Jane for the

:04:05. > :04:07.day's news. The Conservatives have

:04:08. > :04:10.made significant gains in the local elections,

:04:11. > :04:12.with Labour performing poorly The Tories have gained 11 councils -

:04:13. > :04:17.including taking Derbyshire County Labour have lost six councils -

:04:18. > :04:22.including Glasgow City Council In the last half an hour

:04:23. > :04:28.Labour's Andy Burnham has been Our political correspondent

:04:29. > :04:43.Eleanor Garnier has more. APPLAUSE

:04:44. > :04:48.It's the Conservatives with the biggest shares. They've gained

:04:49. > :04:53.overall control in more than ten councils, including Derbyshire,

:04:54. > :04:56.Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. Conservative Party candidate is duly

:04:57. > :05:02.elected as mayor for the Tees Valley combined authority. And a huge win

:05:03. > :05:05.in one of Labour's former heartlands saw the Conservative candidate

:05:06. > :05:09.become elected mayor. In Cumbria the Tories have replace Labour as the

:05:10. > :05:13.largest party, but senior Conservatives are playing down

:05:14. > :05:18.expectations ahead of the general election. The turnout in local

:05:19. > :05:22.elections is much lower than in a general election. It's wrong to

:05:23. > :05:26.predict what's going to happen on June the 8th. We are still going to

:05:27. > :05:33.have a general election to campaign for and a win after last night. But

:05:34. > :05:36.encouraging signs. The Tories are celebrating in Essex too, where this

:05:37. > :05:41.time round voters turned their backs on Ukip. In Lincolnshire where

:05:42. > :05:45.Ukip's leader Paul Nuttall will fight for a Westminster seat next

:05:46. > :05:55.month, the party was wiped out. And with such big losses, Ukip's future

:05:56. > :05:57.is in question. I've been in Ukip for four years, the amount of times

:05:58. > :06:00.I've heard the phrase Ukip is finished, I've lost count. If I had

:06:01. > :06:04.a pound of everyone I would probably be quite a rich woman. It's not over

:06:05. > :06:09.till it's over and despite these pretty poor results, it's not over.

:06:10. > :06:14.The former Labour MP Andy Burnham is now the new mayor of greater

:06:15. > :06:18.Manchester, and there was success for the party in Liverpool too,

:06:19. > :06:23.where Steve rubber room was elected mayor of the city region. But

:06:24. > :06:28.elsewhere, it's been a torrid time for Labour, losing more than 320

:06:29. > :06:40.seats so far. In Glasgow where Labour has been in power for more

:06:41. > :06:42.than 30 years, it's now lost overall control. These other counties which

:06:43. > :06:46.other Tory strongholds. It was going to be a tough night for Labour

:06:47. > :06:48.anyway and we are in the middle of a general election campaign. People

:06:49. > :06:50.operating largely on local issues, not necessarily on national ones.

:06:51. > :06:53.What is coming across is that where people were predicting we would be

:06:54. > :06:58.wiped out, in places like Wales we've done very well. You guys

:06:59. > :07:02.deserve the applause! No significant breakthrough for the Lib Dems but

:07:03. > :07:05.they are making the most of their results. The Liberal Democrats are

:07:06. > :07:10.really encouraging, we topped the poll in many more seats than we

:07:11. > :07:13.currently hold. We would double our number of MPs of the result was

:07:14. > :07:17.replicated last night, our best result for seven years. The Green

:07:18. > :07:21.Party says with the Tories dominating other parties need to

:07:22. > :07:25.collaborate. I'm worried about how well the Conservatives have done in

:07:26. > :07:28.terms of the Green Party and for the future of progressive politics.

:07:29. > :07:33.There has to be a wake-up call to parties on the left and centre left

:07:34. > :07:36.a think about how we work together under this incredibly undemocratic

:07:37. > :07:45.system. For some, the results today have been too close to call, the

:07:46. > :07:48.Tories were denied an overall majority in Northumberland after the

:07:49. > :07:50.Lib Dem candidate literally drew the longest straw. Now, it's back to the

:07:51. > :08:00.counting. There's still plenty of that to be done.

:08:01. > :08:02.A scheme to get older, more polluting vans or cars off

:08:03. > :08:05.the roads could be introduced, under draft plans published

:08:06. > :08:09.The proposals are part of efforts to cut air pollution caused by cars

:08:10. > :08:12.There could also be clean air zones in England -

:08:13. > :08:19.which might include charges to enter designated areas.

:08:20. > :08:21.The final day of campaigning is continuing in the French

:08:22. > :08:26.The Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen was heckled

:08:27. > :08:28.during her visit to Reims cathedral, in northern France.

:08:29. > :08:30.The centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron - who has

:08:31. > :08:33.a substantial lead in opinion polls - has visited the southern

:08:34. > :08:42.That's a summary of the news - now back to Local Elections

:08:43. > :09:08.Welcome back. It's coming up to ten past four. Apart from say hello to

:09:09. > :09:12.our guests and welcome them to the studio, is get a quick update from

:09:13. > :09:16.the West Midlands because that is the big result coming in. Probably

:09:17. > :09:21.within the next 90 minutes although who am I to say? Patrick Burns is

:09:22. > :09:26.there. Let's have the latest on this big fight that is happening there. I

:09:27. > :09:31.think we can probably do better than your estimate, I think it might be

:09:32. > :09:35.45 minutes away. I did say earlier on that this had the makings of a

:09:36. > :09:40.photo finish between the Conservative candidate Andy Street,

:09:41. > :09:45.the former John Lewis boss, and Sion Simon the Labour candidate, former

:09:46. > :09:53.minister under Gordon Brown. On the first round of first preference

:09:54. > :10:00.votes, Andy Street had a majority of 6000. If you do the percentages

:10:01. > :10:05.that's just a tiny bit over 1% of the total first preference votes

:10:06. > :10:09.cast. Extraordinarily close. What we have is one of the seven counts.

:10:10. > :10:13.There's one in each of the Metropolitan Council areas around

:10:14. > :10:17.the West Midlands, this is the biggest in Birmingham. What's

:10:18. > :10:21.happening now is that the second preference votes from the vote

:10:22. > :10:25.originally cast further for other candidates, who have now been

:10:26. > :10:30.eliminated, are factored into the totals. Then you get the aggregate

:10:31. > :10:36.figure which leads eventually to the decision over all. A footnote to

:10:37. > :10:41.this is that the two front runners, Andy Street and Sion Simon didn't

:10:42. > :10:47.appear for the declaration of the first round of voting, and the other

:10:48. > :10:52.four who have been eliminated took such a dim view that they've agreed

:10:53. > :10:55.what I might call a Faustian pact, and they have left and are going to

:10:56. > :11:03.boycott the final declaration. So you'll just see the two of them for

:11:04. > :11:07.the final declaration. As we factor in the second preference votes from

:11:08. > :11:12.the other candidates, Andy Street still has just a nose of an

:11:13. > :11:20.advantage in this photo finish analogy. One killer statistic to go

:11:21. > :11:23.back to you with is there have been 55 mayoral elections in England and

:11:24. > :11:27.in only five of those has the candidate who finished second on the

:11:28. > :11:32.first round of first preference is gone on to win. Let's talk about

:11:33. > :11:36.body language because that is a favourite exercise of hours on these

:11:37. > :11:40.occasions. I'm just wondering, when you look at the balance of the other

:11:41. > :11:43.people there and when we look at those eliminated candidates and we

:11:44. > :11:48.try to make sense of where those rates might go, are there any

:11:49. > :11:53.signals from the teams themselves as to whether they think they are onto

:11:54. > :11:58.a better share of that the others? I can tell you the body language among

:11:59. > :12:04.both the Andy Street and Sion Simon camps is anxious, absolutely nerve

:12:05. > :12:09.shredding. As you might understand given the narrowness of it. The

:12:10. > :12:15.other thing that's telling is that before the Liberal Democrat team

:12:16. > :12:19.left, they were sort of in an intriguing position, and they feel

:12:20. > :12:23.the sense they have had of where their second preferences might go,

:12:24. > :12:33.that it feels to them like its 50-50. That adds to this overall

:12:34. > :12:39.sense of knife edge Photofit -- photo finish. The other question is

:12:40. > :12:42.where we'll be 29,000 Ukip second preference votes go, if they did

:12:43. > :12:52.indeed espresso second preference, because it is optional -- express a

:12:53. > :12:55.second preference. The only set second preferences around those of

:12:56. > :12:59.accounts we're getting reports from suggest they may go to the Tories.

:13:00. > :13:09.You reckon 45 minutes? Fingers crossed. We'll be back. We'll hold

:13:10. > :13:13.you to it! Patrick Burns keeping an eye on things in Birmingham. That's

:13:14. > :13:18.a bit of a nailbiter. It is, we knew it would be close. But what now we

:13:19. > :13:22.are down to the scientific language of body language and it shows you

:13:23. > :13:26.how close it really is! I'm disappointed the other candidates

:13:27. > :13:30.aren't going to be there. It's a democracy figure do say, but yes it

:13:31. > :13:35.is close. I suppose, given that you've had a pretty difficult night

:13:36. > :13:42.and day, nobody is pretending you haven't had a difficult time, I'm

:13:43. > :13:52.wondering therefore does this result assume an even greater importance

:13:53. > :13:54.for you and an even greater victory for you? It would give you a big

:13:55. > :13:59.victory to brandish at the end of the day. I think the results have

:14:00. > :14:03.been extremely mixed. We saw Andy Burnham's result. I watched the

:14:04. > :14:08.individual counts, because they announced all ten individually.

:14:09. > :14:17.Winning a majority in virtually every counts as well. The Northwest

:14:18. > :14:22.is web the Conservatives targeted so I found that quite reassuring. We

:14:23. > :14:28.knew it would be close in the West Midlands. I think for us it's been

:14:29. > :14:32.tough, let's admit it, it's been disappointing. But there have been

:14:33. > :14:36.mixed results. Where people were predicting we might have been wiped

:14:37. > :14:41.out, in Wales in particular, and we might have experienced difficulties

:14:42. > :14:45.like in the north-west, that hasn't happened. South Lanarkshire, Labour

:14:46. > :14:51.has lost control of that. As John was speaking to me that came up. Yet

:14:52. > :14:58.another Scottish result, Labour having lost control. The SNP on 27,

:14:59. > :15:01.the Labour Party on 22, the Conservatives on 14. We are probably

:15:02. > :15:12.looking at another conservative surge. Let's look at the difference.

:15:13. > :15:20.Again, in the broad context, I know that the Scottish story clearly is

:15:21. > :15:25.very different parts of England and Wales, the context is different, but

:15:26. > :15:30.you've seen a pretty clear picture there of a Conservative Party in

:15:31. > :15:35.parts of Scotland making inroads, and taking votes from former Labour

:15:36. > :15:38.voters. That's been direct, why is that happening? There's an element

:15:39. > :15:41.of the problems that we've experienced for a number of years in

:15:42. > :15:46.Scotland. We knew it was going to be a long haul to rebuild. I think

:15:47. > :15:51.there's a reaction against Nicola Sturgeon for people wanting to vote

:15:52. > :15:53.for a Unionist party like the Conservatives, even though the

:15:54. > :15:57.Labour Party is strongly in favour of the union. I think there's been

:15:58. > :16:01.that sort of division. I think there's a fair amount of

:16:02. > :16:06.disillusionment with politics in Scotland as well. We've admitted

:16:07. > :16:12.it's going to be a long haul for Labour to regain in Scotland. I'm

:16:13. > :16:16.going to bring in Kezia Dugdale in a second. A quick thought on what

:16:17. > :16:20.we've heard so far. Prospects for a tight contest in the West Midlands

:16:21. > :16:28.and indeed some of the areas of Scotland you've done rather well in.

:16:29. > :16:33.The Conservatives have played this town but I agree with John. What you

:16:34. > :16:37.are seeing is a patchy results and you can't extrapolate from this into

:16:38. > :16:42.a general election result. The cities in Manchester and Liverpool

:16:43. > :16:45.have elected Labour. So, there's a different picture emerging. If I

:16:46. > :16:50.want to focus on Scotland for a second, what is great and macro

:16:51. > :16:53.quite interesting in Scotland is in areas and South Lanarkshire is

:16:54. > :16:59.traditionally a conservative area, and in parts of Glasgow, is a very

:17:00. > :17:01.deprived area where you are beginning to see Conservative

:17:02. > :17:06.candidates coming through. I'm pleased in one sense, but the

:17:07. > :17:09.Conservatives are taking a message to some of the more deprived areas

:17:10. > :17:13.and getting that message across which is an important thing for

:17:14. > :17:18.rebuilding the Conservative Party in Scotland. But overall this isn't a

:17:19. > :17:20.moment for extrapolating to the general election because these are

:17:21. > :17:25.council elections and we have to be cautious about where this takes us.

