Early local election results in England show Reform UK in lead

Early local election results on Friday showed Reform UK in the lead, followed by Labour Party across England, according to BBC News.

As the initial results begin to pour in, Reform UK currently holds 352 seats, followed by the Labour Party with 245 and Liberal Democrats with 237 seats.

Meanwhile, the Conservative Party holds 217 seats, along with the Greens at 48 and the Independent Party at 20 seats.

About 5,000 seats across 136 local councils are up for grabs across England, while six mayoral contests are also running in Watford and five London boroughs – Croydon, Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, and Tower Hamlets.

Most local councils are just starting to count the votes, while the results from all counts are expected by Saturday.

While voters headed to the ballot box for parliamentary polls in Scotland and Wales, votes have not yet begun to be counted.

Scottish voters voted to decide who governs the region in key areas as all 129 members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) are up for reelection.

There are 73 constituency MSPs and 56 regional MSPs (seven per region) in Holyrood, as the parliament is called.

Voters in Wales, meanwhile, chose their next Welsh government and members of the Senedd in the biggest change to the parliament since powers began to be transferred to Wales in 1999.