Local elections - as it happened: Corbyn insists Labour ‘ready for an election', despite missing top London targets
All the latest updates, as they happened
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Labour has urged the government to scrap controversial ID pilots, which saw some voters turned away during local elections in England.
Parties faced mixed results at the polls, although Jeremy Corbyn insisted Labour was "absolutely ready" for a general election, despite failing to deliver on its pledge to snatch key councils from the Tory clutches.
While Labour made gains in areas like Plymouth and Trafford, it was unable to win the Tory "crown jewels" in London, such as Wandsworth and Westminster.
The party had hoped to seize Kensington and Chelsea from the Tories in the wake of public outcry over the Grenfell Tower tragedy but failed to do so, while its chances in Barnet - which has a large Jewish population - may have been damaged by the recent antisemitism row.
The Conservatives capitalised on the near-collapse of Ukip, and gained control of councils in Peterborough, Southend and Basildon, with a small swing in their favour outside London.
Elsewhere, the Liberal Democrats won several councils - including target seats of Richmond-upon-Thames and Kingston-upon-Thames - while the Greens elected a string of new councillors.
The collapse of Ukip, and smaller far-right parties has been hailed by anti-racism campaigners.
Nick Lowles, chief executive of HOPE not hate, said: “We should take a moment to enjoy the decline of extremist parties.
"It’s down to the hard work of thousands of anti-racist campaigners up and down the country, as well as incompetence and defections on the part of UKIP and the far right.
"Changing attitudes post-Brexit have also played a role."
He added: "As they are beaten at the ballot box, the threat now from hard-right extremists is a return to the streets.
"There is also an increasing threat online, as anti-Muslim activists exploit social media to manipulate and spread their message, as well as from far-right terror attacks, with killers like Darren Osborne rapidly radicalised after reading far-right material online.”
Independent political commentator Andrew Grice argues that Labour needs to convince the public that it has a strong team around its star striker.
They need to showcase other members, who should be allowed to speak beyond their departmental briefs, he says.
Read his column here:
Labour has demanded ministers scrap voter ID requirements "as a matter of urgency", after observers reported that voters were turned away at 21 per cent of polling stations in pilot areas for not carrying the right documents.
The group Democracy Volunteers, which posted observers at more than 250 polling places, said 1.67% of voters were declined the right to vote because they had no ID. The group reported one possible case of attempted "personation" - use of a false identity to vote - in Bromley.
Shadow minister for voter engagement, Cat Smith said: "There was absolutely no case for introducing voter ID in the first place, but after yesterday's fiasco it is impossible for the Government to justify rolling it out.
"After completely ignoring a number of serious warning signs, the Government decided to pilot discriminatory measures which denied people their right to vote.
"We cannot allow the Conservative Party to undermine our democracy, which is why Labour is calling on the Government to scrap their voter ID plans as a matter of urgency."
Here's our piece about the voter ID pilots:
Sinn Fein's Orfhlaith Begley has become the first woman to be elected as MP for West Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
The 26-year-old held onto a seat relinquished by party colleague Barry McElduff, who resigned after an ill-advised social media post mocking victims of The Troubles.
Ms Begley secured an almost 8,000 majority in the parliamentary by-election, ahead of Democratic Unionist Party candidate Thomas Buchanan.
Mr McElduff resigned in January, 10 days after a controversy flared when he posted a video of himself with a Kingsmill-branded loaf on his head on the anniversary of the notorious Kingsmill massacre.
He insisted the video was not a reference to the 1976 sectarian murders of 10 Protestant workmen by republican paramilitaries near the village of Kingsmill.
A man was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm at a polling station during the day. He was later charged and is due before a district judge in Dungannon on Friday morning.
Ken Livingstone has admitted the allegation that he called Hitler a Zionist is likely to have cost Labour the chance to snatch control of a key London council.
Jeremy Corbyn’s hopes of taking Barnet - an area with a large Jewish population - were dashed when it fell back into the hands of the Conservatives. Labour councillors in the borough have blamed the allegations of antisemitism in the party – the most profile of which is the claim against Mr Livingstone, the former London mayor.
More here:
Theresa May has visited Wandsworth to praise local Tories for seeing off a challenge from Labour.
The prime minister told activists: "Labour thought they could take control, this was one of their top targets and they threw everything at it, but they failed.
"The people of Wandsworth re-elected a Conservative council, and that's for a simple reason. You charge the second lowest council tax in the country, you provide excellent local services like the weekly bin collection.
"That's the message of these elections across the country - that Conservative councils deliver great local services at lower taxes."
PA data journalist Ian Jones has created some interesting graphics on how the results break down so far.
The second wave of results is due to begin shortly.
Mayoral elections have also been taking place, with Labour winning in Lewisham, Newham, Hackney.
The Liberal Democrats have been elected in Watford.
The Liberal Democrat victory in Richmond is a sign of the party's return as a political force, Sir Vince Cable has said.
The party's won control of the south-west London borough from the Conservatives for the first time in eight years. The Tories lost 28 councillors in Richmond during last night's defeat, with 24 going to the Liberal Democrats and four going to the Green Party.
“We are on course for what could be our best set of local election results in a decade and that is thanks to the outstanding efforts of our members," Sir Vince said.
"The Liberal Democrats have enjoyed gains across England, from Hull to Gosport, Liverpool to West Oxfordshire, Sunderland to Richmond - in both Leave areas and Remain. We have shown that we can win anywhere.
"These results show a return to three party politics and a strong future for the Liberal Democrats. We stand as the only party fighting for an exit from Brexit, and are making gains against both a Conservative party driven by their right wing, and a left wing Labour party absorbed by Corbyn's dated economic vision.
“And there is still much to look forward to today, with more gains to come. These elections represent an important step in our re-establishment as a political force.”
A few more results have come in:
State of parties after 101 of 150 councils
Conservatives: 31 councils; 892 seats (-26)
Labour: 52 councils (-1); 1,444 seats (+59)
LibDems: 4 councils (+1); 327 seats (+40)
Green: 22 seats (+7)
UKIP: 3 seats (-47)
Independent: 58 seats (-57)
Liberal: 1 seat (-1)
Ratepayers and Residents: 41 seats
No overall control: 14 councils
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