Election

England council results

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84 of 136 councils

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Summary

  • Live coverage of the local election results across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

  • Labour loses control of Cambridge City Council, with its leader Cameron Holloway not winning a seat

  • On Peterborough City Council, Labour loses four of the six seats it was defending with the Tories becoming the largest party - but the city council stays in no overall control

  • The Liberal Democrats keep control of South Cambridgeshire District Council

  • No party won overall control of Huntingdonshire District Council, with Liberal Democrats the largest group with 20 councillors

  • Keir Starmer says he's "not going to walk away" after early English council results show Reform picking up seats in former Labour heartlands - here's where things currently stand across the country

Live Reporting

Updates by Aimee Dexter, with Shariqua Ahmed, Phil Shepka, Emma Howgego and Matt Webb at election counts. Edited by Christiana Bishop

  1. Huntingdonshire remains under no overall control

    A large brown table is running across a building on the left. People are sat either side on chairs. Elsewhere in the room, there are tables spread across different areas and a stage.Finn Cullum/BBC

    The vote is split at Huntingdonshire District Council as it remains under no control.

    All 52 seats were up for grabs. A party had to get 27 votes for a majority.

    The authority had been run by the Liberal Democrats, Labour, Independents and Greens all who came together to form an administration.

    Here is the new political make up at the council:

    • Liberal Democrats: 20
    • Conservative Party: 15
    • Reform UK: 10
    • Independent: 4
    • Green Party: 2
    • Labour Party: 1

  2. Labour loses control of Cambridge City Council

    Matthew Webb
    BBC News, Cambridgeshire

    Labour has lost control of Cambridge City Council after six of its seats were won by the Green Party.

    Winning four wards has left the party with 17 seats out of a total of 42, resulting in no party winning overall control of the council.

    In this year's election only 15 seats were up for re-election.

    The Green Party claimed seven seats to add to its existing five.

    The Liberal Democrats secured four, bringing the party's seats to a total of 11.

  3. Family members win in South Cambridgeshire

    Emma Howgego
    Political reporter, Cambridgeshire

    Henry on the left and John on the right smile at the camera. Both wear yellow ties.Emma Howgego/BBC

    Father and son John (right) and Henry Batchelor have held their seats in Linton

    Two sets of fathers and sons have retained their seats on South Cambridgeshire District Council - and a daughter has joined her mother in winning a seat on the authority.

    Liberal Democrats John and Henry Batchelor have retained their seats in Linton. Martin and Ariel Cahn, in Histon and Impington and Harston and Comberton respectively, also held their seats for the same party.

    Liberal Democrat Natalie Warren-Green was re-elected in Longstanton, whilst her daughter Yasmin Deter was also elected in Cottenham for the same party.

  4. Labour leader of Cambridge council loses seat to Greens

    Matthew Webb
    BBC News, Cambridgeshire

    Cameron Holloway, who has been the Labour leader of Cambridge City Council for the last year, has lost his seat to the Green Party candidate.

    Holloway was hoping to win a seat for Petersfield ward.

    Kathryn Fisher, from the Green Party, took the seat with 1,363 votes, with Holloway getting 1,208.

    Cameron Holloway is standing in a car park. He has short brown hair and is wearing a white shirt and black blazer. He is smiling.

  5. A 'heart-breaking' result, says Labour councillor as seats lost

    Shabina Qayyum is standing in the middle. She has long black hair and is wearing a black laced top with a burgundy blazer.Shariqua Ahmed/BBC

    Shabina Qayyum, Labour councillor for East ward at Peterborough City Council, says the result was "heart-breaking" after Labour lost four of their six seats they were defending.

    Khurram Iqbal held his seat for Central with Samantha Hemraj retaining her seat for East ward.

    "It is always heart-breaking to lose hard working councillors as we have seen in North, which is terribly tragic," she said.

    "We will do a post-mortem and understand what has happened."

  6. Final result on South Cambridgeshire District Council

    Emma Howgego
    Political reporter, Cambridgeshire

    All the seats in South Cambridgeshire District Council have been counted.

    The Liberal Democrats has taken all but two of them.

    The party will take control of the authority with 43 seats and the Conservatives won two.

  7. What have been the key election issues in Cambridge?

    Phil Shepka
    Political reporter, Cambridgeshire

    The university city of Cambridge has become synonymous with the government's growth plans, but it is also regularly quoted as being one of the most unequal cities in the country.

    On a BBC Radio Cambridgeshire debate, the topics discussed included housing plans, the cost of living and the £50m-odd redevelopment of the Guildhall, which has labelled a "vanity project" by the Greens.

