Pressure on Corbyn despite better than predicted Labour results in England

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has met with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in public for the first time after a weekend of contrasting election fortunes.

While Mr Khan enjoyed electoral success in the capital, Mr Corbyn oversaw less encouraging results for his party in the UK's "Super Thursday" elections.

• Sadiq Khan: Labour must reach beyond its own activists

Labour enjoyed a "remarkable success" across the country, despite the party's dismal poll results in Scotland, Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said.

"Pundits were predicting we'd be losing hundreds of seats and we haven't, in fact we have gained many," he told journalists at the London Assembly count centre at Kensington Olympia, where he was supporting Labour candidates.

"We've held on to councils we've targeted. It looks as though we're going to take London, we're going to take GLA [Greater London Authority] seats as well."

Commenting on Labour's poor performance in Scotland, he said: "Scotland is sad, it will take us years to recover. But the party will rebuild."

Ken Livingstone has denied his comments about Adolf Hitler and Zionism, which plunged the Labour party into a row over alleged anti-semitism just days ahead of the elections, had been detrimental to Labour's poll results.

Speaking on Sky News, the former London Mayor said it was "far right" Labour MPs stoking division in the party that had been cost the party seats.

He later told the BBC that the "anti-Semitism nonsense" had effected the elections, including Sadiq Khan's campaign to become mayor of London.

He said: "I think it's definitely been damaging and I say to those Labour MPs that made this into a great issue and demanded my suspension, you have cost us seats all over the country."

David Cameron has hailed the Tories "stunning" results in Scotland on Super Thursday and said the elections show Labour has "completely lost touch" with the people it was supposed to represent.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that the party had "hung on" and "grew support" in council elections across England in the face of poor predictions.

• Chris Ship analysis: Jeremy Corbyn passed the test - the knives will not come out yet

Labour "hung on" and "grew support" in council elections across England in the face of poor predictions, leader Jeremy Corbyn said during a visit to Sheffield.

He admitted there was "a lot of building to do" in Scotland following dire results in the Holyrood elections.

Mr Corbyn insisted he would continue as Labour leader: "I'm carrying on. Don't worry about that. I'm carrying on. I'm fine. I'm very happy."

• Chris Ship analysis: Jeremy Corbyn passed the test - the knives will not come out yet

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has come under fire from some of his MPs after devastating losses for the party in Scotland - despite performing better than expected in England.

After overnight counts were completed, Labour had lost overall control of one council and a total of seven seats, while the Tories had gained nine seats and the Lib Dems had gained four.

Results from the remaining 46 councils are expected from 11am.

Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox said the results were "not good enough", while Bermondsey and Old Southwark MP Neil Coyle - who nominated Mr Corbyn for the leadership - said Labour was "moving away" from the possibility of being in power come 2020.

He blamed senior figures' "fixation" with "peripheral" issues such as unilateral nuclear disarmament for failing to attract voters.

After six years of a Conservative-led government, he said, Labour "shouldn't be losing seats, it's as simple as that."

And Labour peer Lord Peter Hain warned that Mr Corbyn had "not shown anything like an ability to... win the centre ground votes that we need to win a general election."

Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson has said Jeremy Corbyn "needs more time" to "set out his stall" as party leader.

It comes after an election night which saw the party lose a number of seats across the UK - though they have performed better than expected in England so far.

Mr Watson said Labour suffered a devastating loss in last year's general election, meaning this year the party was "coming from low base".

"We've got some way to go," he added.

He also paid tribute to the members who lost in the Scottish Parliament elections, with the Tories making unexpected gains to become the second biggest party in Scotland.