Pressure on Corbyn despite better than predicted Labour results in England

Labour suffered losses in English council elections, but the initial results were not as bad as many had expected.

The party also held on to two safe seats in Westminster by-elections, but frustrations with Jeremy Corbyn's leadership still bubbled to the surface.

Backbench MP Neil Coyle warned the party was "moving away from government", while the leader of the Labour group on Portsmouth Council, John Ferret, denounced Mr Corbyn as "incompetent" and "incapable of giving the leadership we need".

What results have come in so far?

By 5.30am, 78 of the 124 English councils involved in elections had declared their results.

• LABOUR - 41 councils, 761 seats

• CONSERVATIVES - 19 councils, 440 seats

• LIBERAL DEMOCRATS - 2 councils, 167 seats

• 16 councils with no overall control

There were a number of crucial results around the country, including:

• Labour lost control of Dudley council in the West Midlands

• But it held on to major cities including Birmingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sunderland, and bellwether authority Nuneaton

• Conservatives lost overall control of Worcester but secured an absolute majority in Peterborough

• UKIP gained seats in Thurrock, Tamworth and Bolton

Labour's victor in the parliamentary by-election in Sheffield Brightside was Gill Furniss, widow of Harry Harpham, whose death from cancer after just eight months as an MP triggered the poll in David Blunkett's former seat.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage said his party was "biting hard" into the traditional Labour vote, which he claimed was being turned off by extremism which went "right to the very top" of Mr Corbyn's party.