    A four-storey Victorian style building with a balcony above the first floor. There is a clock at the top. People are walking on the pavement in front.

    The Guildhall was a topic spoken about on a BBC Radio Cambridgeshire debate ahead of the election

    Labour has run the council for more than a decade, and leader Cameron Holloway said the party had built 700 energy-efficient council homes as well as new community centres and play parks in the area.

    The opposition Liberal Democrats accused the council of cutting back or underfunding "very basic services like public toilets, street cleaning, antisocial behaviour patrols, fly-tipping actions, housing maintenance".

  8. 'People in Huntingdonshire are choosing hope over hate'

    Phil Shepka
    Political reporter, Cambridgeshire

    Stephen Ferguson and Lara Davenport-Ray are standing side by side. Ferguson, who is on the left, has a short brown and grey beard. He is wearing a cream shirt, green tie and black suit jacket. He is wearing a Green Party rosette. Davenport-Ray is on the right. She has long blonde hair and is wearing a floral dress and beige blazer.Phil Shepka/BBC

    There has been some victory for the Green Party in Huntingdonshire as it has won and held seats.

    Stephen Ferguson and Lara Davenport-Ray will remain councillors. Davenport-Ray has held her St Neots East seat, with Ferguson also winning a seat for the ward as a Green councillor - he was previously an independent councillor elsewhere.

    Davenport-Ray says she is "feeling fantastic" after her win, adding that "people in Huntingdonshire are choosing hope over hate".

    Ferguson added: "We were nervous as we have both lost narrow races previously, and so to win by such a huge margin is extremely gratifying.

    "We have built this on the door steps, knock by knock, conversation by conversation, and we are just really proud to have got this result."

  9. How many people have turned out to vote across Cambridgeshire?

    Aimee Dexter
    BBC News, Cambridgeshire

    Thousands of people turned out to vote on Thursday, visiting their local polling stations.

    We now have the voter turnout percentages for each authority:

    Cambridge City Council: 46.2%

    Huntingdonshire District Council: 41.58%

    Peterborough City Council: 35.24%

    South Cambridgeshire District Council: 47:26%

  10. Reform victory in Ramsey

    Aimee Dexter
    BBC News, Cambridgeshire

    Karan Maheshwari, Ryan Coogan and Julian Tobias are all standing side by side. Maheshwari is wearing blue glasses, a white shirt, blue tie and grey blazer. He is wearing a Reform UK rosette. Coogan has short brown hair and is wearing a blue and white stripped T-shirt and blue tie. Tobias is wearing a white shirt, blue tie and black suit jacket. He is also wearing a Reform UK rosette and sticker.Phil Shepka/BBC

    All three seats were up for grabs for Ramsey on Huntingdonshire District Council.

    Karan Maheshwari, Ryan Coogan and Howard Tobias are all now Reform UK councillors for the ward, which had a 39.02% voter turnout.

    "People have absolutely had enough of rising taxes, crime on their streets, lack of infrastructure, services always feeling like they are failing and deteriorating," Coogan said when asked about why people voted for his party.

    "Reform are the only party that has said they will stop this and get Britain back to where it should be," he added.

  11. Liberal Democrats hold South Cambridgeshire

    Emma Howgego
    BBC political reporter, Cambridgeshire

    The Liberal Democrats have kept control of South Cambridgeshire District Council.

    Results are still coming in but they have passed the magic number of 23 to take control of the authority.

    A number of long-serving Conservative councillors including Sue Ellington (Swavesey) and Bunty Waters (Bar Hill) have lost their seats to the Liberal Democrats.

  12. Tory leader pledges to remain strong opposition voice

    Emma Howgego
    Political reporter, Cambridgeshire

    Heather Williams stares at the camera. She wears a navy jacket with a Conservative sticker on it. She wears a flowery dress and has glasses on her headEmma Howgego/BBC

    Heather Williams, the Conservative group leader at South Cambridgeshire District Council, says she was very happy to have kept her seat in The Mordens. She has secured a majority of 671.

    However it is looking likely the party's numbers may be depleted across the district.

    Williams pledges to remain a strong opposition voice at the council, adding: "I have no intention of sitting there quietly and licking my wounds."

    She has been a strong opposition voice at the council, especially over the authority's introduction of a four-day week.

  13. What have been the key election issues in South Cambridgeshire?

    Phil Shepka
    Political reporter, Cambridgeshire

    South Cambridgeshire District Council oversees services such as planning, licensing and bin collections.

    But one topic has taken the authority into the national spotlight - a four-day week for its staff.

    The outside of the South Cambridgeshire District Council building. It is a concrete cube-shaped building supported by concrete columns with a glass building in between covered by a metal canopy.

