Here it is. A fascinatingly close result. Richard parkerfor labour, 225,000, andy street for the conservatives, 224,000. The majority, despite there being more than half a million votes, wasjust 1508, thats reflected in the percentages. Votes, wasjust 1,508, thats reflected in the percentages. 37. 8 for labour, 37. 5 for the conservatives. One interesting thing to point out is independents 12 , that was a candidate critical of labours policy on gaza. Still didnt stop them winning, just. Have a look at how the rates have changed. The conservative vote went right down. Labours vote went down as well but the fact the conservative vote went down by so much was what got labour over the line. There is the swing. Conservative to labour, 4. 6 . That was the big result from last night but there was another really important result yesterday in the capital, london. Here it is. Sadiq khan comfortably beating the conservative susan hall, 275,000 votes in it this time, a lot more. This is what the swing look like and is why labour won. A 3. 2 swing from the conservatives to labour. The tories were hoping they could claw back more ground in london to run it close. That didnt happen. It was pretty comfortable for sadiq khan in the end. So The Big Picture across england for local councils, theres only one left to declare. This is pretty much the finished picture, and it is a similar picture. Labour doing well, up 185, the conservatives doing terribly, down 473, losing just under half of all the seats they were defending in thursdays local elections. You will notice the lib dems are above the conservatives in that, they put in 104. Worth just pointing out quickly as well, the greens had a really good set of results, they are up 7a. But the parties, when they are studying what this might mean for a General Election, will be looking at this. Conservatives down 12 , a really bad result, one that will make a lot of tory mps really nervous about what is going to happen in their constituencies at the General Election. Labour up 3 , not a huge amount, actually, but when you speak to people in the labour party, they are delighted about where that 3 is. They say it is the areas they need to win in if they going to win the General Election. As you can see, the lib dems and the greens up a bit as well. Nick eardley crunching the numbers. Politicians have been reacting to those results over the past few hours on sunday with laura kuennsberg. The former home secretary Suella Braverman has warned that her party could suffer a political wipe out if the Prime Minister doesnt change course. She added she regretted backing rishi sunak. The plan is not working. And i despair at these terrible results. Theres no spinning these results. Theres no disguising the fact that these have been terrible Election Results for the conservatives, and they suggest that we are heading to a Labour Government and that fills me with horror. I love my country, i care about my party and i want us to win. And im urging the Prime Minister to change course, to, with humility, reflect on what the voters are telling us and change the plan and the way that hes communicating and leading us. If its that dire, why not change the leader . Listen, i just dont think thats a feasible prospect right now. We dont have enough time, and its impossible for anyone new to come and change our fortunes. To be honest, theres no superman or superwoman out there who can do it. Rishi sunak has been leading us for about 18 months. Hes been making these decisions. These are the consequences of those decisions. He needs to own this and therefore he needs to fix it. What does he need to do differently then . You say he must change course, but what would that look like . I think the problem is that our voters are on strike. Theyre not coming out to support us. Weve seen that with the turnouts and weve seen that by losing conservative strongholds. When i was knocking on doors in the midlands, in london, in the south coast, conservative voters were saying to me very often, were lifelong voters of your party, but youre not a conservative party any more and we cant vote for you. So what does the Prime Minister need to do . I think he needs to show people that he really cares about some of the things that hes talked about. He needs to actually lower taxes in a way that people will feel, not tweaking around the edges. If hes serious about migration, he needs to put a cap on legal migration. He needs to take us out of the European Convention on human rights. Thats how you actually send the message that hes serious about stopping the boats. But wheres your evidence that those kinds of changes would make any difference . Because rishi sunak has cut taxes in the last few months. He has hardened the laws on migration. He has, by some people in your party, moved too far to the right. So wheres your evidence that a further move would get your voters back . The evidence is that people are not voting for what hes doing because they dont believe that we are serious about some of these issues. They dont believe that were serious about some of these issues because they dont feel the benefits. 