i >> -- >> it's -_ >> it's 7:00. time to take stock of where we are. with the sensational results and indeed, rumours of what's yet to come. we'll be talking through. it's all the local elections 2024. the labour gains with shadow minister steve mccabe, the conservative losses with tory minister steve baker and perhaps some of those tory klingons . but some of those tory klingons. but also in the next hour you'll hear from reaction from nigel farage. might reform have underperformed tonight, but also george galloway will be here to talk through his candidates, particularly in rochdale. all that to come and more with

experts , psephologists and those experts, psephologists and those that know perhaps what might happen tomorrow. all that to come after your news headlines with sam francis . with sam francis. >> tom, thank you. and a very good evening to you from the newsroom. it'sjust good evening to you from the newsroom. it's just gone 7:00 and leading the news tonight. sir keir starmer claims that labour's gains in england's local elections are, he says, a direct message to the prime minister as he renewed demands for rishi sunak to call a general election . so far general election. so far labour's gained more than 140 seats and taken control of seven more councils in england. the labour leader is also hailing what he calls a truly historic moment, as his party won the mayoral race in york and north yorkshire. in the prime minister's own constituency. meanwhile, the prime minister has insisted he's focusing on the job at hand after those disappointing local election results. the conservatives have lost a number of councils and more than 350 seats across

england. however the party managed to retain tees valley, with ben houchen being re—elected there. rishi sunak has said that result is evidence that people will, he says stick with the conservatives, come the general election and the liberal democrats have also made some gains, with party leader sir ed davey pledging to make the conservative government history . conservative government history. >> people from around our great country have had enough of this out—of—touch conservative government >> they've had enough of being taken for granted and being let down. it's time for. taken for granted and being let down. it's time for . change. and down. it's time for. change. and across this country from cheltenham to dorset, from west oxfordshire to here in winchester, so many people, including lifelong conservatives, are switching to the liberal democrats to make that change happen . that change happen. >> well, let's take a quick look at those council results from across england as counting

continues tonight. so far you can see here if you're watching on television, hopefully we can get those results up for you. of more than 90 of those 107 councils declared so far by the end of tonight, most results will be in. do stay with us throughout the course of the evening for those results, and more will then follow into tomorrow, including the west midlands. and the result for london's mayor. in other news, a schoolboy has been convicted today of murdering another 15 year old boy outside a primary school in leeds last november. the teenager, who can't be named , was 14 at the time of the attack in horsforth. he's admitted stabbing alfie lewis with a 13 centimetre long kitchen knife in full view of other pupils, but he has denied murder. instead, he claimed he was scared for his life when he pulled out the weapon, but that has been disputed by prosecutors . a former solicitor has been sentenced today to more than seven and a half years in jail

for running what a judge has described as a deceptive immigration scheme. flora mendez, from luton, made up fake addresses in grenfell tower and charged victims £2,800 to submit fraudulent immigration applications. the 45 year olds also exploited the windrush scheme, providing services to people without being qualified. the indian national continued providing illegal services despite being struck off in 2015, and the judge in the case called her actions truly disgraceful, sentencing her to 90 months behind bars. disgraceful, sentencing her to 90 months behind bars . and 90 months behind bars. and finally, before we hand back to tom, an update on the critical incident in bristol, where a power outage has hit a number of hospitals, the local nhs trust is urging the public not to attend any of those sites until the problem has been fixed. instead, it's asking those who may need urgent medical help to call one, one one. those are the headunes. call one, one one. those are the headlines . i'll be back at 8:00 headlines. i'll be back at 8:00 with another update. until then, you can sign up to gb news

alerts by scanning the code there on your screen or go to gb news. common alerts . news. common alerts. >> good evening. it's coming up to 7:05 now. what a day of results . it has already been. of results. it has already been. of course, every adult across england and wales was able to vote in some form of election yesterday. and whether it's mayors, local councils or indeed police and crime commissioners, we're beginning to see what the final picture will settle down to be. clearly, the labour party has made strong gains in many areas in the country, although the labour party, the conservative party, is able to point to at least one point of light, expect to hear a lot about mr ben houchen and the tees valley . let's talk now with tees valley. let's talk now with the conservative minister for northern ireland, steve baker, because steve, whichever way you cut this, it's been a difficult

night for the conservatives >> yes, of course, this has been a very tough set of elections. it was always going to be 2021 was a high watermark. that was the vaccine bounce during the covid period. and you know these hard working councillors didn't deserve to suffer from national political drama, but you know, there we are. it has been a very tough time for them. of course, we're delighted that ben houchen has been re—elected in teesside. thatis has been re—elected in teesside. that is a labour stronghold and thatis that is a labour stronghold and that is very, very good news. >> of course, ben hawkins vote share is down from the 70% that he achieved in 2021 to just over 50% now. surely that shows that evenin 50% now. surely that shows that even in the tees valley, even with a popular local mayor you're going backwards. >> to be honest, tom, i think if i looked and it was, if i recall correctly, it was 53% of the vote. if i get 53% of the vote at the general election, i should be very pleased indeed. i think it's really important to

