Firstly, I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard in these elections.
Whether you got the result you hoped for or not; you have done a fantastic job. Thank you.
So far it looks like we’re on course for a great set of results.
We’ve defended our Councils in Eastleigh, Cheltenham and Sutton. We have also pulled off a spectacular victory in taking control of Richmond.
We’ve made gains in Hull, Liverpool, Sunderland, Gosport, West Oxfordshire, Cambridge, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Winchester and St Albans. We’ve held our ground in places like Southwark.
And it’s not over yet – today there are many more results to come.
For the other parties – it’s clear that Labour will be disappointed on the results so far. They haven’t made the gains they’d been expecting.
With the Conservatives making a mess out of Brexit, the Windrush scandal and Theresa May’s weakness as Prime Minister, Labour needed to be making more significant gains than this.
The Conservatives will be feeling relieved – they aren’t facing the scale of losses they’d been expecting, but they haven’t exactly made progress either.
But for many of you, I know that one of the highlights of tonight will be the complete collapse of UKIP. All across England, their vote is in freefall; and they are losing councillors left, right and centre.
Sadly, many of those votes are going to the Conservatives – a damning indictment of what Theresa May’s Brexit Conservatives have become.
For us, tonight sees a major step forward to rebuilding our local Government base – we’re hoping for solid gains in Councillors and an increase in the number of councils we control (fingers crossed!).
This has been a great night and we’re moving in the right direction.
Thank you again to everyone who has played their part in this result.