Keir Starmer has hailed a "historic victory” for Labour in “the heart of Tory territory” on a disastrous day for Rishi Sunak that saw the Conservative Party lose hundreds of council seats in elections. Labour won the Blackpool South by-election , key councils and regional mayors - including the new regional mayor for York and North Yorkshire, an area that covers Sunak's own Richmond constituency. Speaking at Northallerton Town Football Club, Starmer said: "It is a historic victory – these are places where we would not have usually had a Labour Party success but we’ve been able to create that success and persuade people to vote for us.” He called it a “very good day for Labour." A despondent Sunak said he was “focused completely on the job at hand” amid the bruising set of results, which could have been even worse had the Tory mayor incumbent for Tees Valley not been re-elected, albeit with a smaller majority. Labour did, however, concede it had lost some council seats because of the party's response to war in Gaza. Meanwhile, one of the UK's foremost elections guru has said that the Tories would be down a projected 10% vote if Thursday's voting was replicated in a general election. John Curtice's analysis placed Labour on 34% (-1), the Tories on 25% (-10), and the Lib Dems on 17% (+1). Of the 107 councils that held elections on Thursday, 74 had declared their full results by 5.30pm on Friday, with the Conservatives losing almost half of the seats it has been defending so far. Some 228 out of 515 Tory councillors lost their seats as the party lost control of six councils. Labour won control of seven councils as it gained 151 seats, while the Liberal Democrats gained 35 seats and the Greens 27. Further results are expected over the weekend. Read a re-cap of how Friday's events played out below. Conservatives have been wiped out at Castle Point Council as the independent parties have gained all seats on the council. The Tories have lost all eight of their seats on the council as The Canvey Island Independent Party and The People's Independent Party won all 39 seats. Thirteen Conservative candidates were barred from standing after a “human error” on the nomination papers. Read the full story from Echo News . Labour’s David Skaith has won the York and North Yorkshire mayoral election. A Labour spokeswoman said: "This is a truly historic result in York and North Yorkshire. Keir Starmer's Labour party is now winning in Rishi Sunak’s backyard. The Prime Minister’s own constituents have taken a look at the two parties and chosen Labour.” Labour’s Kim McGuinness has won the North East mayoralty, defeating former Labour-turned-independent Jamie Driscoll. It is the first time a mayor has been elected for the region in a multiple-billion pound government deal to develop the area. She polled 185,051 votes (41.27%), ahead of Mr Driscoll, the former Labour North of Tyne mayor, who was blocked from standing for the new post by the party, with 126,652 votes. Conservative Guy Renner-Thompson was third on 52,446, with Reform UK on 41,147, the Lib Dems on 25,485 and the Greens on 17,631. Ben Houchen said he could “absolutely” work with Sir Keir Starmer if the Labour leader becomes prime minister, but denied “trying to pretend” he was not Conservative during his mayoral election campaign. The winning Tory candidate in the Tees Valley contest appeared to praise the Opposition’s position on devolution, saying it would give him “more autonomy” after his victory on Friday. Read the full story from PA .
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