:17:26. > :17:29.Indeed we do. Let's have a look at the Edinburgh result. Edinburgh is a

:17:30. > :17:41.hung council. What's the difference between today

:17:42. > :17:54.and 2012? We heard earlier on from our

:17:55. > :17:56.correspondent in Edinburgh about the areas of the city that have been

:17:57. > :18:03.doing well for the Conservatives. Labour losing nine in Edinburgh.

:18:04. > :18:06.It's a good moment for us to bring in Kezia Dugdale, the Labour leader

:18:07. > :18:12.in Scotland. Thank you for talking to us. Can we have your overall

:18:13. > :18:16.judgment so far? It's undoubtedly a disappointing result for Labour in

:18:17. > :18:21.Scotland. Not particularly a surprise here. The polls in Scotland

:18:22. > :18:25.have consistently shown labour around 15%. A number of newspapers

:18:26. > :18:29.last week said we would lose every single one of our councils. The

:18:30. > :18:34.reality is that we are topping the tables in at least four areas across

:18:35. > :18:37.the country in Inverclyde, East Lothian, Midlothian, North Ayrshire

:18:38. > :18:42.Labour at the top of the results today. In many towns and cities its

:18:43. > :18:47.Labour that other strong opposition to the SNP. What happened today is

:18:48. > :18:57.you seen the constitutional politics biting Scotland once again. It's yes

:18:58. > :19:01.versus no in that regard. You are down 103 seats, I'm just saying that

:19:02. > :19:07.the viewers to understand what has gone on. The Conservatives up 142 in

:19:08. > :19:10.Scotland, the SNP down 17. Let's talk about Glasgow which has been

:19:11. > :19:16.such a Labour stronghold. How much of a blow was that? You've got to

:19:17. > :19:21.remember that Glasgow Warriors a very strong yes city. I think this

:19:22. > :19:26.is a disappointing result for the SNP in Glasgow. They were screaming

:19:27. > :19:32.and shouting in the chambers but the reality is the SNP tick every seat

:19:33. > :19:38.in that city in 2015, every seat in 2016, they should have walked it.

:19:39. > :19:43.Their vote share is falling from the mid-50% to around 40%. It's not

:19:44. > :19:46.clear what the results in Glasgow is going to be but once again

:19:47. > :19:50.constitutional politics to the fore. It is the case that wherever you are

:19:51. > :19:55.across Scotland, it's Labour that offers the strong opposition to the

:19:56. > :19:58.SNP. That's what we are going to do, we are going out on the streets

:19:59. > :20:02.tomorrow and start the campaign for the general election. By voting

:20:03. > :20:05.Labour you can reject a second independence referendum and also

:20:06. > :20:10.vote for your public services. I heard Iain Duncan Smith trying to

:20:11. > :20:13.declare victory for the Tories in the East End of Glasgow. That's not

:20:14. > :20:17.people putting their faith in the Tory plans for public services, that

:20:18. > :20:21.is constitutional politics. Once again it will turn to the Labour

:20:22. > :20:24.Party to reject the cut off by the SNP and the Tories and that's what

:20:25. > :20:29.every single one of our local champions elected today is going to

:20:30. > :20:34.do. Just understand, on the basis of this performance and the fact you

:20:35. > :20:38.suffered quite heavy losses in this context in Scotland, how confident

:20:39. > :20:43.can you be looking ahead five weeks to June the 8th? I hope we are going

:20:44. > :20:47.to make progress in the general election. East Lothian is an example

:20:48. > :20:50.of that, seat currently held by the SNP, Labour has won that today.

:20:51. > :20:55.We've got an excellent candidate the general election. I think you'll see

:20:56. > :21:01.in things like that across the country, Labour coming to the fore.

:21:02. > :21:04.Rejecting independence, rejecting a second referendum but also focusing

:21:05. > :21:07.on the bread and butter issues, living standards, the housing

:21:08. > :21:11.crisis, investment in school than the NHS. Labour is going to do what

:21:12. > :21:19.it's always done and focus on representing the many, not the few.

:21:20. > :21:22.Thank you for joining us. The Highland result is in, just for us

:21:23. > :21:29.to give you the latest result from Scotland. The independents have a

:21:30. > :21:35.big presence in the Highland, it's a hung council.

:21:36. > :21:56.The Conservatives again making the biggest gains there in council

:21:57. > :22:02.seats. So, looking at that Lib Dem figure, I was looking across

:22:03. > :22:06.Scotland actually. We are down at two overall in Scotland. Really,

:22:07. > :22:10.where you were in a sense in the Scottish picture. It's interesting

:22:11. > :22:15.because we've made some losses but we've also made some gains. What's

:22:16. > :22:19.really encouraging for Scotland and elsewhere is that we've made gains

:22:20. > :22:22.and topped the poll in places like Edinburgh West and East and Barton

:22:23. > :22:28.share where we had the seats before in 2015. From our perspective it's

:22:29. > :22:32.encouraging because we are seeing the great back in the seats we will

:22:33. > :22:35.be fighting for in five weeks' time. Just to underline that, I'm

:22:36. > :22:39.wondering where would you pick out for us specifically on the basis of

:22:40. > :22:43.the performance last night and today, and we are still seeing some

:22:44. > :22:53.results coming in of significance for the Lib Dems, when you look

:22:54. > :22:56.ahead five weeks. When you say you have a realistic hope, where is

:22:57. > :23:01.that? Certainly the seat somebody mentioned and some seats in the

:23:02. > :23:05.although not the amount people were expecting. There's absolutely no

:23:06. > :23:10.doubt that if the percentage share of the vote being projected an hour

:23:11. > :23:13.ago of 18%, then you look in the microclimate areas of specific

:23:14. > :23:17.seats, where we are topping the poll, Cambridge for example, that's

:23:18. > :23:20.really strong for us and we will be expecting to make gains from

:23:21. > :23:24.conservatives and Labour. The Prime Minister has been talking about

:23:25. > :23:29.these elections and maybe giving us a few hints about what might be in

:23:30. > :23:35.course in a few weeks' time. The Prime Minister today has been in

:23:36. > :23:40.Brentford and she's just been speaking. Since I became Prime

:23:41. > :23:44.Minister, I've been determined to make sure that this is a government

:23:45. > :23:49.that works for the whole country, and it is encouraging that we have

:23:50. > :23:53.won support across the whole of the UK. But I won't take anything for

:23:54. > :23:58.granted and neither will the team I lead, because there is too much at

:23:59. > :24:03.stake. This isn't about who wins and who loses in the local elections, it

:24:04. > :24:09.is about continuing to fight for the best Brexit deal for families and

:24:10. > :24:12.businesses across the UK, to lock in the economic progress we've made and

:24:13. > :24:20.get on with the job of making a success of the years ahead. The

:24:21. > :24:25.reality is that today, despite the evident will of the British people,

:24:26. > :24:30.we have bureaucrats in Europe who are questioning our resolve to get

:24:31. > :24:36.the right deal. The reality is that only a general election vote for the

:24:37. > :24:42.Conservatives in 34 days' time will strengthen my hand to get the best

:24:43. > :24:48.deal for Britain from Brexit. So today, I will continue my efforts to

:24:49. > :24:51.earn the support of you, the people. The Prime Minister. Picking up the

:24:52. > :24:57.theme that she developed the other day in Downing Street in those

:24:58. > :25:01.outspoken remarks, when she was telling people what she thought

:25:02. > :25:04.about the latest reports coming out of Brussels to do with the Brexit

:25:05. > :25:08.process. We'll talk a bit about that with my guests, but we are joined by

:25:09. > :25:11.Andy Burnham who has just been elected as the new method greater

:25:12. > :25:19.Manchester. Many congratulations on the result. -- the new mayor of

:25:20. > :25:25.Manchester. Thank you. I should also congratulate you on the longest

:25:26. > :25:29.declaration of all time. It's a big place greater Manchester! What are

:25:30. > :25:34.you going to do with the powers you've been given. They are

:25:35. > :25:38.significant powers, there's a big budget attached to this, it was all

:25:39. > :25:41.down to the plan George Osborne and David Cameron put into effect. What

:25:42. > :25:49.are you going to do with those powers? Change politics. We are

:25:50. > :25:52.going to build a whole new way of doing things here. That was the call

:25:53. > :25:56.from people in greater Manchester and we are going to respond. We are

:25:57. > :26:00.going to start Monday morning on homelessness. That was the issue of

:26:01. > :26:03.the campaign. It troubles me it's barely featured in the general

:26:04. > :26:07.election campaign but people are worried about it, they don't like to

:26:08. > :26:11.see at, and so they know the government has created debt but they

:26:12. > :26:20.want action and I will take action. Monday morning we will set up a new

:26:21. > :26:23.homelessness fund and get on with the job. That's how devolution can

:26:24. > :26:26.change things. We can, tissues from a different direction. That's what

:26:27. > :26:33.we are going to do. -- we can redirect issues. Your election is in

:26:34. > :26:37.contrast to Labour performances elsewhere in England and Wales, how

:26:38. > :26:43.would you describe the party's performance? It's a very mixed

:26:44. > :26:48.picture. It's not encouraging in some places. There is an emphatic

:26:49. > :26:53.result here, I'm proud of the result that we have achieved here. It's not

:26:54. > :26:57.a day for me to comment on everywhere else, I've been running a

:26:58. > :27:02.strong campaign here in greater Manchester about how we're going

:27:03. > :27:06.change things. And really help the North Finder 's political voice.

:27:07. > :27:10.That is what I've come into this contest to do. Westminster isn't

:27:11. > :27:14.going to solve things. We could have as many general elections as we

:27:15. > :27:18.like, in my view it's not going to change the London centric politics

:27:19. > :27:22.we've got. Or my focus is on taking this mandate and using it to change

:27:23. > :27:27.politics for the better and give the law a stronger political voice than

:27:28. > :27:31.had before. All of this has been taking place in the context of a

:27:32. > :27:36.general election, we just the Prime Minister say again that in her view

:27:37. > :27:39.this election all about continuing the fight for the best Brexit deal

:27:40. > :27:48.for families and businesses across the UK. Do you accept that this does

:27:49. > :27:55.come down to a Brexit process and if so, where does that leave Labour?

