84 of 136 councilsCounting under way
Voting has taken place for all seats at Suffolk County Council and a third of seats at Ipswich Borough Council
Reform UK has taken control of the county council from the Conservatives
The Greens, Conservatives and Labour have all had some ward wins at county level
Reform gains reflect the picture across the UK
The Labour leader of Ipswich Borough Council retains his seat; the party could not lose control at the Town Hall regardless of this week's results
Reform UK has taken a third seat on Ipswich Borough Council, previously won by Labour in 2022.
David Hurlbut secured a seat in Whitehouse ward with a majority of 300.
Here are the full results:
Image source, Joao Santos/Local Democracy Reporting ServiceReform UK has taken major strides in Ipswich, winning eight of the 12 available Suffolk County Council seats.
Stuart Allen, who was elected to the Gipping division south-east Ipswich with a majority of 254 majority, says he will focus on the issues that really mattered to his residents, though he did not specify which.
"It was close, so I’m really happy to have been given the opportunity by the residents to represent them at the council," he tells our Local Democracy reporter, Joao Santos.
"The people of Ipswich obviously want a different party to sort their issues out, and we want Ipswich and Suffolk to be the best they can be."
Allen was the only Reform candidate to speak to the press today, with other candidates all instructed not to engage.
The full results for Gipping were:
Labour has retained its Westgate seat on Ipswich Borough Council after Colin Kreidewolf secured a majority of 286.
Here are the full results:
Reform UK has now had its first couple of wins on Ipswich Borough Council.
Stuart Allen has taken the Sprites seat - won by Labour last time round in 2022.
Here were the full results for Sprites:
Priory Heath has also gone to Reform, another previously won by Labour four years ago:
Image source, Joao Santos/Local Democracy Reporting ServiceAmid big losses of councillors across the UK, success for the Labour leader of Ipswich Borough Council will offer some relief for the local party.
Labour could not have lost control of the council, as only a third of seats were up for election.
Here were the full results for the St John's ward:
The leader of Ipswich Borough Council, Neil MacDonald, has retained his seat.
Image source, Ipswich Borough CouncilNeil MacDonald, Ipswich Borough Council’s leader, will hear the result for his St John's ward seat read out soon.
Earlier, a councillor told our Local Democracy reporter Joao Santos he could be in trouble – let’s wait and see.
Ben Parker
at the count in Lowestoft
Image source, Ben Parker/BBCVicky Harper, 34, was the Green Party candidate in Kesgrave and lost out to the Conservatives in the Suffolk County Council elections.
Despite this, she still took 1,120 votes, compared to Debbie McCallum's 1,308, and says she only joined the Greens back in February, wanting to stand after her experiences as a mum to children with special educational needs and disabilities.
"I just was feeling so disheartened with everything that was going on in the world," she says.
"I think we're bombarded every single day with how divided we are, how much hate there is in the world, and I know that's not the case."
She adds: " My biggest motivation is my daughters.
"They are both autistic. Special educational needs has been a huge part of my life for the past five years.
"I have seen first hand what it is to advocate and work and never, ever give up for my children, and that was the biggest motivation for me wanting to do this for Kesgrave."
Image source, Louise Parker/BBCKerrie Turner of Reform UK celebrates her win in the Cornard & Sudbury East division for the Suffolk County Council elections.
She took home 1,316 of the votes.
Image source, Louise Parker/BBC
Matt Precey
at the count in Bury St Edmunds
Image source, Matt Precey/BBCThe counting is over and the hall is being cleared in Bury St Edmunds - one of the four county council counts.
There has been euphoria among the Reform UK contingent here. The Conservatives meanwhile are putting a brave face on things.
Matt Precey
at the count in Bury St Edmunds
Image source, Matt Precey/BBCJust out of his teens, Dylan Roques from the Greens has won the Abbeygate & Minden ward in the Suffolk County Council election.
The seat, in Bury St Edmunds, was won by the Conservatives in 2021.
Roques, 20, rang his mother immediately after the result to tell her he had won.
"It's amazing to see the result," he says.
"It felt like it was such a divisive campaign, one of the most divisive campaigns I've been involved in.
"I'd like to take a moment to really thank the residents who have put their trust in me."
With the Suffolk County Council results all tallied up, counting is now under way at Ipswich Town Hall for the Ipswich Borough Council seats.
A third of the borough council is elected at a time, so there were 16 seats being voted for on Thursday.
Going into the elections, the seats being contested were previously held by:
Alice Cunningham
BBC News, Suffolk
Image source, Alice Cunningham/BBCHere are the final seat count results for the Suffolk County Council election:
Vikki Irwin
at the count in Debenham
We have still got three seats to go, but even with those seats I can confirm that Reform UK is now the new controllers of Suffolk County Council.
They've got 39 out of the 70 seats, with three still to go.
That is a massive gain from the six they had when the county council dissolved for the election.
Mainly they took their gains from the Conservatives, some from the Lib Dems and some from Labour.
The Greens held up their vote and increased their seats by four, but they did lose the Peninsula seat.
It has now been confirmed that Reform UK has taken control of Suffolk County Council after two decades of the Conservatives being in control.
Matt Precey
at the count in Bury St Edmunds
Image source, Matt Precey/BBCRichard Rout, the Conservative candidate for Hardwick in the Suffolk County Council elections, has held on to the seat.
He has held the seat since 2017 and has previously served on the council's cabinet.
He says it is an "honour" to be re-elected.
"I've represented what is a very special part of Bury St Edmunds since 2017 and to be returned with a majority of nearly 1,000 is actually quite emotional.
"It was a positive campaign. I think there's a lot of national noise and negativity, but I focused on how special our town is and trying to keep it that way.
"Bury St Edmunds is a really unique part of Suffolk."
Here were the full results for Hardwick:
Over in the Saxmundham and District ward, an Independent candidate has taken the seat in the Suffolk County Council election. It was previously won by the Conservatives back in 2021.
Here were the results:
Image source, Vikki Irwin/BBCThe Liberal Democrats have held a seat in the Suffolk County Council elections in the St Margaret's ward in central Ipswich.
Group leader Inga Lockington has retained the seat fairly comfortably:
Vikki Irwin
at the count in Debenham
Image source, Louise Parker/BBCLiberal Democrat candidate Keith Scarff lost his seat in the Stowmarket East ward to Reform UK.
Reform's Mark Barber took the seat with 1,255 votes and was followed by Scarff with 1,163 votes.
Scarff says he is "naturally disappointed".
"I knew it would be a very close election," he explains.
"I think, rather strangely, people are voting on national issues rather than local issues, and Reform obviously have a very strong national policy position.
"People really think they are voting for [Reform party leader] Nigel Farage, not for their local candidate. I think that has affected quite a few of the seats."
Alice Cunningham
BBC News, Suffolk
We are about half way through the results being declared for the Suffolk County Council elections.
There have been big gains for Reform UK and we have seen the Greens take some seats.
Latest scores (36 seats needs for a majority):
The Ipswich Borough Council election results will start coming in later this afternoon.