    During a BBC Radio Cambridgeshire debate, the ruling Liberal Democrat leader, Bridget Smith, reiterated some of the successes in recruiting and retaining staff under the scheme, claiming it saved the council £400,000 each year.

    But the opposition Tory leader, Heather Williams, disputed the savings and said her party would abolish it.

    Will that have swayed voters' intentions?

  14. Reform wins four seats in Peterborough

    Aimee Dexter
    BBC News, Cambridgeshire

    During the count overnight in Peterborough, we saw Reform UK winning four more seats on Peterborough City Council.

    Here is where the party won:

    • John Robert Bolton won in Bretton with 687 votes
    • Layton Mark Mills won in Eye, Thorney and Newborough with 1,355 votes
    • Philip Anthony Whitworth won in Orton Longueville with 775 votes
    • Peter David Reeve won in Stanground South with 902 votes
    John Robert Bolton is standing on a stage in front of a Peterborough City Council sign which is on the left. He is wearing a white shirt

    John Bolton won the seat for Bretton

    John Bolton, now Reform councillor for Bretton, took the seat from the Conservatives.

    He said the result was "a reflection that the two parties that have led for over a 100 years have failed yet again".

    Bolton, who is retired and now fixes mobility scooters, added: "I am excited, it is something that is a challenge."

  15. Cambridge City Council before the election

    Emma Howgego
    Political reporter, Cambridgeshire

    Cambridge City Council has been run by Labour since 2014. Before Thursday's election the party held a majority, with 23 seats out of a possible 42.

    Similarly before polling, the Liberal Democrats had 11 seats, the Green Party held six, the Conservative Party had one and there was one councillor representing Your Party.

    Labour is defending 10 of the 15 seats available this year. If the party loses two seats it will lose control of the administration.

  16. What have been the key election issues in Huntingdonshire?

    Phil Shepka
    Political reporter, Cambridgeshire

    The district council oversees planning in Huntingdonshire and, like much of the county, housing and growth have been high up the agenda here.

    The area has already seen a faster rate of housebuilding than the national average, but recent analysis shows it still needs more than 1,200 homes per year to keep up with demand - and there is a pressing need for affordable homes.

    But another contentious point has been around free parking. The parties clashed on a BBC Radio Cambridgeshire debate, as the county's Conservative mayor has vowed to make parking free in parts of the district.

    What impact these elections have on the so-called "rainbow coalition" currently running the council remains to be seen.

  17. South Cambridgeshire opposition leader keeps her seat

    Emma Howgego
    Political reporter, Cambridgeshire

    The leader of the Conservative group at South Cambridgeshire District Council, Heather Williams, has held her seat in The Mordens.

    She took 950 votes, with the Liberal Democrats coming in second place with 279 votes and Reform UK receiving 206 votes.

  18. 'Curiosity' to what results will look like for Huntingdonshire

    Aimee Dexter
    BBC News, Cambridgeshire

    Jonathan Grey, the Conservative councillor at Huntingdonshire District Council, held his seat for the Kimbolton ward. His seat was the second to be declared in the count.

    He secured 912 votes, with Reform UK coming in second with 298 votes.

    "I think there is curiosity to what the results will look like... and how those results will shake out.

    "Locally, people are very upset with the reduction of services; potholes came up time and time again, even though I am a district councillor."

    Jonathan Gray is standing in the middle. He has short brown hair and is wearing black framed glasses, a blue shirt and black jacket. He has a blue rosette on one side of his jacket.Phil Shepka/BBC

  19. South Cambridgeshire before the election

    Emma Howgego
    Political reporter, Cambridgeshire

    The Liberal Democrats have dominated the politics of South Cambridgeshire in recent years.

    It has run the district council since 2018 and strengthened its numbers on the authority in 2022 when it took 37 of the 45 available seats. The Conservatives took the remainder.

    The Liberal Democrats won all three Westminster seats that cover the district in the 2024 general election. They also won every seat in the South Cambridgeshire area in last year's county council election.

  20. South Cambridgeshire leader keeps her seat

    Emma Howgego
    Political reporter, Cambridgeshire

    The leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, Bridget Smith, has retained her Gamlingay seat for the Liberal Democrats. Her seat was the first to be declared in South Cambridgeshire.

    She secured 821 votes, with Reform UK in second place on 496.

    Speaking to me before the result, she said there had been some nervous moments yesterday, but was more relaxed by the time she attended the verification overnight.

    A smiling Bridget Smith stares at the camera. She wears a Liberal Democrat rosette.Emma Howgego/BBC