:27:56. > :27:59.Personally I think this is an unnecessary general election,

:28:00. > :28:03.because Parliament triggered Article 50, it voted in that way to respect

:28:04. > :28:06.the referendum result. I think this is a self-serving politics from a

:28:07. > :28:11.power hungry Prime Minister. We should be getting on with the job

:28:12. > :28:14.right now of getting that good deal, building bridges with Europe, not

:28:15. > :28:17.burning those bridges as the Prime Minister seems to be doing. She

:28:18. > :28:23.wants to make it all about Brexit and nothing else. There are rising

:28:24. > :28:25.numbers of people huddled in the doorways of greater Manchester,

:28:26. > :28:30.we've got schools sending begging letters home to parents, and NHS in

:28:31. > :28:34.growing crisis. What about those issues? When will they be debated

:28:35. > :28:38.properly? What I see is a self-serving move by the

:28:39. > :28:41.Conservative Party. They wanted all on their own terms, they call an

:28:42. > :28:45.election and bingo running unprepared to face the public and

:28:46. > :28:51.the TV debates. It's not good enough in my view. We will get on with the

:28:52. > :28:55.job here. People want to see devolution work. To be honest, it's

:28:56. > :28:58.frustrating the primers to call the general election in the middle of

:28:59. > :29:02.this election which was quite a big change in the way our country is

:29:03. > :29:06.run. I think people want to see this process work and not have it

:29:07. > :29:11.completely overshadowed by the general election. A final word on

:29:12. > :29:12.the turnout which was 29%, it's got to be a sort of disappointment to

:29:13. > :29:23.you. It is a new role and when you look

:29:24. > :29:29.at the Mayor of London, it was a similar turnout. A moment ago, at

:29:30. > :29:32.the crucial moments of the campaign, the Prime Minister decided to call a

:29:33. > :29:38.general election. To be honest, I find that very frustrating. A

:29:39. > :29:42.dysfunctional Westminster has intruded into this situation, which

:29:43. > :29:46.I would argue is the best solution we have got to reconnect people with

:29:47. > :29:50.politics. Instead, the old way of doing things has crowded that

:29:51. > :29:55.thinking out. Greater Manchester will take this moment to change the

:29:56. > :29:58.way we do politics, make it work better for people here, make it more

:29:59. > :30:01.meaningful and involve people in different ways. We are living

:30:02. > :30:10.through a political crisis now and I don't think the Westminster system

:30:11. > :30:13.knows how to solve it. We do. We asked people for their ideas in the

:30:14. > :30:16.manifesto we put forward and now we will ask the people of Greater

:30:17. > :30:21.Manchester to help us deliver it. Andy Burnham, the new Metro Mayor

:30:22. > :30:25.for Greater Manchester. He is enjoying his victory but we will

:30:26. > :30:29.talk about the broader themes of the campaign that will come up. I am

:30:30. > :30:35.hoping to talk to Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland in a

:30:36. > :30:38.moment. Before that, Andy Burnham made a few serious accusations

:30:39. > :30:41.against the Prime Minister, for the reasons she has called the election

:30:42. > :30:49.and the way she is trying to manipulate it, as he sees it around

:30:50. > :30:57.Brexit. What is your answer? First of all, I congratulate him for being

:30:58. > :31:01.so successful, wish him all the best. I don't agree with him in the

:31:02. > :31:06.sense of why she called it. There are some good reasons why. She

:31:07. > :31:10.really does need a personal mandate in these negotiations to show that

:31:11. > :31:14.as an elected Prime Minister she is able to conduct those negotiations

:31:15. > :31:19.in Europe in a strong way. She has talked about strong and stable

:31:20. > :31:23.leadership. And also, somebody said he will recall that because you

:31:24. > :31:30.don't want to run into the election. There is a good reason why. If you

:31:31. > :31:33.are conducting negotiations that have a two-year limited timescale

:31:34. > :31:37.and if the other side knows your focus will move quickly to an

:31:38. > :31:41.election, it is in their interest to delay quite a lot of that and let it

:31:42. > :31:44.run because the pressure would build on the British negotiating team

:31:45. > :31:49.because they know they will have to start preparing for an election. By

:31:50. > :31:52.clearing this away and giving us another two years she ensures there

:31:53. > :31:58.is no lack of focus in the general election. Finally, everybody from

:31:59. > :32:01.the Labour Party, the Scottish Nationalists, everybody, has a

:32:02. > :32:07.charge against Theresa May saying, you haven't got a personal mandate.

:32:08. > :32:12.We hope she is going to get that now. What Andy Burnham says, this is

:32:13. > :32:15.not a foregone conclusion. It is very feasible but Labour could do

:32:16. > :32:19.much better in the general election and therefore we have to fight hard

:32:20. > :32:23.and put the issue of strong and stable leadership at the forefront

:32:24. > :32:27.against chaotic leadership of the Labour Party. I want to go to

:32:28. > :32:31.Glasgow because we will talk about leadership there because the First

:32:32. > :32:46.Minister, Nicola Sturgeon joins us now. Good afternoon to you. Hello.

:32:47. > :32:49.What do you make of your performance so far? I am looking at the Scotland

:32:50. > :32:52.scoreboard. I will show it to the viewers now. It is showing me the

:32:53. > :32:56.SNP so far are on 350 council seats, they have lost 17 the Tories have

:32:57. > :33:02.surged and they are in second place with Labour in third. How would you

:33:03. > :33:07.describe the SNP's performance? I am delighted. We have more votes, more

:33:08. > :33:13.seats and we are the largest party with more councils than any other

:33:14. > :33:18.party in Scotland. It is a clear and emphatic victory for the SNP. We are

:33:19. > :33:22.the largest city in Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen and in Glasgow,

:33:23. > :33:27.where we have today ended 40 years of Labour control of Glasgow City

:33:28. > :33:32.Council. This is a fantastic victory. In terms of the Tory

:33:33. > :33:37.support, that has come from Labour. It is not the SNP losing ground to

:33:38. > :33:41.the Tory. If you look at the Labour and Tory support they are almost a

:33:42. > :33:45.mirror image of each other. The soul-searching in Scotland today has

:33:46. > :33:50.to be done by the Labour Party. For the SNP, I am delighted it is

:33:51. > :33:55.another clear election victory and a great springboard for the general

:33:56. > :34:08.election. John Curtis was saying earlier, your performance as a party

:34:09. > :34:10.is not as strong as it was in 2015, 16 and he pointed out you had a

:34:11. > :34:13.realistic expectation of taking control of Glasgow City Council. Why

:34:14. > :34:18.didn't that happen? As John Curtis knows, we have proportional

:34:19. > :34:23.representation. The majority is the exception and not the rule. We set

:34:24. > :34:30.out to win Glasgow and we have. In terms of the comparison with 2015

:34:31. > :34:35.and 2016, those who are Parliamentary elections, this is a

:34:36. > :34:39.council election. The SNP vote has held up our share and the seats have

:34:40. > :34:44.held up and we will be the largest party in more councils. Perhaps the

:34:45. > :34:49.majority of councils, although that is not absolutely clear yet. There

:34:50. > :34:54.is no way anybody can spin this result as anything other than a very

:34:55. > :34:58.clear and emphatic win for the SNP. It puts us in pole position to

:34:59. > :35:05.protect services and gives us a great springboard for the general

:35:06. > :35:09.election. It is clear the Tories are on track to win the general

:35:10. > :35:12.election, so if people in Scotland won strong voices and a strong

:35:13. > :35:18.opposition to the Tories, that can only come from the SNP. You keep

:35:19. > :35:23.saying clear and emphatic and I wonder how that squares with the

:35:24. > :35:28.outcome in Dundee where you lost overall control? We were one seat

:35:29. > :35:33.short. I come back to the point, people who pay close attention to

:35:34. > :35:37.the elections will understand we have a single transferable vote for

:35:38. > :35:40.council elections in Scotland, proportional representation.

:35:41. > :35:46.Majorities are not usual, they are the exception and not the rule.

:35:47. > :35:50.There may well be in Scotland that has majority control after this

:35:51. > :35:55.election, but we are the largest party in not just Dundee, but

:35:56. > :36:00.Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, a whole host of other councils across

:36:01. > :36:07.the country. In very simple terms, the SNP will emerge from this

:36:08. > :36:10.election with more votes than any other party by some distance, with

:36:11. > :36:15.more seats than any other party and in the driving seat of more councils

:36:16. > :36:19.than any other party. By anybody's standards, that is a clear and

:36:20. > :36:23.emphatic win for the SNP in this election. Bear with us, we have

:36:24. > :36:30.north Lanarkshire in. I want to show the viewers. It is a hung council,

:36:31. > :36:39.33 to your party, 32 to Labour, tend to do Conservatives and two to the

:36:40. > :36:43.Liberal Dems. Labour have lost 12 and the Tories, this is a pattern we

:36:44. > :36:46.have seen a lot of, the Tories have gained ten seats on North

:36:47. > :36:52.Lanarkshire Council. To go back to your reasoning as to why the

:36:53. > :36:56.Conservatives are making a few inroads here, your colleague, John

:36:57. > :37:01.Nicholson was in effect complaining because he thought Ruth Davidson had

:37:02. > :37:04.gone on about the concept of the Constitution and independence

:37:05. > :37:11.referendum. It was put to him that the strategy has worked in lots of

:37:12. > :37:14.these areas. What do you say? North Lanarkshire illustrates my point

:37:15. > :37:19.very well. It is not the only council to do so. North Lanarkshire,

:37:20. > :37:25.like Glasgow, they use two-way the Labour vote, the SNP is now the

:37:26. > :37:28.largest party. If you look at North Lanarkshire, the SNP has improved

:37:29. > :37:34.its standing and what you see is almost a mirror image of Labour and

:37:35. > :37:38.the Conservatives. Labour have seeds that have fallen and the Tories have

:37:39. > :37:42.gone up. So the question about the Tory performance, with the greatest

:37:43. > :37:46.of respect, are not questions for me because it is not the SNP who has

:37:47. > :37:50.lost ground to the Tories. The questions about the Tory support our

:37:51. > :37:55.questions for the Labour Party. We saw the start of this last year, we

:37:56. > :37:59.have seen a collapse in the Labour Party vote and that is where the

:38:00. > :38:04.Tories are picking up their support. It is not coming from the SNP

:38:05. > :38:09.because the SNP continues to be strong and continues to win these

:38:10. > :38:13.elections. Understood, but we are interested in your view. Bear with

:38:14. > :38:20.us, John McDonnell is here and your thoughts and why the First Minister

:38:21. > :38:23.thinks Labour has suffered in parts of Scotland? I think Nicola Sturgeon

:38:24. > :38:28.should be worried because the SNP surge has come to a halt. Whatever

:38:29. > :38:32.she is saying at the moment, they were expected to take Glasgow, they

:38:33. > :38:38.were expecting greater gains than this. What reflects is an increasing

:38:39. > :38:43.rejection of any concept of further independence referendum. Those votes

:38:44. > :38:48.have gone to the Tories. I am disappointed at Labour's position in

:38:49. > :38:52.a number of areas, but it means the SNP's surge we have seen has come to

:38:53. > :38:56.a halt. They are beginning to fall back and that is a rejection of any

:38:57. > :39:02.concept of the independence referendum. That is certainly right.

:39:03. > :39:06.The SNP have been going backwards and it is clear, talking to

:39:07. > :39:14.colleagues in Scotland a couple of weeks ago, the Conservatives'

:39:15. > :39:20.literature was full of know the independence referendum two. Iain

:39:21. > :39:24.Duncan Smith? It was the First Minister herself, who made a big

:39:25. > :39:29.issue about independence referendum. She put it on the table, she called

:39:30. > :39:34.for it and told Theresa May she wanted it ASAP. I don't think when

:39:35. > :39:39.the Scottish Nationalists complain about there being an issue about the

:39:40. > :39:42.referendum, they have any ground to stand on because they raise this as

:39:43. > :39:47.the single issue they felt was important in Scotland. I think it is

:39:48. > :39:52.the right, legitimate tactic, but if you look at other literature, it was

:39:53. > :39:56.often about local issues as well. This is a huge feather in the for

:39:57. > :40:00.Ruth Davidson, it is a personal leadership issue, she has become the

:40:01. > :40:07.person to take on the First Minister and Scottish Nationalists and is

:40:08. > :40:10.making ground. This is very good for politics in Scotland. First

:40:11. > :40:17.Minister, thoughts on your prospects as you see them in five weeks on the

:40:18. > :40:20.8th of June? I am looking forward to the general election and the

:40:21. > :40:25.performance of the SNP is a great springboard for that campaign. I

:40:26. > :40:28.will come back to that in a second, but if I may pick up on some of the

:40:29. > :40:34.points I have been listening to. If the Tories want to say it was a

:40:35. > :40:39.campaign about independence, the Tories have to face up to the fact

:40:40. > :40:42.they put that centre stage and the SNP have won this election in

:40:43. > :40:46.Scotland and the Tories have lost it. As far as John McDonnell is

:40:47. > :40:51.concerned, I know Labour doesn't have much to smile about in any part

:40:52. > :40:56.of the UK, but Labour has seen its vote collapse in Scotland. Those in

:40:57. > :41:00.the Labour ranks who support independence have long since started

:41:01. > :41:06.to vote for the SNP and now we see those who don't support

:41:07. > :41:09.independence, going to the Conservatives. Labour is in a sorry

:41:10. > :41:13.state. I am standing in a city that I have been politically active in

:41:14. > :41:19.for most of my a dull life. They used to weigh the Labour voting

:41:20. > :41:23.Glasgow, now the SNP holds every constituency and we are now the

:41:24. > :41:28.largest party at council level about to form an administration. In terms

:41:29. > :41:32.of the general election, it is a clear on the back of the English

:41:33. > :41:36.results, Theresa May is on course to win the election. What the question

:41:37. > :41:41.is for Scotland is, do we want to make sure we have strong voices the

:41:42. > :41:46.Scotland with an opposition that can hold the Tory government to account?