0n tax cuts, if he made a bold and big offer on cutting income tax or raising the personal thresholds, people would actually feel the benefits of those tax cuts. Because were tweaking and were just tightening some of the nuts and the bolts in a complex system rather than actually making a meaningful offer to people. People are not convinced by what were saying. But where the conservative partys put up a candidate who appeared to many people to be on the right, in london, she lost. Listen, in london, we lost because of the National Partys mismanagement of the process. They botched the Selection Process a year ago. And then, really speaking, they didnt run a good campaign. The candidate was unsupported and thats why we lost. Are there ministers in government who share your view . Yes, of course. I talk to many of my colleagues who are privately demoralised and incredibly concerned about the prospects at this rate, you know, well be lucky to have any conservative mps at the next election. And we need to fight and im not willing to give up. You know, it does me no favours to come here and say how it is and to set out the difficult situation that were in. But i owe that honesty to my colleagues. I owe that to you and the british people who are crying out for a conservative party to vote for. Except i think some of our viewers might feel this morning and some others in your party might feel, actually its people who have been criticising the Prime Minister in public, people who have been playing political games and thinking about their own futures that are part of the problem here. I reject that. Listen, im not in government. Im not making the decisions on our policies. Im not there putting forward legislation to ban smoking and to vote on pedicabs. Weve voted more on pedicabs and on banning smoking. I voted against it. Than weve voted on Meaningful Health care reform orfixing social care or improving Mental Health care. We are not delivering for the people. Were not delivering the policies that people want. And its a disgrace that we are trailing up against labour, led by keir starmer, who has the charisma of a peanut, who is overseeing a party which is a rabble of hard left which is a rabble of hard left maniacs, who would undo brexit, who would open our borders, and who would indoctrinate our institutions and our schools with politically correct madness. We shouldnt be trailing to the degree that we are against this labour party. Given all the turmoil youve had, all the changes of leader, all the noises of all the civil war, all the bellyaching, do you believe, though, that there will be viewers thinking, actually, its the conservatives who are a rabble . And can you tell us, was there a plot being discussed to get rid of rishi sunak this week if everything was bad . Is it over . What i would say is that theres no point blaming those of us who are telling the truth for the problems that were facing. As i said, im not in charge. Im not in government. These decisions on policy and communication and campaigns are being made by rishi sunak and his team. Was there a plot . I dont. You tell me. I read what you read in the papers. The papers and journalists seem to like the subject about plotting and plotters. Well, its important because its about whos going to be the Prime Minister of our country. Do you regret backing rishi sunak . Honestly, yes, i do, because i had assurances from rishi sunak that he was going to put a cap on legal migration, that he was going to do something about the European Convention on human rights, that he was going to fix this transgender ideology in our schools. He hasnt done that. I want our party to win. I want us to beat this feeble labour party. And i want to save our country from keir starmer. Im not going to give up. Im still going to fight. Even if it makes me unpopular, im going to speak the truth because thats what the 400 councillors who we lost this week deserve. Thats what the authorities that we lost this week deserve. We are not going to fix this problem unless were honest about it and we change course in reflection, with some humility, to what the voters are telling us. Former home secretary, Suella Braverman, talking to Laura Kuenssberg. Well labours National Campaign co ordinator, pat mcfadden, also appeared on the programme. He said the good results had given the party a sense of belief. Do you admit that the approach you took to gaza has cost you . Look, weve had tremendous results overall. If you take 0ldham now, for example, which you mentioned, i think gaza was a factor, but its not the only one. Theres some hyper local issues in that local authority, which means weve lost seats there for a few years running, long before anything happened in gaza. So i think its a bit too easy to ascribe every difficult resultjust to one issue. There have been lots of places where there was evidence of that, where there were Labour Councillors who have already quit the party over the position on the middle east. And indeed there was lots of evidence, lots of anecdotal evidence, as well as things like in the birmingham mayoral contest in the West Midlands of an independent Candidate Taking Thousands of votes from you. Well, you mentioned the West Midlands, an absolutely fantastic result for us beyond our expectations, a real cliffhanger yesterday. Not only did we have excellent local Election Results across the country, but winning that mayoral contest against what i admit was quite a popular incumbent who had run his whole campaign by putting as much distance as he could between himself and rishi sunak and the conservative party, an absolutely tremendous result for us in the West Midlands. There is an issue, though, is there not, with peoples concern over the approach the leadership� s taken to the Israel Gaza Conflict . And i want to show people and you a quote from ali milani, whos chair of the labour muslim network, whos been looking across the country. He says, our positioning on gaza is going to have a serious electoral consequence. If i was a labour mp in