Ten things we learned from the local elections

• One election was settled by drawing straws

A tie in votes meant that it came down to drawing straws to decide who would run Northumberland County Council. Liberal Democrat candidate Lesley Rickerby picked the long straw, defeating Tory Daniel Carr.

Ms Rickerby said: "It's unbelievable that when you consider we have a democratic service that we end up having to draw straws."

• Andy Burnham snubbed his own victory rally

Jeremy Corbyn rushed to Manchester for a victory rally after Labour's Andy Burnham was elected mayor - but Mr Burnham himself failed to show up.

It appeared that Mr Burnham left the count two hours before his boss arrived in the city. A picture tweeted by one of his staff showed him celebrating with his team.

Local Labour MP Lucy Powell said she had not been invited to the event in her own constituency. She later tweeted: "Jeremy's office has apologised as it was a simple mistake."

• Theresa May insisted she's not celebrating despite huge wins

The Conservatives had much to cheer in the local elections, taking hundreds of seats and making historic advances into Labour territory.

However Mrs May insisted she was "taking nothing for granted" ahead of the General Election on June 8.

• Labour said the results were better than predicted

Meanwhile Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described the results as "mixed" and insisted they were "closing the gap" on the Conservatives.

"We have got councillors elected all over the country," he said.

"Everyone predicted we were going to lose in Cardiff, we won. Everyone said the same with Swansea, we increased our majority."

• Meanwhile Ukip was virtually wiped out

The pro-Brexit party saw its support collapse after the vote to leave the EU, losing 109 councillors and holding a solitary seat in Lancashire.

Its former major donor Arron Banks said the party needed a "a strategic bullet to the back of the head".

But party leader Paul Nuttall insisted Ukip was the "victim of its own success" on Brexit.

• And the SNP said they got an "emphatic" win

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the local elections were an "emphatic" victory for the SNP, despite the Conservative's gains north of the border.

The SNP remains the largest party in local government in Scotland, but the Tories returned 276 councillors, more than double the number they secured in the last local government elections five years ago

• Blur's Dave Rowntree became a Labour councillor

The lines between politics and music were blurred when David Rowntree was elected County Councillor for University Ward, Norwich.

The Britpop star has long been a Labour Party activist and said he was "delighted and humbled" to have secured the seat.

• And even a rubbish candidate got elected

Sally Cogley, who founded the Rubbish Party to focus on the issues of waste and littering, won a seat in Scotland.

According to her website, the party aims to "rid the local community of all types of 'rubbish', from wasted resources to littering and dog fouling".

• The UK elected 'metro Mayors' for the first time

Six districts went to the polls to choose their first 'metropolitan mayors', who cover larger districts and hold more power than normal mayors.

Turnout was low - just 26.1% of voters cast a ballot to choose the first Liverpool City Region metro mayor, while 28.93% turned out for the contest in Greater Manchester.

• The Tories took a historic mayoral win...and also elected a former John Lewis boss

The Conservatives took a historic victory after their candidate Ben Houchen became the first mayor of Tees Valley, deep in traditional Labour territory.

Meanwhile former John Lewis boss Andy Street also took the West Midlands mayoralty for the party after stepping down from his business career to focus on politics.