:41:47. > :41:49.It is clear Labour cannot do that, they are barely fit for opposition

:41:50. > :41:53.and certainly not fit for government. If you want that from

:41:54. > :41:58.Scotland, it can only come from the SNP and that is a very good spring

:41:59. > :42:04.board as we go into the 8th of June. I have to make this point, two years

:42:05. > :42:08.ago, the vote of the SNP in the general election was greater than

:42:09. > :42:11.that of the three main Unionist parties put together, Labour,

:42:12. > :42:17.Conservative and liberal Democrat. Looking at these results, as of

:42:18. > :42:24.yesterday, a fairly substantial majority for the three Unionist

:42:25. > :42:29.parties combined over the SNP. A reasonably substantial vote. It may

:42:30. > :42:33.be very different in five weeks, but the question I would like to ask

:42:34. > :42:37.Nicola Sturgeon, given first past the post, you are bound to come out

:42:38. > :42:42.with a clear majority of seats in Scotland. But if the vote for the

:42:43. > :42:46.Unionist parties is substantially greater than the vote for the SNP,

:42:47. > :42:53.does that affect your thinking about another referendum? No, it doesn't.

:42:54. > :42:56.With the greatest respect, I am focusing on winning the general

:42:57. > :43:00.election. We have just won council election. What I think is

:43:01. > :43:05.interesting, forgive me there is a result been declared here, so I am

:43:06. > :43:11.not hearing very much at the moment. But it is interesting we have other

:43:12. > :43:15.parties in Scotland who are seeing the SNP winning election, at the

:43:16. > :43:18.election, at the election, who are trying to redefine what victory and

:43:19. > :43:22.defeat means because they know they cannot win. I will continue to focus

:43:23. > :43:26.on getting more seats and votes than any other party and by any

:43:27. > :43:31.definition that will be the SNP continuing to win the election. I am

:43:32. > :43:34.not taking anything for granted for the general election, we have a

:43:35. > :43:38.campaign ahead and part of the success for the SNP over the last

:43:39. > :43:48.decade has been not taking voters for granted. In Glasgow, what

:43:49. > :43:50.happens to parties when they take the electorate for granted as Labour

:43:51. > :43:52.has done over many years. First Minister, banks are battling against

:43:53. > :44:00.the noise in the background. Thank you. Nicola Sturgeon. An interesting

:44:01. > :44:03.point in terms of the reconfiguration and your question

:44:04. > :44:07.about what that change the thinking on a second independence referendum.

:44:08. > :44:13.We had a straight response, which you would expect, but it is an

:44:14. > :44:16.interesting point. Under the local election, under proportional

:44:17. > :44:21.representation, it is hard for any party to win out right and the SNP

:44:22. > :44:26.won fewer votes and seats than the three Unionist parties put together.

:44:27. > :44:31.General election, back to first past the post so you could have a

:44:32. > :44:35.situation where the SNP win 40, 40 5% of the vote for examples and

:44:36. > :44:41.maybe win 50 out of 59 seats. But when you add together the votes of

:44:42. > :44:44.the three Unionist parties, if you had had the local election in the

:44:45. > :44:51.general election, it wouldn't be so clear cut that Scotland is the being

:44:52. > :44:56.of the SNP. If you are making a crude calculation of when to go for

:44:57. > :45:02.another independence results, this result would make you think twice.

:45:03. > :45:09.John, I will have to go to the West Midlands. The total number of valid

:45:10. > :45:16.second preference votes cast for each of the remaining candidates is

:45:17. > :45:26.as follows... Andy Street, the Conservative Party candidate, 7690.

:45:27. > :45:33.Simon Sean Llewelyn, Labour and co-operative party, 10300 and 82.

:45:34. > :45:40.Total number of valid second preference votes is 31,000 488. The

:45:41. > :45:51.total number of rejected ballot papers is 2988. Thank you.

:45:52. > :45:58.Thank you, Kate. As returning officer for the West Midlands, the

:45:59. > :46:05.election for the mayor on the 4th of May 20 17th, I hereby certify that

:46:06. > :46:08.the total number of valid second preference votes cast for each of

:46:09. > :46:15.the remaining candidates is as follows... Andy Street, the

:46:16. > :46:29.Conservative Party candidate, 22,000 348. Simon Sean Llewelyn, Labour and

:46:30. > :46:34.cooperative party, 24,603. The total number of ballot papers rejected at

:46:35. > :46:41.the second count is as follows, 7515. The total number of valid

:46:42. > :46:48.first and second preference votes for each of the remaining candidates

:46:49. > :46:58.is as follows. Andy Street, the Conservative Party candidate, first

:46:59. > :47:12.preferences, 216,000 280. Second preferences, 22,000 348. Total,

:47:13. > :47:23.238,000 628. Simon Sean Llewelyn, Labour and cooperative party. First

:47:24. > :47:34.preferences, 210,000 259. Second preferences, 24,000 603. Total,

:47:35. > :47:39.234,000 862. Andy Street, the Conservative Party candidate, is

:47:40. > :47:50.duly elected as mayor for the West Midlands authority.

:47:51. > :47:53.Andy Street is elected as Metro Mayor in the West Midlands for the

:47:54. > :48:12.Conservatives. OK, thank you all. I think it is

:48:13. > :48:16.customary to say if few words on occasions like this and they should

:48:17. > :48:20.start with my thanks, of course. First of all that must be to Martin

:48:21. > :48:23.and his team of returning officers across the West Midlands. It has all

:48:24. > :48:28.been conducted brilliantly today said thank you very much, Martin and

:48:29. > :48:35.all of your team, including all the counters. Thank you. Secondly, I do

:48:36. > :48:41.want to say an enormous thank you to all of my fellow candidates. The

:48:42. > :48:45.Beverly, James, Pete, Graham and above all else to Sean. Because I

:48:46. > :48:52.honestly think we have conducted this in a very cordial way in the

:48:53. > :49:00.best tradition of British politics. Sean, thank you. I should also say

:49:01. > :49:05.thank you to Council bobsleigh has combined the West Midlands combined

:49:06. > :49:08.authority of the best point, so thank you for all you have done to

:49:09. > :49:14.get to this point. I should thank my own team, I am only going to mention

:49:15. > :49:18.Dolly my election agent, but you all the what you have done in that team

:49:19. > :49:26.and we have come an enormous distance. Thank you very much

:49:27. > :49:29.indeed. Now, talking... Talking of journeys. In September when we

:49:30. > :49:34.started, I talked about what I wanted to achieve in the campaign. I

:49:35. > :49:39.said I wanted it to reach every single community across the West

:49:40. > :49:43.Midlands. I said I wanted it to be moderate, tolerant and inclusive and

:49:44. > :49:49.I said I wanted to present practical solutions to difficult issues. And

:49:50. > :49:52.that is exactly what we have done. Judging by the results, we have

:49:53. > :49:57.reached every area across the West Midlands and we have won support in

:49:58. > :50:03.every single community. What we have seen here today is what I would call

:50:04. > :50:15.the rebirth of the new urban conservative agenda. It is

:50:16. > :50:21.defined... Andy Street giving his victory speech in the West Midlands.

:50:22. > :50:25.Just to recap, it is quite a narrow victory, Andy Street, the former

:50:26. > :50:28.boss of John Lewis, Conservative candidate who has been victorious in

:50:29. > :50:31.the West Midlands in probably the most powerful of these positions

:50:32. > :50:36.that have been created, the six Metro Mayor is we have been talking

:50:37. > :50:38.about today, which have been elected. We have had Greater

:50:39. > :50:43.Manchester and we have spoken to Andy Burnham. But there we have Andy

:50:44. > :50:49.Street, who has defeated John Simon in a very tough race. John McDonnell

:50:50. > :50:56.is with me. Thoughts on what is symbolically, as well, if I may say

:50:57. > :51:03.so, symbolically, a tough result for Labour? It is, I am so sorry for

:51:04. > :51:07.Sean Simon. It was always going to be close and to be that close. They

:51:08. > :51:12.have worked really hard. It is disappointing, but we knew it was

:51:13. > :51:16.going to be tied. I thought maybe he would be able to get it. It looks

:51:17. > :51:23.like a game in the second preference, the Ukip votes have

:51:24. > :51:29.collapsed into the Tories. I think this is what has happened again.

:51:30. > :51:34.29,000 new kit boats in the first round and 20,000 additional votes

:51:35. > :51:39.for Andy Street. But there are 50,000 lost centre-left votes. If

:51:40. > :51:46.you go to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. I suspect a lot of them

:51:47. > :51:50.voted for each other. It meant they weren't counted at all the second

:51:51. > :51:56.time round. While you had come if you like on the first count, 52-48

:51:57. > :52:01.lead the party is on the left and the parties on the right. Because of

:52:02. > :52:04.those wasted second votes, you have a narrow victory for the candidates

:52:05. > :52:11.on the right over the candidates on the left. In Ireland, people get

:52:12. > :52:17.used to a proportional representation system. I am

:52:18. > :52:22.tremendously disappointed. It has been said several times about Andy

:52:23. > :52:27.Street's campaign, but he has been accused several times of spending

:52:28. > :52:32.just about ?1 million on the very early stages of the campaign and

:52:33. > :52:38.that undoubtedly, say his opponents, helped him unfairly. Is it a factor

:52:39. > :52:42.or not? Can I congratulate Andy Street, I know his campaign was one

:52:43. > :52:56.very hard and I like him as an individual, he is a decent person

:52:57. > :53:00.and he will do his best for his May are tea. The rules are the rules, he

:53:01. > :53:07.can spend what he did come in hasn't broken any rules. He has been quite

:53:08. > :53:10.open about it. He said he thinks the campaign is worth spending the money

:53:11. > :53:16.on because he wants to be elected and wants to do the right thing for

:53:17. > :53:22.his area. The reality is, when you have these head to head elections,

:53:23. > :53:25.you will get a different pattern of how that goes about. If someone

:53:26. > :53:29.wants to change the rules, that is a different matter and if they want to

:53:30. > :53:33.look at the rules again, then fine. But Andy Street won a fair fight and

:53:34. > :53:41.it was a very close fight. Congratulations to Simon for going

:53:42. > :53:45.all the way. I am a great believer in mayoral elections because they

:53:46. > :53:48.would bring local focus and the man. But it does remind us we have lost

:53:49. > :53:53.some around the country. The Labour Party has been solid in places like

:53:54. > :53:57.Manchester, Liverpool and others. It shows my colleagues we cannot be

:53:58. > :54:00.complacent. You have to fight harder the election and make sure we get

:54:01. > :54:06.Theresa May elected. It is all beginning now. We have had the

:54:07. > :54:12.Manchester and Midlands results in the last hour or so. Real contrast

:54:13. > :54:16.compared with the general election votes two years ago. In West

:54:17. > :54:21.Midlands, it looked like a 5% swing from Labour to the Conservatives. In

:54:22. > :54:26.Manchester, there was something like a 9% swing from the Conservatives to

:54:27. > :54:37.the Labour Party. There is a real difference. I won't go into the

:54:38. > :54:43.reason, but the Liverpool result from two years ago looks more like

:54:44. > :54:48.the Midlands the Manchester. Just pause for a second, I want to go to

:54:49. > :54:52.West Sussex and we spoke to Peter Henley, our correspondence. We were

:54:53. > :54:56.talking about West Sussex earlier which is a conservative hold. I can

:54:57. > :55:11.show viewers the figures now because they are worth underlining. 56

:55:12. > :55:20.seats. A big conservative wing. Labour, losing ten. And 11 games for

:55:21. > :55:25.the Tories in West Sussex. Peter, what is the kind of take, what is

:55:26. > :55:37.your take on what has happened? All of those Ukip seats went to the

:55:38. > :55:42.Conservatives. This is a big leave area. Nigel Farage is the MEP for

:55:43. > :55:46.the south-east of England and I wonder if things have changed.