bradford, birmingham, leicester or parts of london or manchester, i would be seriously concerned. What do you say to that . Look, i understand why people have got strong feelings about this issue. Thousands of people have been killed. Theres a great impulse to help people who are in a terrible situation. Thats something that we share. This is about keir starmer� s position that hes taken. Lots of people in your party have wanted him to call directly for an immediate ceasefire from the start of this conflict, and many people objected to some of his language at the beginning and are not happy with the leadership� s approach. What do you say to them . What i would say to them is that the better life that people want for the Palestinian People is something the labour leadership shares. If were fortunate enough to be elected at the General Election, its a very high Foreign Policy priority for the labour party. Two things have guided us all the way through since october 7th. The first was defending israels right to defend itself after that atrocity, and that remains part of our position. And the second is working to get a Better Future for the Palestinian People. And both of those things will guide our position going forward. So we understand why people have got strong feelings about this and why wouldnt they when its such a difficult and desperate situation . But, do you acknowledge that it has had electoral consequences for you already . And there are people in your party, like ali milani, who wonder, who wonder and worry that there may be consequences for you in the General Election if you dont change your approach . I do acknowledge that in some parts of the country that was the case and therell be some people who maybe voted labour in the past who havent in the local elections because of this issue. And where thats the case well work to get peoples support back. But overall, i do have to stress these were tremendous local Election Results, a tremendous by election and a set of mayoral elections that went beyond the expectations that we had. Do you think that you have sealed the deal . Because if you look at the numbers overall, youre not cruising as labour was in 1996. If you compare the National Share of the vote. It never felt like cruising at the time, i would say. But i would always say theres more work to do. I think what the results have given us this weekend is our sense of belief that sometimes the labour party hasnt had in recent years because weve become used to losing. And i think even some of our voters have thought, well, i vote labour but they never win, because we didnt win in 2010 or � 15 or � 17 or � 19, four General Elections in a row. So there is a sense of belief there, but that sense of belief should never be confused with any sense that the job is done. Not a single vote has been cast in the General Election. Thats to come. I think theres a mood of change in the country and we have to meet it. And when people look at the labour party now, they can see a changed labour party compared to a few years ago, a labour party that is passing the essential tests of trust that the voters look for. Can you be trusted with public money . With National Security . We werent passing those tests a few years ago. Were passing them today. And we are determined after this weekend to keep going and keep working to earn Peoples Trust as we approach the General Election. Well, lets talk about another test that voters set for their politicians. Weve been talking to the Rwandan Government about the scheme for migration. Now, their spokesman said to us that if, like labour, you dont like the scheme and you want to get rid of it, well, keir starmer would have to come up with another solution. So what would the solution be . Well, i think the other thing that the Rwanda Minister may have said is that she cant say how many people it would take. And part of our problem with this scheme is that its a huge amount of money for a very small amount of people. And in response to this problem, which voters are rightly concerned about, you have to have a plan for the whole problem, not for 1 of it. This is only ever going to be a small part of the problem. We think the money being invested in this would be better spent on an International Operation to really crack down on the criminal smuggling gangs who operate in an international way. And that is exactly what this one has already been doing. So what is your alternative . There are 40,000 people in the backlog whove come to this country without permission since the law was changed in 2023. What would labour do with those people . The Rwandan Scheme will only ever apply to a tiny proportion of them. If you get rid of the Rwandan Scheme, what would you do . To take the money thats being spent on it and spend it on a proper operation to crack down on a criminal gangs. A plan to address the whole of the problem, not 1 of it. But on day one, if you do when the next election and the scheme is up and running, on day one, would you stop the flights . Well, look, i think theyll get flights off, but weve always said we didnt think this scheme would work or that this scheme would be value for money for the taxpayer. Its costing upwards of £500 million. But if its up and running, and you may be sceptical about whether it can work, but if its up and running and it works with a Labour Government, if you win, stop it on day one . Well, weve said well divert the money to the International Operation, to the Policing Operation that weve talked about. Thats not my question. The question is, would you stop it immediately if its working . We dont