Local election results for the East of England and the Anglia region
The Conservatives lost nearly 200 councils seats and control of a dozen councils in the ITV Anglia region in a disastrous set of local elections in May 2023. The party no longer controls any council in Bedfordshire or any district council in Suffolk. All the other parties gained additional councillors.
It was an historic day for the Green Party who clinched their first ever majority council in the UK by winning in Mid Suffolk. The party more than doubled their number of councillors and are the biggest group on a number of Suffolk councils and in East Hertfordshire.
The Liberal Democrats gained control of a fourth council in the ITV Anglia region with the addition of Dacorum in Hertfordshire.
Labour retained control of five councils and gained more than 80 extra councillors in the area.
The Conservatives lost control of 12 councils in: Brentwood, Broadland, Central Bedfordshire, Dacorum, East Hertfordshire, East Suffolk, Great Yarmouth, Harborough, King's Lynn & West Norfolk, South Kesteven, Welwyn Hatfield and West Suffolk.
There are around 48 district and unitary councils in the Anglia region and 44 of them held local elections on Thursday 4 May 2023.
Around 4,500 candidates were contesting more than 1,000 council seats in the area.
More on the local elections in the ITV Anglia region
All the details of the council election results in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Milton Keynes
The local election results as they were declared in Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk
Local election results in the East of England are a major blow to Tory hopes- says our political correspondent Emma Hutchinson
LIVE COVERAGE
5.48pm
Babergh- HUNG
There's no change at Babergh District Council in Suffolk as no party has been able to gain an overall majority.
5.46pm
Breckland- CONSERVATIVE HOLD
No change in the Norfolk council but the Tories lost seven seats.
5.20pm
Great Yarmouth - CONSERVATIVE LOSS to NO OVERALL CONTROL
The Tories lose two seats, leaving no party with an overall majority in the seaside town.
5.09pm
South Norfolk - CONSERVATIVE HOLD
The Conservatives retain their majority despite losing eight seats.
5.08pm
West Suffolk - CONSERVATIVE LOSS to NO OVERALL CONTROL
The Tories lose 12 seats, with Labour scooping up 13. The former health secretary Matt Hancock is the MP for part of this county.
4.57pm
Broadland - CONSERVATIVE LOSS to NO OVERALL CONTROL
The Tories lose eight seats, leaving the council hung.
4.55pm
East Suffolk - CONSERVATIVE LOSS to NO OVERALL CONTROL
Conservatives lose control of the council, ceding 24 seats, with the Greens gaining 11 seats and the Lib Dems also taking eight. Labour gain five.
4.51pm
Uttlesford - No change in the Saffron Walden and Stansted area of Essex. Residents for Uttlesford retain their majority.
4.42pm
Tendring- NO OVERALL CONTROL
There's no change in the Clacton and Harwich area of Essex which has effectively been a hung council since the 2015 election.
4.35pm
Chelmsford - LIB DEM HOLD
No change in the Essex council as the Liberal Democrats make three gains, increasing their majority.
4.17pm
Maldon - HUNG
Lib Dems gain five seats with both the Independents and the Tories losing seats leaving the Essex council in no overall control.
Mid-Suffolk - GREEN WIN
The Green Party has claimed a historic victory after winning a council majority for the first time anywhere in the country.
The party has won 12 seats to take control of Mid Suffolk District Council, which had previously been in no overall control, after making gains in Thursday's local elections.
You can read more here.
4.08pm
Central Beds - CONSERVATIVE LOSS to NO OVERALL CONTROL
The Tories lose 19 seats leaving the council in no overall control. Independents make 11 gains.
4.00pm
East Hertfordshire- NO OVERALL CONTROL
The Conservatives lose control, as they failed to hold a total of 23 seats. Greens take 17 of them, leaving the council in no overall control.
3.22pm
Luton - LABOUR HOLD (No change)
Labour take another two seats and maintain their overall majority. They now have 30 seats on the council.