:55:47. > :55:51.Theresa May has taken over as the person who is doing the job on

:55:52. > :55:57.Brexit. So those Ukip voters have switched to the Conservatives. By

:55:58. > :55:59.contrast that with Oxfordshire. Another conservative county,

:56:00. > :56:05.struggling with cuts in school funding and in a dull social care or

:56:06. > :56:10.even contrast it with Surrey he was asking for a 15% increase in its

:56:11. > :56:14.council tax at one stage. The Conservatives just level pegging in

:56:15. > :56:19.Oxford. The Liberal Democrats up from 16% share of the vote to 25%

:56:20. > :56:24.and in Oxfordshire, Labour holding steady on 21% of the vote. The

:56:25. > :56:28.difference between the leave and remain areas and what people are

:56:29. > :56:34.doing is interesting. Thank you for the update. We are going to go and

:56:35. > :56:38.have a weather update in a minute, but just a quick comment, because he

:56:39. > :56:43.spoke about Oxfordshire and traditionally there is a strong Lib

:56:44. > :56:48.Dem element, your thoughts on what has happened there. It repeats what

:56:49. > :56:52.I was saying earlier, we have seen substantial swings to us both in

:56:53. > :56:55.Oxford West and Abingdon but in Witney where we have the by-election

:56:56. > :57:02.before Christmas. I am not surprised. Whilst West Sussex, the

:57:03. > :57:06.Ukip seats might have gone to the Conservatives, that is not true in

:57:07. > :57:10.Eastleigh where we gained three seats from Ukip. We will pick up

:57:11. > :57:16.again in a moment. We will get a quick update on the weather.

:57:17. > :57:24.It has been a lovely day across large parts of the UK. This is a

:57:25. > :57:29.picture from the Highlands. Blue sky and snow on the peaks, it has been

:57:30. > :57:33.melting all week. Not sunny everywhere. We have this cloud in

:57:34. > :57:37.Essex. Look at the satellite sequence and you can see sunshine is

:57:38. > :57:40.widespread and there is the breeze dragging the cloud into the

:57:41. > :57:44.southernmost counties but even there, there is breaks in the cloud

:57:45. > :57:48.and it is dry virtually everywhere. In the evening there will be the

:57:49. > :57:52.burial cloud across southern counties come increasing and

:57:53. > :57:56.spreading north. Might generate the odd spot of rain in the Midlands

:57:57. > :57:59.coming to Wales as well. More persistent rain clipping into

:58:00. > :58:04.Cornwall. Not as chilly as it was last night. But a touch of frost

:58:05. > :58:08.developing in the north of Scotland. Scotland tomorrow will be lovely

:58:09. > :58:12.with plenty of sunshine. Through the evening we have wet weather drifting

:58:13. > :58:16.a little bit further up into the south-western corner of the UK. Into

:58:17. > :58:20.tomorrow and it will be a lovely day, in the north of the UK, with

:58:21. > :58:23.plenty of sunshine and on the western side of Scotland. Northern

:58:24. > :58:29.Ireland will do well in the morning but more cloud in the afternoon.

:58:30. > :58:33.Generally cloudy across Northern Ingham, Wales and East Anglia but

:58:34. > :58:37.dry virtually everywhere. Into the afternoon, western Scotland doing

:58:38. > :58:40.well. Always more low cloud on the north coast which will keep the

:58:41. > :58:46.temperature is 11 or 12 degrees. Quite warm in the sunshine in the

:58:47. > :58:56.West. Northern Ireland seen 14, 15, 16 degrees. Cool on the North Sea

:58:57. > :58:59.coast. But had further inland, temperatures a bit higher, 15, 16

:59:00. > :59:01.degrees for Cardiff and Bournemouth. But the wet weather down towards the

:59:02. > :59:04.south-west. That will move away Saturday evening. Wetter weather for

:59:05. > :59:08.the south-west and for the Channel Islands as well. Heading into

:59:09. > :59:13.Sunday, we have this breeze coming from the North from the North Sea

:59:14. > :59:16.coastal areas. Great with light rain and drizzle, but had further west

:59:17. > :59:21.and the wind is lighter, brighter skies and sunshine. Maybe a few

:59:22. > :59:25.showers in the far south-west but doing well in terms of temperatures.

:59:26. > :59:29.Middle to upper teens in the south-west but cooler along the

:59:30. > :59:32.North Sea coast. Looking ahead to next week and for the most part it

:59:33. > :59:36.will stay dry for the early part. The might start seeing things on

:59:37. > :00:26.settled later on next week. Good afternoon, it's 5pm, welcome to

:00:27. > :00:31.our special live coverage of the local elections in England, Wales

:00:32. > :00:35.and Scotland. The final hour of coverage on the BBC News channel

:00:36. > :00:42.today, thousands of councillors elected overnight and today, they

:00:43. > :00:46.are the ones responsible for delivering local services but of

:00:47. > :00:49.course other things are happening as well. There is a general election

:00:50. > :00:54.campaign happening and that is part of the story we are telling today.

:00:55. > :00:57.We will have the last results to be declared hopefully in the next hour

:00:58. > :01:04.or so and we will get reaction from the political parties as to what has

:01:05. > :01:08.gone on. Within the past few minutes and the street has been elected as

:01:09. > :01:18.the first ever Metro Mayor of the West of England. Sorry, that's the

:01:19. > :01:23.West Midlands. And Sean Simon losing in a tight contest. The

:01:24. > :01:26.Conservatives have gained around 550 councillors, they took Derbyshire

:01:27. > :01:34.from Labour this afternoon, big result for them. Pretty difficult

:01:35. > :01:38.time for Labour as John McDonnell has been telling us, losing overall

:01:39. > :01:42.control of Glasgow City Council for the first time in decades, losing

:01:43. > :01:47.over 100 councillors in England and in Wales and Scotland if you add

:01:48. > :01:51.them together they have lost over 300. But Andy Burnham has been

:01:52. > :01:59.elected Metro Mayor for Manchester. He took 63% of the vote. Ukip have

:02:00. > :02:05.had a terrible time losing virtually every seat they were defending, down

:02:06. > :02:10.by almost 150 councillors and the party has been wiped out on councils

:02:11. > :02:13.such as Lincolnshire, Hampshire and Essex. The vote share is down

:02:14. > :02:24.dramatically, most of that going to the Conservatives. Here in the

:02:25. > :02:30.studio we will get some reaction in the next hour or so from John

:02:31. > :02:35.McDonnell of Labour and Iain Duncan Smith, thank you for giving us

:02:36. > :02:39.company and Peter Kellner is here to give us analysis and we'll be joined

:02:40. > :02:45.by Professor John Curtis who will give us his latest take on the days

:02:46. > :02:50.events. All that, but let's look at the scorecard, the scoreboard at the

:02:51. > :02:54.moment. This is where we are, in terms of council seats, these are

:02:55. > :02:59.the numbers of councillors, if you are just joining us this is where we

:03:00. > :03:10.are virtually at the end of this day. 550 gained for the

:03:11. > :03:15.Conservatives, 385 losses for Labour, independence losing 12, the

:03:16. > :03:22.Lib Dems as we speak having lost 36, the SNP having lost seven and Plaid

:03:23. > :03:29.Cymru having gained 33. The greens are on 40 as we speak, they have put

:03:30. > :03:36.on six overnight and today. And Ukip as I was saying, look at that

:03:37. > :03:45.figure, a losses from their high point in 2013, just one single seat

:03:46. > :03:49.I think in Lancashire. Lots of chat to come and we'll be getting as much

:03:50. > :03:54.reaction as we can trying to draw the schemes together for you in the

:03:55. > :03:57.next hour or so so we can get a good take on what these elections mean

:03:58. > :04:01.and maybe rather cautiously looking ahead five weeks as well to the

:04:02. > :04:04.general election. All that to come but let's catch up with the day 's

:04:05. > :04:07.news, the election news and all the rest of the news with Jane.

:04:08. > :04:17.The Prime Minister says they are taking nothing for granted as too

:04:18. > :04:19.much is at stake following their local election success.

:04:20. > :04:21.The Conservatives are enjoying their best results

:04:22. > :04:23.for more than a decade in the local elections.

:04:24. > :04:25.They are the only party to make significant gains,

:04:26. > :04:29.The Tories have taken 11 councils including some which had

:04:30. > :04:32.previously been staunchly Labour - like Derbyshire.

:04:33. > :04:37.Labour have performed poorly - losing more than 300 council seats.

:04:38. > :04:41.The Liberal Democrats have lost 35 seats.

:04:42. > :04:44.In the election of Metro Mayors, Andy Street has taken

:04:45. > :04:46.the West Midlands for the Tories, and Andy Burnham won

:04:47. > :04:50.Our political correspondent Eleanor Garnier has the full story

:04:51. > :04:56.It's the Conservatives with the biggest cheers.

:04:57. > :04:58.They've gained overall control in more than ten councils,

:04:59. > :05:02.including Derbyshire, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.

:05:03. > :05:05.The Conservative Party candidate is duly elected as mayor for

:05:06. > :05:11.And a huge win in one of Labour's former heartlands saw

:05:12. > :05:34.the Conservative candidate become elected mayor.

:05:35. > :05:40.Theresa May struck a cautious note I head of the general election. I'm

:05:41. > :05:44.not taking anything for granted, I will be going out for the remaining

:05:45. > :05:49.weeks of this general election campaign to earn the support of the

:05:50. > :05:52.British people. But also as I have said, only a Conservative vote at

:05:53. > :05:57.the general election will strengthen my hand to get the best Brexit deal

:05:58. > :06:02.for people across the whole of the United Kingdom. The Tories are

:06:03. > :06:07.celebrating and Essex to wear at this time around voters turned their

:06:08. > :06:11.back on Ukip. In Lincolnshire were Ukip leader Paul Nuttall will fight

:06:12. > :06:17.for Westminster seat next month the party was wiped out. And with such

:06:18. > :06:21.big losses the future of Ukip is in question. I have been Ukip for four

:06:22. > :06:25.years and the number of times I have heard we are finished I have lost

:06:26. > :06:30.count, if I had a pound for every one I would be quite a rich woman.

:06:31. > :06:36.It's not over until it's over and despite these pretty poor election

:06:37. > :06:40.results so far it's not over. I declare Andy Burn duly elected as

:06:41. > :06:47.the mayor of the greater Manchester combined authority. -- Andy Burnham.

:06:48. > :06:49.Andy Burnham is now the new mayor of greater Manchester and success for

:06:50. > :06:55.the party in Liverpool as well where Steve Rotherham was elected mayor of

:06:56. > :07:02.the city region. Elsewhere it's been a torrid time for Labour losing more

:07:03. > :07:07.than 320 seats so far. In Glasgow where Labour has been in power for

:07:08. > :07:10.more than 30 years it's now lost overall control. These are the

:07:11. > :07:16.counties which are Tory strongholds. It was going to be a tough night for

:07:17. > :07:20.us anyway and we are in the middle of a general election campaign so

:07:21. > :07:23.mixed motives, people are voting on local issues not necessarily

:07:24. > :07:27.national ones. But what's coming across is that where people were

:07:28. > :07:33.predicting we would get wiped out in places like Wales we have done very

:07:34. > :07:38.well. The SNP has replaced Labour is the biggest party in Glasgow but

:07:39. > :07:41.fell short of a majority. The SNP vote has held up, our share of the

:07:42. > :07:47.seats have held up and we will be the largest party in more councils,

:07:48. > :07:51.perhaps a majority of councils but that's not absolutely clear yet. But

:07:52. > :07:56.there is no way anyone can spin this result as anything other than a

:07:57. > :08:01.clear and emphatic win for the SNP. You guys deserve the applause. No

:08:02. > :08:10.significant breakthrough for the Lib Dems but making the most of their

:08:11. > :08:12.results. It's been a good day for the green party which has picked up

:08:13. > :08:15.some new councillors. For some the results today have been too close to

:08:16. > :08:19.tall, the Tories denied an overall majority in Northumberland after the

:08:20. > :08:23.Lib Dem candidate literally drew the longest straw. For now it's back to

:08:24. > :08:28.the counting, there is still plenty of that to be done.

:08:29. > :08:31.The final day of campaigning is continuing in the French

:08:32. > :08:35.The Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen was heckled

:08:36. > :08:38.during her visit to Reims cathedral, in northern France.

:08:39. > :08:40.The centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron - who has

:08:41. > :08:43.a substantial lead in opinion polls - has visited the southern

:08:44. > :08:50.A man has been critically injured in a helicopter

:08:51. > :08:54.Emergency Services said the helicopter landed

:08:55. > :08:57.on its side when it came down at Wycombe Air Park this morning.

