© Toby Melville / Reuters
UK Prime Minister Theresa May's party made significant gains in England and Wales, just five weeks before the country goes to the polls for the June 8 general election.
The Conservatives appeared to benefit from the collapse of UKIP, now that the Tories have captured the pro-Brexit demographic.
Thousands of voters across England, Wales, and Scotland went to the polls on Thursday to decide the fate of almost 5,000 council seats and to elect six new metro mayors.
With full results declared by 17 of the 88 councils holding elections, the Tories had control of nine authorities, including five gains.
May's party had 429 councilors, a net gain of 109, while Labour had 231, a net loss of 58. UKIP failed to win a single seat - a loss of 30.
Labour in denial: 'Not the wipeout people expected'
© Neil Hall / Reuters
He told ITV's Good Morning Britain the results were not "the wipeout that people expected" and insisted it is still "all to play for" in the general election in just five weeks' time.
Before the results came in, Labour played down expectations of the party's performance, accepting that Labour could be set to lose hundreds of council seats, particularly in Scotland and Wales.
"These elections are a challenging set of contests held in unique circumstances," a Labour spokesperson told the Guardian.
"They're individual contests being fought in very differing situations, from local council-level issue-driven campaigns up to large mayoral fights with some well-known politicians.
"Nonetheless, Labour has been making the case up and down the country that Labour representatives, both locally and nationally, will stand up for the many whilst the Conservative party stands up only for the few. That's what we'll be doing all the way through to June 8 and we are confident that will start to resonate as we get closer to that date."
Labour is playing down its sweeping local election losses, with MPs advised to call the results a "mixed picture" and to stress Tory gains in Wales have "failed to materialize," the party's leaked election script reveals.
The party is down more than 100 seats so far, has lost majorities on three Welsh councils and has been replaced by the Conservatives as the largest party on Cumbria County Council. Labour has lost overall control of its traditional stronghold of Glasgow City Council for the first time in nearly 40 years.
Despite the apparently dismal showing, Labour MPs have been advised to say the results are merely "disappointing" and that the party has done "better than people were predicting."
"Some of the predictions of doom and gloom across the board aren't quite panning out as some thought," the script said.
"There are some disappointing results, but there are good ones too such as holding on to the councils in Neath Port Talbot and Newport."
One success the party will be stressing is retaining Welsh seats in Swansea, Cardiff and Newport councils, the latter of which the party will say was a Tory target. Candidates are also being told to suggest the Tory surge is down to the UKIP collapse, and say the results are being judged against a high point for the party in 2012.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell remains staunchly behind Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
"It has been tough, there's no doubt about that, but it hasn't been the wipeout that some people predicted or the polls predicted ... In areas it's quite mixed," he told Radio 4's Today program.
"I'm not underestimating the challenge that we face right the way across the country. But what I'm saying is, to try to be as objective as I possibly can, it isn't the wipeout that many predicted. It is much better."
Speaking to Sky News, Labour MP Diane Abbott said the defection of UKIP supporters to the Tories was "one of the pivotal factors" in Thursday's vote.
She conceded that "some of those UKIP voters that are going to the Tories are former Labour voters," and said that in a general election "we have to turn them out and get them to vote Labour."
Abbott said overall the morning's results had been "disappointing" but stressed "you cannot extrapolate from local elections to the general."
She added the results "certainly don't mean that the general election [of June 8] is done and dusted for Theresa May."
Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon, was a dissenting voice, however, going against the party line. He criticized the party's performance and the impact of Corbyn's leadership, saying the results painted a "disastrous picture."
"It's simply not good enough for a party that's been in opposition for seven years, that's heading towards a general election in five weeks, to not be picking up seats and not be making forward progress," he said, according to the Mirror.
"What we need to do is recognize that we have got a mountain to climb over the next five weeks and it's about time we started climbing it.
"I think we can't just put a spin on this - the fact of the matter is that Jeremy's leadership does come up on the doorstep on a very regular basis. What we have to do is make this election about more than leadership, we've got to make it about the future of our country."
UKIP: Obliterated
UKIP faces being wiped out at the ballot box after failing to hold onto a single seat at the local elections. Paul Nuttall's party lost all its seats in Lincolnshire, Hampshire, and Essex - all key battlegrounds for UKIP at next month's general election.
As a sign of how bad a night it endured, "UKIP 0" was trending on Twitter on Friday, as others said "RIP" to the party.
Curtice said UKIP "has lost everything they've been trying to defend."
Lisa Duffy, a former contender for UKIP's leadership, insisted the results are not a "disaster" but acknowledged they were "very disappointing."
"I won't use the word disaster," she told the BBC. "I'll use the word 'challenging.' We knew it was going to be a difficult night."
Conservatives: 'Not in the bag'
The Conservatives appeared to benefit from a collapse in UKIP's vote in England and Wales, a trend which will likely boost May's chances of strengthening her grip on power in the general election.
Curtice said the Tories had so far put forward their best election performance since at least 2008, with an average swing of seven points from Labour to the Tories since 2013.
Tory Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said the outcome is "very encouraging," but denied the general election is in the bag. Tory minister Brandon Lewis said May would take the early results as "encouraging" but that "there are still a lot of councils to declare."
"We can't assume that what happens in local elections will be automatically replicated in general elections," he told the BBC.
"There's a long way to go, there's a lot of work to do, we have got to work for every vote out there to make sure that we return Theresa May with a clear mandate on June 8."
Liberal Democrats: Not as bad as Labour
The Liberal Democrats have managed to cling onto more seats than Labour in England.
The party managed to increase its vote share and hold on to many of its seats. It is still suffering at the hands of the Tories and may struggle to get a substantial number of seats in next month's election.
On Friday morning, the Lib Dems had 111 councilors, a net loss of nine.
Sir Vince Cable, former Lib Dem business secretary, called the night "neutral," telling the Independent his party's overall vote share had increased significantly.
"We're in a relatively encouraging position, though there hasn't been a spectacular breakthrough," he said.
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