3pm
In Mid-Suffolk, the Greens are on the verge of an historic first ever majority, anywhere in the country.
Only one more Green seat needs to be declared for a majority to be confirmed.
2.53pm
Norwich - LABOUR HOLD (No change) Labour maintain their overall majority - but do lose two seats. The Green Party, a strong opposition presence on the city council, gain two more seats.
2.38pm
Cambridge - LABOUR HOLD (No change) Labour maintain their controlling majority on the city council but have lost two seats.
2.37pm
Dacorum - LIB DEM GAIN. The Lib Dems take control of the west Hertfordshire council, gaining nine seats, with the Conservatives losing 13.
2.28pm
Milton Keynes - HUNG (No change)
The Tories lose six seats, as Labour pick up five of them and the Lib Dems take the other.
It means Labour are now the single biggest grouping in the unitary authority.
2.23pm
Fenland - CONSERVATIVE HOLD (No change) The Conservatives gained nine seats. The north-east Cambridgeshire council has been run by the Tories since 1999.
1.44pm
East Cambridgeshire - CONSERVATIVE HOLD (No change) The Conservatives cling on, despite losing one seat. Labour gain four.
Lucius Vellacott has become one of the country's youngest Conservative district councillor's for Soham South and Wicken, having only just turned 18.
He's still doing his A-levels and, perhaps not surprisingly, he's studying politics.
He tells ITV News Anglia he's "really looking forward to getting stuck into it".
10.15am
It's still early days in terms of results, with around a quarter of declarations in so far known, but ITV News political editor Robert Peston has looking at what we've learned so far.
He says for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, there is "both a 'cup half full' and 'cup half empty' interpretation" if the total vote share remains in line with what we've seen so far.
You can read the full piece here:
9.32am
The baton has now being passed to the daytime counts, which are well under way across the region.
At Broadland and South Norfolk, the first results are expected from around 10am.
And this is the scene in Cambridge, where Labour currently have a 13-seat majority.
8.56am
The Conservatives have lost control of South Kesteven in Lincolnshire, a council where the party had 36 of the 56 seats before polling day.
They lost 12 seats, leaving the council under no overall control, with 24 Conservatives, 22 independents, four Liberal Democrats, four Greens and two Labour.
8.19am
Counting has been paused at Tendring in Essex, which had been expected to declare overnight.
There are still three results to come, and the count will resume at 1pm on Friday.
7.56am
The Conservatives have lost control of East Hertfordshire, a council where they held 39 of the 50 seats before polling day.
With six results to be declared, the Conservatives had 13 seats, trailing the Greens on 17, while the Liberal Democrats had nine and Labour five.
With just two results to come, counting has been paused. It will resume at 1pm on Friday.
7.42am
Newly elected independent councillor Michael Staines, in Braintree, believes national issues bleeding into the local community helped in his election success.
He pointed to the controversies over Wethersfield Airfield - with government plans to temporarily house asylum seekers and longer term plans to turn it into prisons.
6.32am
The Conservatives hold on to Braintree, despite losing seven seats.
Labour gained six seats, while Greens lost two.
Tory majority down from 18 to 3.
5.55am
The Lib Dems hold on to North Norfolk, with one seat gained. The Tories have gained one seat.
The new council consists 25 councillors, 12 Tories and 3 independents.
5.22am
The Conservative majority on South Holland council in Lincolnshire is slashed to the smallest possible margin with 18 Independent councillors against 19 Tories.
5.10am
It is slow progress on the remaining council election counts that started overnight. We are still awaiting results in Braintree, Dacorum, East Herts, North Norfolk, South Holland, South Kesteven and Tendring.
There will be 26 council counts around the Anglia region during the day on Friday will all the results expected to declared by early evening.
3.30am
Peterborough - HUNG (No change).
Despite the Tories taking two seats (one each from the Greens and the Independents) the council remains hung. However the Conservatives will no doubt maintain their minority control.