:08:58. > :09:07.That's a summary of the news - now back to Local Elections

:09:08. > :09:31.Welcome back to the election Centre on the BBC News Channel, in the next

:09:32. > :09:35.45 minutes or so we will take you through the main themes as we see

:09:36. > :09:39.them and the results which have come in, one or two still to come but

:09:40. > :09:43.it's worth taking stock and looking at different parts of the UK, talked

:09:44. > :09:47.about Scotland and we will come back to that but we've not talked about

:09:48. > :09:51.Wales for a while because that was an interesting challenge for several

:09:52. > :09:54.parties not least Labour and with lots of talk last week of a big

:09:55. > :10:00.Conservative surge led me show you the Welsh figures as they stand.

:10:01. > :10:07.This is the scorecard, Labour having lost a councillors in Wales. John

:10:08. > :10:21.McDonnell might say that is not as bad as some have forecast.

:10:22. > :10:28.Ukip down by two with no seat at the moment on the board. Looking at

:10:29. > :10:33.Monmouthshire, this was a result which came in earlier today, it was

:10:34. > :10:46.a Conservative gain from a hung council back in 2012, 25 Tory seats.

:10:47. > :10:49.Monmouthshire a strong conservative tradition has been sending Labour

:10:50. > :10:59.MPs to Parliament in the past but mainly conservative. You will see

:11:00. > :11:04.lots of independent representation in quite a few of the Welsh

:11:05. > :11:11.councils. Bridgend, the backyard of Carwyn Jones, the Welsh First

:11:12. > :11:14.Minister for Labour. Look at this, 11 for the Conservatives, you might

:11:15. > :11:20.think they are in third place but if you look at what happened last time

:11:21. > :11:24.that the story, ten games for the Conservatives and 13 losses for

:11:25. > :11:32.Labour and Bridgend traditionally a very strong web area. -- very strong

:11:33. > :11:39.Labour area. Cardiff, the capital city, this has been quite a big

:11:40. > :11:45.fight in terms of control of the Council and Labour had some fears

:11:46. > :11:54.they would lose overall control but they have not, they have held on. We

:11:55. > :11:59.need to look at the change to get the real story probably, some losses

:12:00. > :12:04.for Labour, sex, but they still hold on. The Tories surging by 13 seats

:12:05. > :12:11.which puts them in a different place. The Lib Dems will be

:12:12. > :12:13.disappointed losing five seats in Cardiff where in Cardiff Central we

:12:14. > :12:20.have had strong representation in the past, again for Plaid Cymru, I

:12:21. > :12:27.think that will disappoint them. And the independence losing three. I

:12:28. > :12:34.don't want to take too much time on the figures because we are at city

:12:35. > :12:37.hall, I've taken us to lots of the results, why don't you tell us where

:12:38. > :12:40.you see the parties this evening and what they can be pleased about and

:12:41. > :12:48.what they should be disappointed about. No doubt I think Labour in

:12:49. > :12:53.Wales will be disappointed. But let's not forget in the last

:12:54. > :12:56.election they made 200 games so with all the expectation they were going

:12:57. > :13:01.to implode in Wales they have not done as badly as expected. But it

:13:02. > :13:06.was a mixed evening in some ways overnight, it began terribly badly

:13:07. > :13:13.with losing the leader in Merthyr Tydfil, losing the majority in

:13:14. > :13:18.Bridgend, where Carwyn Jones has his assembly seat, but it picked up I

:13:19. > :13:22.think when the news came with Cardiff, holding onto that, it was a

:13:23. > :13:28.significant victory because they held onto Newport, they've just held

:13:29. > :13:33.on to Swansea, so the three big cities in South East Wales being

:13:34. > :13:38.held was a huge boost. What was looking like a poor evening turned

:13:39. > :13:45.out to be not quite as bad. You mentioned Plaid Cymru, they have

:13:46. > :13:49.taken, they have held on, one of the results coming in since we last

:13:50. > :13:53.spoke was Carmarthenshire, they have just missed out on gaining a

:13:54. > :14:01.majority there. They have increased their numbers in Gwynedd but no one

:14:02. > :14:06.has overall control. The other two which are interesting since we last

:14:07. > :14:09.spoke is the Vale of Glamorgan, even though there is no overall control

:14:10. > :14:16.the Conservatives have made significant gains, just one shy of a

:14:17. > :14:20.majority so possibly they will look to rule that council with a

:14:21. > :14:26.minority. No doubt the Tories will be pleased with how they have done

:14:27. > :14:30.in Wales, taking a lot of seats from the Labour Party, Labour will be

:14:31. > :14:34.disappointed. I think Plaid Cymru will be disappointed in not gaining

:14:35. > :14:37.another council or two but they have made gains so that's a positive for

:14:38. > :14:43.them while the Lib Dems have imploded in Wales and Ukip have not

:14:44. > :14:48.moved at all. A mixed picture but I think the Labour Party as I say,

:14:49. > :14:54.when the Cardiff result came in the tide changed, it was more positive

:14:55. > :14:58.after what was looking like a difficult evening. But where does

:14:59. > :15:05.that success in Cardiff live? Does it lie with the Labour Party in

:15:06. > :15:09.Wales or centrally because talking to people on their doorstep they

:15:10. > :15:13.said the influence of Jeremy Corbyn had impacted their vote but it does

:15:14. > :15:18.not seem to have implicated that much in the local election vote.

:15:19. > :15:22.Stephen Kinnock talking year earlier and he was healing the leadership of

:15:23. > :15:27.Carwyn Jones and John McDonnell who you have in the studio was seeing

:15:28. > :15:33.the success in Cardiff was down to Jeremy Corbyn's recent visit. But

:15:34. > :15:40.where he was Labour lost their four seats so who should get the plaudits

:15:41. > :15:47.for keeping hold of Cardiff? I am not sure. I think it's a big victory

:15:48. > :15:52.and it will be a significant one to making sure today has not been as

:15:53. > :15:57.bad as people expected. Carwyn Jones has had his say, saying it's a mixed

:15:58. > :15:59.night for Labour in Wales and he is focusing on regrouping and

:16:00. > :16:06.campaigning for the general election next month. Thank you. I want to go

:16:07. > :16:10.to Birmingham because I think I'm joined by Sean Simon the Labour

:16:11. > :16:18.candidate who lost two and a street in the Metro Mayor, commiserations

:16:19. > :16:25.on what has happened, I wonder what your thoughts are on such a narrow

:16:26. > :16:36.defeat? It's very disappointing, obviously. I keep being asked, you

:16:37. > :16:39.lost in your heartlands, we won in Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton,

:16:40. > :16:44.Soundwell, where we really lost was the Conservative heartland of

:16:45. > :16:53.Solihull which the Conservatives having spent millions of pounds had

:16:54. > :16:56.a turnout of bird higher bull tweet third higher than the regional

:16:57. > :17:03.balance and that tipped the balance. But I will not pretend that he did

:17:04. > :17:07.not hear coming back from the doorsteps of the areas we did win in

:17:08. > :17:18.our heart lines a message from Labour voters that their confidence

:17:19. > :17:28.is waning in our strength as a party in the traditional Labour values.

:17:29. > :17:32.Are you still with us? I am the still with you. Making a point about

:17:33. > :17:37.what voters are telling you about having confidence in the party, I am

:17:38. > :17:43.transcending this properly in that you're talking about leadership

:17:44. > :17:51.here? I am talking about values actually. The issues which came back

:17:52. > :17:55.on the doorstep were about values about our regional campaign

:17:56. > :18:00.overshadowed by national political issues all the time. We should have

:18:01. > :18:04.been talking about transport and housing and taking back control of

:18:05. > :18:10.our region from London which has let us down but we ended up talking

:18:11. > :18:16.about defence and immigration and Brexit and on those issues Labour

:18:17. > :18:21.voters in Labour areas were saying we do not feel confident that you

:18:22. > :18:24.are strong enough in our traditional Labour values, which we always have

:18:25. > :18:31.been here and that's the lesson we need to learn as a party. Are you

:18:32. > :18:36.saying that Labour as it currently stands has lost contact with its

:18:37. > :18:42.voters? I am saying there is a portion of our traditional Labour

:18:43. > :18:50.votes right across the West Midlands which whilst it has remained

:18:51. > :18:57.faithful to the Labour Party has nevertheless been less so and the

:18:58. > :19:00.less so consists of people consistently saying we are not quite

:19:01. > :19:06.confident at the moment that you are strong enough in our core Labour

:19:07. > :19:14.values that matter to us. That's the lesson we need to learn as a party,

:19:15. > :19:18.and quickly. To what extent have people been bringing up the name of

:19:19. > :19:25.Jeremy Corbyn in the reasoning or has that not been part of your

:19:26. > :19:31.experience? Personalising and blaming individuals is not something

:19:32. > :19:36.that I am going to get into. The conversations I have been having on

:19:37. > :19:44.the doorstep on about values more than anything, a sense that our

:19:45. > :19:51.voters, some of our voters, don't have confidence any more or at the

:19:52. > :19:59.moment that we share the court Labour values as we have done with

:20:00. > :20:07.the kind of strength they want to see from us. If that is the case who

:20:08. > :20:12.is responsible for that? The Labour Party is to blame. We are

:20:13. > :20:18.responsible to our electorate and our people. It's our responsibility

:20:19. > :20:22.as a party to represent the real values of the people we seek to

:20:23. > :20:27.serve. What has happened in this election, as I said earlier, let's

:20:28. > :20:32.not forget, what has also happened is the Tories have spent millions of

:20:33. > :20:36.pounds which in our campaign we simply have not had access to. We

:20:37. > :20:40.have not had access to a fraction of the millions the Tories have spent

:20:41. > :20:45.and they have spent that money in Conservative heartland areas on

:20:46. > :20:49.raising the turnout by a third more than the regional average and it's

:20:50. > :20:56.that actually that has swung this election in their favour. But at the

:20:57. > :21:01.same time it is true our people in the areas we did win, even the areas

:21:02. > :21:06.we did win like Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry, sand well,

:21:07. > :21:10.people have been saying consistently on the doorstep we are not confident

:21:11. > :21:26.in Labour values any more. That's a pretty clear message, it's

:21:27. > :21:31.an incredibly serious thing to say, that the party is not in a position

:21:32. > :21:35.at the moment where it can connect, convincingly, with lots of the

:21:36. > :21:43.people he was trying to get to vote for him. That does not seem to be

:21:44. > :21:50.reflected elsewhere, Manchester, 63% majority, 59% in Liverpool, and in

:21:51. > :21:59.Birmingham I think we had a 20 point lead. So I will listen to Andy and I

:22:00. > :22:05.think we have to get that more effectively across, our values. This

:22:06. > :22:09.election seems to have been won on the turnout in Solihull were a lot

:22:10. > :22:12.of money was spent and I think we need to start looking at election

:22:13. > :22:18.expenditure in some way so it becomes a more equal and even

:22:19. > :22:28.battle. I will ask about that, we picked it up earlier as a theme, it

:22:29. > :22:32.is a serious thing to say, he is a former MP, MEP, an experienced

:22:33. > :22:36.campaigner, several years going into this campaign and the whole process

:22:37. > :22:42.of getting an elected mayor, he has clearly talked to an incredibly

:22:43. > :22:46.broad range of people, in the Labour Party family and outside it. If he

:22:47. > :22:50.is saying one of the reasons he's lost this important context is that

:22:51. > :22:53.the party is not actually upholding the kind of values that gets people

:22:54. > :23:01.on board that is a very serious thing. Of course it is and we will

:23:02. > :23:03.have that conversation. Bridge are not convinced? In other areas that

:23:04. > :23:13.is not the report we are getting back. We lost by under 5000 votes

:23:14. > :23:16.but if you look at the vote in Bristol getting majorities in

:23:17. > :23:19.parliamentary constituencies. We will listen to all the lessons and

:23:20. > :23:23.in the next five weeks get our message across and if in that area

:23:24. > :23:26.there are issues picked up by the party in this issue about Labour

:23:27. > :23:32.values we will listen hard to make sure we get the message in the

:23:33. > :23:37.campaign on the streets. Earlier Clive Lewis treated seeing given

:23:38. > :23:42.today's results I hope someone reappraise is the strategy of

:23:43. > :23:45.triangulating our own Brexit position and I think that's a

:23:46. > :23:50.serious problem for Labour. I think it's one of the reasons we've gained

:23:51. > :23:56.substantial Labour vote in the areas we are strong and remain areas as

:23:57. > :24:00.well. In the first quarter of this year the Lib Dems raised more money

:24:01. > :24:03.than Labour and I think web are understanding the issues smaller

:24:04. > :24:11.parties face when one party can go out and raise millions at the drop

:24:12. > :24:15.of a hat. I think that is true. It's come up again, this spending issue,

:24:16. > :24:20.you actually said earlier if the rules need to be revisited they

:24:21. > :24:23.should be revisited, what are your thoughts now on the whole concept of

:24:24. > :24:28.spending a huge amount of money before the rules start in the actual

:24:29. > :24:34.campaign? No rules were broken but it is to do with spending a lot of

:24:35. > :24:38.money. A little bit of sour grapes here, the rules are the same for

:24:39. > :24:46.everyone, Andy Street fought a tough campaign, raising the money himself.

