Local elections 2025 full results: Reform gain new MP and control of first councils as Tories and Labour falter

Votes for about 1,650 council seats across 24 local authorities, six mayoral contents and one parliamentary by-election were being counted on Friday.

The Tories were defending the most number of councillor seats at around 950 of the total up for re-election, or 55%. At the last set of elections in these areas in 2021 the Conservatives were riding high under Boris Johnson and the boost the party received from the successful Covid vaccine rollout.

Labour were defending around 300 seats (17%), the Liberal Democrats 222 (13%), Independents held 173 (10%), the Greens 42 (2%) and Reform 23 (1%). Other parties held 16 (1%) and 11 seats (1%) were vacant.

Here are the full results so far:

The by-election, called after former Labour MP Mike Amesbury’s conviction for assaulting a constituent, was a significant win for Reform. The narrow win by just six votes saw Farage’s party take a constituency.

It was a major blow to Sir Keir Starmer after Labour won a majority of almost 14,700 in the seat at the general election less than 12 months ago.

Reform’s Sarah Pochin won with 12,645 votes to the 12,639 secured by Labour candidate Karen Shore. It means it is the closest parliamentary by-election result since records began in 1945.

Reform won its first-ever regional mayor while Labour managed to hold on to a hat-trick of mayors across the country.

Reform’s Dame Andrea Jenkyns enjoyed a comfortable victory in this brand new mayoral position, winning 42% of the vote, well ahead of the Conservatives in second place on 26.1%.

Labour finished a distant third on 12.3%. The result suggests Reform are likely to do well in the separate elections for Lincolnshire county council, which will be counted and declared later on Friday.

Jenkyns is a former Conservative MP who defected to Reform after losing her seat at the general election. She becomes Reform’s first-ever directly-elected regional mayor.

She won on a very low turnout of just 29.9%.

Labour held on to the mayor of North Tyneside by a tiny margin, with Reform coming a close second.

The area is one of Labour’s “red wall” heartlands and the party’s candidate Karen Clark was favourite to win.

However, the result was far closer than expected.

Ms Clark received 16,230 votes, just 444 ahead of Reform candidate John Falkenstein on 15,786.

There was clear evidence here of the electorate splitting between various parties, as Labour won with fewer than a third of the votes cast (30.2%), while Reform got 29.4%, the Conservatives 20.5%, the Greens 7.4% and the Liberal Democrats 6.4%.

Ms Clark’s predecessor as Labour mayor, Norma Redfearn, had held the position since 2013 but stepped down.

Labour’s Ros Jones won a fourth term in office, having held the position since 2013.

As in North Tyneside, Reform finished a close second, winning 23,107 votes to Ms Jones’ 23,805, giving her a majority of just 698.

No party managed to win more than a third of the vote, with Labour taking 32.6%, Reform 31.7% and the Conservatives – who came second in 2021 – on 26.0%.

The Greens finished a distant fourth on 3.4%.

Labour also held on to West of England mayor, albeit on an even lower share of the vote than at North Tyneside or Doncaster.

Helen Godwin won the contest with a majority of 5,945, but did so with just 25% of the vote, ahead of Reform on 22.1%, the Greens on 20.0%, the Conservatives on 16.6% and the Lib Dems on 14.0%.

Dan Norris, who was the Mayor of West England, did not stand after being elected MP for North East Somerset and Hanham last year. He has now been suspended from Labour after his arrest on suspicion of rape and child sex offences.

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough

Conservative Paul Bristow has beaten Labour in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral race. The Tory candidate got 28.4% of the vote. Reform came in a close second with 23.4% of votes. Labour’s Anna Smith was pushed into third with 20.1%.

Hull and East Yorkshire is due to declare on Friday afternoon.

Northumberland was the first council to declare all of its results, with Reform making gains at the expense of both Labour and the Conservatives.

The Tories lost overall control of the town hall but remain the largest party. Kemi Badenoch’s party won 26 councillors.

Reform ended the night with 23 councillors, having taken a raft of seats from the Tories but even more from Labour, which won just eight councillors.

The Conservatives now face having to form a coalition, most likely with the seven Independent candidates who won seats. The Lib Dems won three seats in Northumberland and the Greens two.

Reform seized control of Staffordshire County Council from the Conservatives. This is the first time Nigel Farage’s party has taken full control of a council.

It is a huge victory for the party as the Tories previously held 53 of the 62 seats. By 12.30pm on Friday Reform had already gained 34 councillors – two more than the 32 needed to form a majority at the town hall.

By 1.15pm on Friday Reform had won 36 of the 70 seats on Lincolnshire County Council. It means the party has taken control of the local authoruty from the Conservatives.

Reform has seized control of Durham County Council. Previously the local authority was run as a coalition between the Liberal Democrats, Tories and independent councillors.

The Conservatives have lost control of Devon County Council. The Lib Dems and Reform both made significant gains, but no party has won enough seats to take full control.

Reform officially got a majority on Derbyshire County Council at 3pm on Friday, taking the local authority from Conservative control. Farage’s party also ousted the local Labour leader from his seat.

The Conservatives have lost control of Nottinghamshire County Council. By 3pm Reform had picked up the most seat at 34. It will be the first time in a decade that the Conservatives have not held a majority in the council here.

Reform gained Lancashire County Council from the Conservatives.

Reform has taken control of Kent County Council from the Conservatives.

Counting is underway in the rest of the local authorities, with results due later on Friday.

Reform have, so far, been winning about 40% of the vote, putting the party 11 points ahead of the Tories.