want to continue with this scheme. We want to use the resources being spent on it to crack down on the International Criminal gangs. Weve been pretty clear about that all the way through. But thats not quite the same as saying you would stop it immediately on day one. Is that what youre saying, and im missing the point . Well, look, day one, you know, you do lots of things, but this is not a scheme we want to continue with. We want to take the resources being spent on it and use that to crack down on the International Smuggling gangs. And just lastly on this, if people had gone in large number, or in any number, to rwanda, if the government succeeds in have people to be processed as Asylum Seekers in that east african country, if you win, would you bring those people back . I dont think wed do that. But thats a valid question because youve objected to the scheme all along. If you think its so wrong and its terrible to send people there, you wouldnt bring them back . There are circumstances where they can be sent back even under the current scheme. But, no, i dont think we do that. 0k. Well, pat mcfadden, thank you very much indeed for coming in. Well the transport secretary mark harper said he was disappointed his party had lost more than 500 councillors in england, but the General Election was still all to play for. Look, im not going to pretend that the Election Results over the last few days werent disappointing. Disappointing to lose hardworking local councillors. I was particularly disappointed by the nail biting narrow result yesterday in the West Midlands. As transport secretary, ive worked very closely with andy street. You cancelled his leg of hst which he didnt want you to do. Hes a fantastic mayor. No, look, that illustrates, i think, something really important about the Prime Minister. Hes interested in taking difficult decisions that might not be popular with everyone, but that are in the long term interests of the country. They werent in the long term interests of andy street. And are the right decision. Well, i disagree. Every single penny of the money we save from cancelling the second phase of hs2 is being reinvested in transport. And i was in the West Midlands just a few weeks ago with andy street for the launch of a £1. 75 billion Midlands Rail hub, improving the connectivity of birmingham. But the point here, secretary of state, is that its notjust about what happened in the last couple of days, which, in many places for you, is dire. You got hammered in the local Council Elections last year as well. Youve lost seven by elections under rishi sunak. And if we can show you the roll call and show this to our viewers as well, the roll call of councils that you lost, basildon, dorset to the lib dems, north east lincolnshire, nuneaton, redditch. These are places where labour is salivating at the prospect of taking your mp5. Youve been losing under rishi sunak Time And Again. Dont you think you need to change something . Look, im not going to pretend they werent disappointing results, always disappointing. I was out campaigning with lots of people across the country and its always disappointing when you lose hardworking conservatives. But the point here is, doesnt this give you evidence that you need to do something differently . And if you dont do anything differently and you just say, stick to the plan, stick to the plan, arent you sticking your fingers in your ears when the electorate is telling you Time And Again they are not impressed . No, look, i think the message, youve covered it on your piece there, the message from the election success in the tees valley was about having a plan, delivering on the plan. And i think at the moment weve made a lot of progress on those priorities i was talking about, you know, inflation is down to just over 3 from the 11 . But the point there is ben houchen in tees valley seems to have been able to communicate to his voters that hes able to achieve things. Rishi sunak does not seem able to communicate to voters that hes achieving the things you claim. Well. I want to put these to you. These are comments from some of your own Council Leaders whove lost. Andrewjefferies, former Council Leader of thurrock council. He said people were unhappy with the government. They didnt like the message that was coming out the plan. They didnt like the message that was coming out the plan. So thats one of your own side who lost this week. Hes saying they dont like the national plan. Another, andrew baggott, who was leader of basildon council, he said theres a real immense dissatisfaction with people on the ground. What do you say to them . Yourejust not going to change anything . What i would say is the plan is about delivering. The plan is working, but we havent got all the way so, take inflation. It was 11 when the Prime Minister became Prime Minister. Its now down to 3. 