:24:47. > :24:53.The rules are the rules. It's a lot of money to spend the of reaction.

:24:54. > :24:58.People wanted him to get collected so they've given him the support.

:24:59. > :25:01.The Conservatives have consistently refused to look at changing these

:25:02. > :25:06.fund-raising arrangements and we have been fighting for a long time.

:25:07. > :25:10.I understand all this but let's be honest it's a little bit of sour

:25:11. > :25:18.grapes, he won the election, people did not have devoted for him, he had

:25:19. > :25:23.to persuade them. This showing in Birmingham tells me what Theresa May

:25:24. > :25:29.said was correct, you cannot take anything for granted, it's a fight

:25:30. > :25:33.between us and the Labour Party. I am not sure money makes as much

:25:34. > :25:37.difference as people say, the Liberal Democrats years and decades

:25:38. > :25:41.gone past you were the people who gained five, six, seven percentage

:25:42. > :25:48.points in a campaign, and you were spending far less. Do you remember

:25:49. > :25:53.the referendum party 20 years ago, ?20 million and they lost almost all

:25:54. > :26:01.of their deposits. I think money places much smaller part than people

:26:02. > :26:05.think. We have talked to Sion Simon in the West Midlands and talked

:26:06. > :26:11.about Wales, let's get a recap on the position in Scotland coming up

:26:12. > :26:32.to 5:30pm, 5:25pm. The Scottish scorecard is as follows.

:26:33. > :26:43.A quick look at Glasgow because that's the result we were boxing on

:26:44. > :26:47.earlier. The loss of Labour's control of Glasgow however this is

:26:48. > :26:50.now no overall control. I think it's fair to say quite a few in the SNP

:26:51. > :26:55.had hoped they would be in a position to say they were in control

:26:56. > :27:02.but they are not. Look at the difference between today and 2012,

:27:03. > :27:12.eight up to the SNP, Labour down by 16, the Tories up by seven, greens

:27:13. > :27:20.up by three. This is also a hung council, nine to the SNP. What has

:27:21. > :27:26.happened? Another conservative addition in terms of the table, up

:27:27. > :27:31.by five. It's a hung council. With all that in mind I want to go to

:27:32. > :27:38.Anita McVeigh who we have not spoken to in a while and she will bring us

:27:39. > :27:43.date with Glasgow. Thank you, just picking up on that point, not a

:27:44. > :27:46.single majority Council in Scotland which is a fascinating picture if

:27:47. > :27:51.you look back at the last local elections are in a quarter of the

:27:52. > :27:55.councils the party that was the largest party did not go on to form

:27:56. > :28:01.the administration saw a lot of trading to be done in the days ahead

:28:02. > :28:04.to form lots of coalitions. Any number of interesting stories coming

:28:05. > :28:10.out of the count in Glasgow, let's get an overview of that with our

:28:11. > :28:14.Scotland correspondent, what are your thoughts? The SNP, the largest

:28:15. > :28:18.party in Glasgow but falling short of a majority by four seats. We

:28:19. > :28:23.heard at the start of the day that in 2012 it was a target and they

:28:24. > :28:27.were disappointed not to have achieved that. Since then Glasgow

:28:28. > :28:32.was a yes city in the referendum, the SNP winning all the seats at the

:28:33. > :28:37.Holyrood and Westminster elections but if there is disappointment here

:28:38. > :28:41.it not been expressed publicly. Labour not unexpectedly losing

:28:42. > :28:43.control of the council but still hugely symbolic and the

:28:44. > :28:47.Conservatives winning seats in places you would not have expected

:28:48. > :28:50.them to such as Shettleston here in Glasgow which feeds into the

:28:51. > :28:54.national picture of the Conservatives gaining seats

:28:55. > :29:03.primarily at the expense of Labour. Thank you. Let's assess the

:29:04. > :29:09.developments here again today with Duncan Hamilton, former SNP MSP,

:29:10. > :29:14.Adam Tomkins, the Conservative MSP and Tom Harris the former Labour MP,

:29:15. > :29:22.thank you for waiting to talk to us here on BBC News. Thank you and

:29:23. > :29:27.first of all, Duncan, four vote short of the overall majority,

:29:28. > :29:33.Nicola Sturgeon seeing an emphatic victory, saying nobody can spin it

:29:34. > :29:37.otherwise, it must be a disappointment not to get that

:29:38. > :29:48.overall majority here in Glasgow? Let's start with about a

:29:49. > :29:56.on any view it's a victory for the SNP despite what anyone wants to say

:29:57. > :30:00.and do not a minute underplay the symbolic importance as you have

:30:01. > :30:05.heard about what has happened, 37 years since Labour was not in

:30:06. > :30:09.control here. To lose that in a city where a Glasgow has already lost all

:30:10. > :30:14.of the constituencies both at Westminster and in Holyrood really

:30:15. > :30:18.means there is a huge, clearly a huge problem for Labour and the

:30:19. > :30:23.story of the election in Scotland is of the loss of Labour votes straight

:30:24. > :30:29.to the Tories which is haemorrhaging votes. Let me pick up on that with

:30:30. > :30:33.Adam, the Conservatives had one seat on Glasgow council and they have now

:30:34. > :30:39.got eight, has that largely been as Duncan was saying Conservative

:30:40. > :30:46.gaining at the expense of Labour? I think so, at 10% swing in the

:30:47. > :30:52.Holyrood elections and that momentum we got last year has been maintained

:30:53. > :31:00.in these local government elections, moving from one councillor to eight

:31:01. > :31:04.and they have been elected across all parts of the city. Working-class

:31:05. > :31:14.neighbourhoods, middle-class neighbourhoods. There is now no go

:31:15. > :31:17.area and Glasgow for the Scottish Conservatives. No street in Scotland

:31:18. > :31:23.where there is not a conservative voter. Where does Labour ago now in

:31:24. > :31:29.Glasgow and supplementary to that what do you think it means for

:31:30. > :31:35.voters hear the fact there is no overall majority? No overall

:31:36. > :31:39.majority will be dealt with quickly, the green party are essentially

:31:40. > :31:42.Scottish Nationalists. Without hesitation they will go into

:31:43. > :31:48.coalition with the SNP just as they support the minority government at

:31:49. > :31:54.Holyrood. I think before today it's fair to say some Labour friends were

:31:55. > :31:58.quite despondent, they thought they would be wiped off the map in

:31:59. > :32:03.Glasgow given as Duncan said the SNP already control every single one of

:32:04. > :32:08.the constituencies at Westminster and Holyrood level. For them to have

:32:09. > :32:12.retreated to a fairly firm base is a little bit of a silver lining but of

:32:13. > :32:17.course it's a dark cloud, this is Glasgow and Labour has lost Glasgow

:32:18. > :32:24.for the first time since 1980 when we took it control of an SNP

:32:25. > :32:28.Conservative coalition. Thank you very much gentlemen, definitely a

:32:29. > :32:33.sense of a changing of the guard here at Glasgow City Council, a hive

:32:34. > :32:38.of activity behind me, almost everyone has gone, they are packing

:32:39. > :32:43.up shop and in the days ahead a lot of meetings going on to try to form

:32:44. > :32:49.a coalition, likely to be the SNP and the greens, back to you.

:32:50. > :32:53.Thank you to you and your guests for that take on the position this

:32:54. > :32:58.evening in Scotland. For the next half hour or so we will be looking

:32:59. > :33:03.at some of the big mayoral contests we've not discussed, and looking at

:33:04. > :33:07.those figures you can see on the screen, projected national share and

:33:08. > :33:11.we will be explaining what we mean by that and what that tells us and

:33:12. > :33:15.what it might tell us about what could happen in five weeks' time, we

:33:16. > :33:18.will explain why we need to be cautious around those percentages as

:33:19. > :33:24.well but it's an interesting story to tell. What we are going to do now

:33:25. > :33:29.at 5:33pm is get the latest on the day 's news.

:33:30. > :33:31.The Conservatives are enjoying their best results

:33:32. > :33:36.for more than a decade in the local elections.

:33:37. > :33:43.It was a difficult night for Labour and Ukip has seen export collapse.

:33:44. > :33:50.The Conservatives have taken 11 councils. The Prime Minister has

:33:51. > :33:55.responded to the Conservatives success saying she is taking nothing

:33:56. > :33:59.for granted because there's too much at stake. Since I became Prime

:34:00. > :34:05.Minister I been determined to make sure this is a government that works

:34:06. > :34:07.for the whole country and it's encouraging we have won support

:34:08. > :34:11.across the whole of the United Kingdom but I will not take anything

:34:12. > :34:17.for granted and neither will the team I lead because there's too much

:34:18. > :34:21.at stake. This is not about to wins and loses in the local elections

:34:22. > :34:27.it's about continuing to fight for the best Brexit deal for families

:34:28. > :34:32.across the United Kingdom, to lock in the economic progress we've made

:34:33. > :34:36.and get on with the job of making a success of the years ahead. Labour

:34:37. > :34:39.has admitted having a tough night after losing ground to the

:34:40. > :34:44.Conservatives in England and struggling in some of its heartlands

:34:45. > :34:50.in Wales. In Scotland the party lost control of Glasgow City Council, an

:34:51. > :34:53.authority they have held since 1980. They have lost seven councils

:34:54. > :34:58.overall and more than 380 council seats but the party held on to

:34:59. > :35:03.Cardiff, Jeremy Corbyn has insisted there are some positive signs for

:35:04. > :35:07.Labour. We have got councillors elected all over the country.

:35:08. > :35:11.Everyone predicted we would lose in Cardiff and we won, everyone said

:35:12. > :35:15.the same in Swansea and we increased the majority, we came within 5000

:35:16. > :35:18.votes of winning the West of England which everyone said was impossible.

:35:19. > :35:22.We've had disappointing results in other parts of the country, yes we

:35:23. > :35:28.have to go out there in the next four weeks and get the message out

:35:29. > :35:32.of the kind of country we could be. And the results have also been

:35:33. > :35:37.disappointing for Ukip, so far the party winning just one of the seats

:35:38. > :35:41.it contested losing a previously held council seats. Ukip says it

:35:42. > :35:44.still has sitting councillors in the country although these are positions

:35:45. > :35:50.which were not up for election yesterday. And the results have been

:35:51. > :35:56.mixed for the Lib Dems, the party is down by 38 council seats, the Lib

:35:57. > :36:00.Dems also failed to retake Somerset Council from the Conservatives but

:36:01. > :36:06.Tim Farron said the results are good news. Increasingly vote share by 7%,

:36:07. > :36:09.the best vote share in any election nationally, double the increase the

:36:10. > :36:14.Tories have experienced in terms of vote share around the country with

:36:15. > :36:19.the Labour Party utterly imploding and devastated like no other party

:36:20. > :36:23.in recent memory. But there is another lesson to learn, apart from

:36:24. > :36:29.the Lib Dems revival and success arrow in the country we still see

:36:30. > :36:32.Britain headed for a Conservative landslide. The Scottish National

:36:33. > :36:37.Party still has the largest number of councillors in Scotland however

:36:38. > :36:42.they lost control of one council and have so far lost 14 council seats,

:36:43. > :36:47.the leader of the SNP Nicola Sturgeon said her party had still

:36:48. > :36:51.enjoyed an emphatic victory. The SNP vote has held up, our share of the

:36:52. > :36:55.seats has held up and we will be the largest party in more councils,

:36:56. > :37:01.perhaps a majority but that's not absolutely clear so there is no way

:37:02. > :37:05.that anybody can spin this result as anything other than a clear and

:37:06. > :37:10.emphatic win for the SNP and it fits is in pole position to protect local

:37:11. > :37:14.services the length and breadth of the country and gives us a great

:37:15. > :37:18.springboard for the general election. Elections have also been

:37:19. > :37:23.taking place for Metro Mayers in various cities, in the last hour the

:37:24. > :37:27.former boss of John Lewis Andy Street has taken the West led Minz

:37:28. > :37:31.for the Tories and Labour's Andy Burnham was elected mayor of

:37:32. > :37:36.Manchester winning with more than 63%. Another victory for Labour in

:37:37. > :37:52.Merseyside where the former Labour MP Steve Rotherham was elected.

