The Conservatives have made the biggest local government election gains by a governing party for 40 years, final results show.
All results from the crucial 2017 local government and mayoral elections that took place on 4 May have now been declared.
The Conservative Party, which was already the biggest party in local government, is celebrating the capture of more than 500 new council seats and control of eleven new councils – including the county councils of Warwickshire, Lancashire, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Conservative gains came mainly at the expense of the Labour Party and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) in England, but the Tory vote also surged in Scotland.
UKIP, meanwhile, were all but wiped off the local government map – the party lost all of the council seats that it already held, and gained just one new councillor, in Lancashire. Overall, UKIP lost 145 council seats.
In Wales, Plaid Cymru gained 33 council seats in total. The Scottish National Party (SNP), meanwhile, lost seven council seats in total, and lost control of one local authority, Dundee City Council, which shifts to no overall control.
The Liberal Democrats will have to wait longer for their electoral resurgence – the party lost 42 council seats.
The Conservatives also enjoyed a strong showing in the six elections for new ‘metro mayors’ – winning control of four of the new authorities: Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, Tees Valley, West Midlands and West of England.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the mayoral votes was the victory for Conservative Ben Houchen in Tees Valley, which is traditionally a Labour stronghold.
Labour secured the two remaining mayoral votes, with former shadow health secretary Andy Burnham becoming the first elected mayor of Greater Manchester. Former MP Steve Rotheram is the new directly elected mayor of the Liverpool city-region.
Overall, the Conservatives took around 38% of the share of local government votes, while Labour finished second on 27%. The Liberal; Democrats took 18% of the vote, and UKIP just 5%.
Follow The MJ for more coverage of the local election results