1. Its not all the way down to the bank of englands target of two when theyll start being able to cut interest rates, which will make a huge difference to hardworking families. Weve done part of the plan on dealing with illegal migration. Its down by 30 , year on year at a time the number of Illegal Migrants coming to the European Union was up. But we havent completed that plan yet. Weve got the rwanda legislation through parliament opposed every step of the way by the labour party and the Liberal Democrats who voted against it hundreds of times. Now we have it on the books. We can now get the flights going to rwanda, a steady rhythm of flights, that will change the incentives there. It will have a deterrent effect. And well continue delivering on that policy. So after these results, mark harper, and people will know and appreciate that youre a loyal minister, but after these results, youre not going to change anything . Youre just going to stick to the plan, to use your phrase . Well, we have a plan and the plan is working. But voters are telling you they dont like it. But were not all the way through yet. Youve got to actually see i think people want to see delivery, right . So they want to see inflation continue to come down. They want to see the boats stop. They want to see, for example, nhs Waiting Lists continue to fall. Weve made a lot of progress on that, but were not all of the way there yet. And i think people need to see the delivery of that plan. That is the transport secretary mark harper talking to Laura Kuenssberg earlier. I want to bring you a breaking line of political news out of scotland. This is about the battle to replace humza yousaf as leader of the Scottish National party. And it might have a new late entry because it was widely expected Thatjohn Swinney would become the next party leader and scotlands First Minister unopposed. However, reports suggest that veteran activist Graham Mccormick believes he is likely to receive enough nominations before mondays noon deadline. He has declined to speak to the bbc but if successful that would trigger a three week leadership contest. Mr swinney has been talking to the bbc and said he would respect the democratic process but argued the contest could delay the partys rebuild. Thats the news from scotland that we may see a late entrant in the race to replace humza yousaf as the snp leader and First Minister. We will keep you updated on that. First lets check on the weather with simon king. Its been a fine start to Sunday Morning especially across england and wales where we had some sunny spells, for many of us it will stay largely dry with some sunshine into the afternoon. The parts of west sussex while it has been selling this morning we will start to see cloud increasing, just with the Swell Of Claudia which has been steadily moving into the South West Of England through the morning. Cloud. It will continue to push its way north and east, which will bring in some cloud and some showers. Those showers could be quite heavy, perhaps a bit thundery, later in the far south west, as some sunny spells develop. Sunny spells for much of north wales, the midlands, and eastern areas of england. Just a small chance of a shower here. Thundery showers in the north east of scotland and maximum temperatures about 15 18 degrees. The warmest weather will be across north wales, the midlands, towards the east of england, where youll have the best of the sunshine and this is where youll have the highest Pollen Levels through today. Elsewhere they will be moderate. Bear that in mind if you suffer from hay fever. Tonight, showers across eastern scotland, drifting their way a bit further soutward. We will see quite a bit of cloud across england and wales tonight. It means its not going to be quite as cold as last night. Temperatures staying up at about nine or ten degrees celsius across many parts of the uk into bank holiday monday. Well see this little area of low pressure going out into the low countries and that will clip the south east of england. We will keep a close eye on that one because that could bring heavy and maybe thundery showers on monday. Staying quite cloudy here. Elsewhere, there could be the odd shower developing but mostly dry for england and wales with some sunshine. A bit more cloud further further north in england, into the central southern scotland. Here there will be some showers as well. Some brighter weather, some sunnier skies to the far north of scotland. Temperatures perhaps down by a degree or so through tomorrow. But still pleasantly warm where you have got those sunny spells. So about 17 18 celsius. But then through the rest of the week, this area of High Pressure builds in, bringing lots of settled weather. Fine conditions for many of us. One or two Weather Fronts coming over the top of that into scotland and northern ireland. That would generally bring just a bit more cloud, perhaps some outbreaks of rain as we go through the week. Temperatures here about 15 19 degrees. But for england and wales, plenty of dry and sunny weather, with those temperatures rising, 20, 21 degrees. Bye bye. Live from london, this is bbc news. Despite a crushing defeat for the conservatives, Prime Minister rishi sunak vows to stick to his plan but some Party Members voice concerns over the heavy losses in englands local and mayoral elections. We are, at this rate, we will be lucky to have any conservative mps at the next election. We need to fight. And im not willing to give up. Attempts to secure a ceasefire in gaza will continue for another day in cairo. The Israeli Cabinet has voted unanimously to close down the operations of the Aljazeera Television network in the country. Entire communities are ordered to evacuate after devastating deadly floods hit brazil with waters continuing to rise. Love is all you need. Love is all we need. And madonna has staged her biggest ever concert to an audience of more than a million fans on Copacabana Beach in rio. Hello, im nicky schiller. Come to the programme. Welcome to the programme we start this hour with the fall out from the local elections in england. The former home secretary, Suella Braverman has told the bbc the conservatives will be lucky to have any mps left at the next General Election if rishi sunak doesnt change course
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