:37:53. > :38:00.Plaid Cymru and the green party have also made gains, the greens up three

:38:01. > :38:07.seats so far lost Plaid Cymru has 33 more councillors. We will take a

:38:08. > :38:12.look at some of the other main stories today and France goes to the

:38:13. > :38:16.polls on Sunday to pick a new president, the two candidates, the

:38:17. > :38:20.centrist Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen are out on the campaign trail

:38:21. > :38:25.for the last time today, correspondent Christian Frazier

:38:26. > :38:30.following the campaign in Paris, not many hours of campaigning left, what

:38:31. > :38:34.is your reading? We are into the last few hours of what has been a

:38:35. > :38:39.bitterly fought campaign, I am sure it's not done much to hear much of

:38:40. > :38:51.the divisions but Emmanuel Macron looks as if he's going to become the

:38:52. > :38:56.next it's become a little bit hostile for Marine Le Pen, she was

:38:57. > :39:01.egged on one of her tours yesterday, yesterday she was at a cathedral,

:39:02. > :39:05.beautiful cathedral where they used to grow in the old Kings of France

:39:06. > :39:10.but they did not go too well, she had to go out at the back of the

:39:11. > :39:15.cathedral to a waiting car at the back just to avoid some hostile

:39:16. > :39:19.crowds at the front. Tomorrow will be a day of reflection for the

:39:20. > :39:25.French, will have to consider everything they've heard and we will

:39:26. > :39:29.have the vote on Sunday, a special programme on BBC News on Sunday

:39:30. > :39:33.evening from 6:30pm and we'll bring you a result when we get it. The one

:39:34. > :39:41.thing we'll have to watch the abstention rate, in UK terms the

:39:42. > :39:53.participation sounds quite a lot but it will be the lowest

:39:54. > :39:59.turnout if there is a big abstention we might have a big shock on our

:40:00. > :40:04.hands, I would not put my house on actual Macron, but we have seen what

:40:05. > :40:12.happened with Brexit and Donald Trump. The Russian Defence Ministry

:40:13. > :40:19.has announced an agreement to set up safe dawns will come into force at

:40:20. > :40:23.midnight tonight local time, agreement was reached between Russia

:40:24. > :40:27.and Iran which both backed the Syrian government. Turkey which

:40:28. > :40:31.supports the rebels is also reported to have agreed to act as a guarantor

:40:32. > :40:41.but some representatives of the rebels have also rejected the plan.

:40:42. > :40:42.That's the latest from here in the newsroom back to the latest on the

:40:43. > :40:59.local elections. Welcome back to the election studio,

:41:00. > :41:03.still getting some results, talking earlier about the results in the

:41:04. > :41:07.West Midlands, these Metro Mirror posts which have been created,

:41:08. > :41:14.another one to give you, Cambridge and Peterborough, this result, I win

:41:15. > :41:18.for the Conservatives, these are the first preference votes we have on

:41:19. > :41:21.screen because it's another system of voting where people have

:41:22. > :41:26.preferences and if the person doesn't cross the threshold there is

:41:27. > :41:40.a second-round and we have James Palmer on 76,000. A turnout of 33%,

:41:41. > :41:49.if we look at the percentage of the votes we then see the Tories... What

:41:50. > :41:56.happened then, because it went to a second round where all the others

:41:57. > :42:02.were eliminated, they have their preferences shared and this is what

:42:03. > :42:12.happened, James Palmer for the Conservatives on 88,000 and the Lib

:42:13. > :42:16.Dems in second place a majority of 21,000 in Cambridge and

:42:17. > :42:21.Peterborough, the latest in our results and I win for the

:42:22. > :42:24.Conservatives on that second preference round, we have a quote

:42:25. > :42:33.from the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, this is the key line, of

:42:34. > :42:37.course I'm disappointed he says, we have to get our supporters out to

:42:38. > :42:41.vote in June, talking about the general election on the eighth, we

:42:42. > :42:47.have to get our message across and I'm determined to do that and maybe

:42:48. > :42:52.that can be seen in the context of what Sion Simon was telling us, that

:42:53. > :42:56.he had difficulty getting the Labour message across in terms of the

:42:57. > :42:59.values people perceive the party to have although he was not

:43:00. > :43:10.personalising it to that extent, with all of that in mind, let's go

:43:11. > :43:15.to college green. We are going to examine what these results mean,

:43:16. > :43:21.we're going to talk to representatives from both wings of

:43:22. > :43:29.the Labour Party, I have the person who ran the Jeremy Corbyn campaign

:43:30. > :43:33.and a man from the progress group, are these results because of Jeremy

:43:34. > :43:37.Corbyn's leadership, these disappointing results as he's

:43:38. > :43:46.described them? It's a difficult day for Labour. We've not done as badly

:43:47. > :43:51.as people have said but that result in the West Midlands, I think Sion

:43:52. > :43:57.Simon will be disappointed with that and rightly so. Is it because of the

:43:58. > :44:07.leadership of Jeremy Corbyn? Again and again his leadership coming up

:44:08. > :44:11.on the doorstep. The collapse of the Labour voter ship in two Ukip which

:44:12. > :44:14.is now going to the Tories and I think that's a double issue which

:44:15. > :44:25.has been exasperated massively by the referendum and Brexit. I was on

:44:26. > :44:28.the doorstep in Nottinghamshire, ten miles in nine hours in ten different

:44:29. > :44:36.council wards, time and again one name always mentioned was the Labour

:44:37. > :44:39.leader and it's been a damning verdict and I say this with the

:44:40. > :44:43.heaviest of hearts because Labour councillors are being punished

:44:44. > :44:50.around the country, if this result carries on Labour MPs will get,

:44:51. > :44:53.punished and Teresa May is heading towards a landslide and that's

:44:54. > :45:02.deeply regrettable, its lacklustre so far, little of the big concerns

:45:03. > :45:07.of people being talked about, it's time to get out of first gear. On

:45:08. > :45:10.the basis of these results, if they were projected onto a general

:45:11. > :45:33.election no way Jeremy Corbyn could ever be Prime Minister.

:45:34. > :45:38.Over party member needs to get out there and so that this is a very

:45:39. > :45:41.clear choice. If you don't want a hard Tory Brexit in which jobs will

:45:42. > :45:43.be put at risk, the economy is not going to be bought its knees,

:45:44. > :45:45.because companies are already fleeing this country we will be in a

:45:46. > :45:48.very tough situation. Livelihoods are at risk, the NHS is under

:45:49. > :45:52.threat, education is getting hammered and we have to say, what do

:45:53. > :45:59.you want? Do want Brexit that can deliver for ordinary people, put

:46:00. > :46:03.money in your back pocket. But if Labour does badly in the general

:46:04. > :46:06.election as in his council elections, will Jeremy Corbyn stand

:46:07. > :46:11.down? Should he stand down, in your opinion, as a man he ran his

:46:12. > :46:14.leadership -- leadership campaign? Everyone in labour will be

:46:15. > :46:19.reflecting on their position and how they take ourselves forward. We have

:46:20. > :46:22.got four weeks. We have closed some of the opinion poll gaps in the

:46:23. > :46:28.national polls. These are clearly difficult results. In London, in

:46:29. > :46:33.Andy Burnham's area of Greater Manchester and on Merseyside, we

:46:34. > :46:36.have 10 million people looking to labour for leadership and we need to

:46:37. > :46:40.get out there and fight to get the rest of the country to look to us

:46:41. > :46:44.for the bishop. In a word, she Jeremy Corbyn stand down if these

:46:45. > :46:49.are carried on into the general election? The D fighting the

:46:50. > :46:53.marginal seats. Justin Pipe Labour safe once. We are in a defensive

:46:54. > :46:57.strategy and to stop a hard Brexit the need to return as many Labour

:46:58. > :47:00.MPs as possible. Richard Angell and Sam Parry, representing both wings

:47:01. > :47:06.of the Labour Party, many thanks. Back to the studio. What did you

:47:07. > :47:12.make of that, John? Richard Angell, to be frank, has been one of

:47:13. > :47:16.Jeremy's most betrayal that critics from the minute that Jeremy got on

:47:17. > :47:21.the ballot paper so I'm not surprised. Are you disappointed? The

:47:22. > :47:25.message is clear. We are Tyson soon be disappointed. Of course we are.

:47:26. > :47:30.We have five weeks to go. We must get that message out there. We have

:47:31. > :47:33.seen a mixed bag of results. Some areas like Manchester and Liverpool

:47:34. > :47:36.and even in the West of England we have had some good results. Not

:47:37. > :47:41.wiped out in Wales the way that people predicted. Our share of the

:47:42. > :47:44.vote has been better than in the opinion polls. It is all to fight

:47:45. > :47:50.for in the next five weeks. What we're going do now is, we're going

:47:51. > :47:55.to bring in John Curtice who has joined us once again. Welcome. Wigan

:47:56. > :48:00.to talk about these figures that we have on the screen, the projected

:48:01. > :48:08.national share. And they are, as they stand on 138% for the Tories,

:48:09. > :48:13.27 for Labour, 18% for the Lib Dems, 5% Ukip and 12% to the others. When

:48:14. > :48:17.people look at these figures, John, just again to underline, lots of

:48:18. > :48:20.people have joined us since we last spoke about this. Can we just

:48:21. > :48:26.underline what these figures are, and what they signify? These figures

:48:27. > :48:29.are a summary measure of the way in which the parties performed in the

:48:30. > :48:34.English County Council elections and, to do that we have taken the

:48:35. > :48:42.results and projected them into what they would be from national vote of

:48:43. > :48:46.the country voted along the votes of the English county elections. We can

:48:47. > :48:51.concern... Not only the four years ago with the local elections that

:48:52. > :48:55.took place on the same day as the last general election.

:48:56. > :49:03.Ukip are doing badly but you look at the evidence that's the case. One

:49:04. > :49:06.suspects after June 8th Ukip will think about what is their future as

:49:07. > :49:12.a party and what are they going to be able to say that persuades voters

:49:13. > :49:16.to stick with them. The second key point, it's perfectly clear that the

:49:17. > :49:20.Conservatives are a long way ahead in these local elections, though,

:49:21. > :49:26.however, not necessarily as far ahead as they would want to be on

:49:27. > :49:32.June 8, because the 11-point lead that we think they have in these

:49:33. > :49:36.local elections is probably not sufficient to deliver the land slide

:49:37. > :49:41.of the kind that Theresa May is evidently looking for. Conversely,

:49:42. > :49:44.however, yes, John McDonnell is right, Andy Burnham takes the prize

:49:45. > :49:53.for producing the best Labour result of the day. The truth is the odd

:49:54. > :49:58.occasion when Labour did better against expectations, are relatively

:49:59. > :50:01.rare and going backwards as compared with a poor performance four years

:50:02. > :50:04.ago is not the best way to start a general election campaign. The

:50:05. > :50:09.Liberal Democrats made progress. They're still not doing as well as

:50:10. > :50:13.they did in local elections before going into coalition with the

:50:14. > :50:16.Conservatives. At least they are in somewhat better position, as the

:50:17. > :50:20.opinion polls suggested they were. Crucial thing to remember, however,

:50:21. > :50:25.all of this is a summary of how well the parties have done in the local

:50:26. > :50:30.elections, we're not saying this is how the parties would have performed

:50:31. > :50:33.if there had been a general election yesterday. We're not saying that

:50:34. > :50:39.this is what's going to happen on June 8. It gives an indication of

:50:40. > :50:43.how, in these local contests, the parties have stood and by comparing