2.57am
Colchester - HUNG (No change) No party gains overall control
02.44am
Southend-on-Sea - HUNG (No change) No party has succeeded in getting a majority. Labour gain two seats. Tories gain one. So no change for the unitary authority.
2.35am
Thurrock - CON HOLD (No change) but Labour did gain five seats - three from the Conservatives and two from Independents.
The big news here is that the council leader Mark Coxshall has lost his seat to Labour.
2.34am
Ipswich - LAB HOLD (No change) Labour gain one seat from the Conservatives.
2.01am
Stevenage - LAB HOLD (No change) The council has always had a Labour majority since local government re-organisation in 1974.
1.49am
Basildon - TORY HOLD (No change) The Conservatives hold on to the Essex council, gaining an Independent seat.
1.35am
Rochford - HUNG: (No change) The Lib Dems pick up an extra three seats while the Tories lose four.
1.28am
Castle Point - INDEP (No change) the Conservatives lose six seats and the Independents gain six.
It means the council which covers the Canvey Island, South Benfleet and Thundersley area of south Essex, stays in control of Independent councillors.
1.26am
Brentwood - HUNG (Tory loss) the Tories lose three seats to the Lib Dems leaving the Essex council in no overall control.
1.05am
Witham MP Priti Patel attends the count in Braintree - part of her seat is within the borough.
Word is that the Tories have not done well. In 2022, Braintree Council had a sizeable Conservative majority of 18.
In fact the Tories have had a majority in Braintree since 2007.
12.53am
Harlow - TORY HOLD: (No change) the Conservative Party retains its control of the council - and have increased their majority by gaining a seat from Labour.
12.52am
Turnout in Ipswich was 31%, in Peterborough it was 30.46%, in Southend it was 30% and in Basildon 22% of the electorate turned out to vote.
12.46am
North West Cambs MP Shailesh Vara tells ITV News Anglia he believes the Conservatives will on to hold to Peterborough City Council with a minority.
12.21am
Harlow Council in Essex is reporting that voter turnout has fallen since last year. They also reported 42 voters failed to take photo ID to vote but most of them returned with it later.
11.20pm
The first part of any election count is called verification which is checking the number of votes in ballot boxes matches the number of people who voted.
It also reveals what the turnout has been - the percentage of registered voters who actually cast their vote.
In council elections turnout is usually low - between 25% and 45%. It is feared by some that the introduction of voter photo ID for the first time at this election may mean turnout is even lower.
Ballot boxes being emptied at the count in Braintree in Essex
10.50pm
A stream of cars queue around the car park to drop off ballot boxes at the Peterborough count.
The city council is currently run by the Conservatives although the party does not have an overall majority. The opposition parties of Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens may win enough seats to outvote the Tories.
10.30pm
There's been concern about people being unable to vote due to the new rules on voter ID.
After the polls closed, the Electoral Commission said its "initial assessment is that overall, the elections were well run” however “some people were regrettably unable to vote” because of the new photo ID requirement.
They added: "It will be essential to understand the extent of this impact, and the reasons behind it, before a final view can be taken on what can be learnt for future elections."
10.20pm
First ballot boxes are arriving to be counted around the Anglia region - including here in Harlow, Essex.
There are are 44 counts across the region but only 18 are being carried out overnight and through the early hours.
They are Basildon, Braintree, Brentwood, Castle Point, Colchester, Dacorum, East Herts, Harlow, Ipswich, North Norfolk, Peterborough, Rochford, Southend, South Holland, South Kesteven, Stevenage, Tendring and Thurrock.
The rest will count the votes through the day on Friday.
10pm
Hello, and welcome to ITV News Anglia's live coverage of the local election results across the region.
We'll aim to keep you up to date with the biggest results as they come in, and have reporters across the patch to bring you reaction from all the main parties.
The results are expected to offer a crucial insight into voters' intentions in what could be the last round of polling before the next General Election.
Need a quick reminder of what's at stake? ITV News Anglia's David Hughes has this:
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...