maintain perspective, for i think if that counts as failure, i should be i should be very glad to achieve the same result. look, it's a labour heartland. and still when people faced were faced with the choice of a really powerful mayor, they chose the conservative candidate. and i'm really pleased about that. and i think when we look at the mayoralties, i think things are going to be at least tighter than people expected. that's because people recognise that when it really counts, they want conservative in power and not labour. so you know, it is a very, very tough time, but i'm very pleased that pen's come through because he is the best. he was the best candidate. he's now going to be once again the best mayor. and you know, we look for the other results. harlow was set up as a key test for labour by keir starmer himself. and of course that's not a resounding victory for us. but equally it is a failure by keir starmer's own test. so you know, nothing is nailed on yet for the general election. you know we have to really respect the public and what they've told us. but it is really all to fight for. >> it's true to say you've held

harlow. that was, of course, something that keir starmer wanted to gain. but looking at basildon, basildon was the sort of totemic point of victory for john major in 1992, when sir david amess held that seat against all odds. that's the moment. on that night people knew the labour party had not won that election . well, today won that election. well, today that council has turned from the conservatives to the labour party and the council leader, andrew baggott, had this to say. he said that if boris johnson was still prime minister, he wouldn't have lost that council . wouldn't have lost that council. >> well, i mean, that's pure speculation and with great respect to him, you know, boris ended up in in the position that he did and it was most unfortunate. but, you know, rishi sunak is doing the right things. there's occasionally it's said we've moved to the left. but i don't think that can be said of rishi sunak when you actually look at his policies, cutting taxes, the toughest immigration law in a very long

time, if not ever. you know, we are doing the right things to stop the boats to lower people's tax burden and to get this country onto the path that people chose outside the european union. the announcement by kemi badenoch this week on trade figures was very welcome. the plan is working. we need to stick with it. it's been a tough time through covid and afterwards with the inflation that came through, that's now under control. so of course these were going to be a tough set of elections. we recognise that. we hear the public. we've got a lot more to do. but i'm hoping if we can stop the boats with the rwanda legislation having just gone through and beginning to look like it's going to work, if we can stop the boats , if we can deal with the boats, if we can deal with the boats, if we can deal with the cost of living, we can make the cost of living, we can make the case to the public that they should stick with us to finish the job, get this country going where it needs to. >> steve, i noticed something when i was looking at the result declaration in the tees valley. i wonder if we can have a look at this video now we can see the candidates standing there on stage. the liberal democrats clearly there with his big yellow rosette. the labour candidate there with a big red rosette, and ben houchen not

wearing any rosette at all. why was ben houchen not wearing a conservative rosette for the declaration? >> that is definitely a question which ben would have to answer. i normally make sure that i've always got a rosette on my person for just that purpose, but look, the voters knew they were voting conservative when they voted for ben. >> steve, the reason i ask this, of course, is that if you look at a neighbouring mayoralty, nonh at a neighbouring mayoralty, north yorkshire, that is true blue territory. it's where the prime minister voted on thursday. it's, it's the prime minister's own back yard where there wasn't an incumbent . it there wasn't an incumbent. it was a new mayoralty, that new mayoralty, when there wasn't a personality to vote for, it was just party versus party. and it went to the labour party. despite the area being full of conservative mps. does that not say that there's a difference there between the personality vote of someone like ben houchen and perhaps andy street two versus when it's just the conservative brand , and which

conservative brand, and which may well have become a little toxic ? toxic? >> well, well, i don't really accept that argument for two reasons. one is that york itself has been a labour stronghold for some time, and of course, ben has an incumbency effect, and i think it is fair to say that many of us, as incumbents, will to hope attract some votes through our incumbency if they know that we've got a track record of standing up for them, of delivering for them, they stick with us. so i think it's that that would be the effect the incumbency that ben has, plus york being a stronghold. but of course, look, it's a tough result, i, you know, it's a tough result. these were always going to be difficult elections. just finally, steve, because we don't have that much time , does the conservative time, does the conservative party need to do anything to change after these results? >> is sticking on this course a course for losing the general election? >> the prime minister's got a clear plan to turn this country around to stop the boats. we've deau around to stop the boats. we've dealt with inflation, we're cutting taxes. we're going to

need to go forward towards the election and make it really clear what the choice is, sticking with us to finish the job of getting the country onto the right path outside the european union, which is working, or back to square one with keir starmer and a party that doesn't know how to deal with migration, doesn't really want to have left. the european union is opposed to much of the good stuff we've done , and i good stuff we've done, and i really think that when push comes to shove and turnout comes up and people have got that pencil in their hand by then, we need to have really given people the strongest reason to vote conservative. i, of course, i believe in our party in the future it can create. we've got to make that case between now and polling day in the general election. >> well, steve baker, northern ireland minister, member of parliament for wickham, thank you very much for joining us. and talking through the results there. let's get some analysis. now. joining me in the studio is martin baxter, the founder and ceo of electoral calculus. and martin, what is the big takeaway from last night? >> the big takeaway is what it looks like actually, which is good for labour and bad for the

conservatives. but below that there are a few details, so that there are a few details, so that the conservatives held on in the tees valley. the also an important fact is the equivalent national vote share, which was calculated just a few hours ago, had the labour only ahead by 9, which is a lot less say than the blackpool south by—election where they did much better than that and a lot better than the national opinion polls. >> and this is when all of the vote, because there are lots of different elections that took place yesterday. and this is some clever maths that sort of pollsters such as yourself put together and try and project what it would have looked like if all of these votes were voting in a general election. >> yes, it's trying to sort of do it as a on a fair baseline bafis do it as a on a fair baseline basis so that you and the conservatives got 25% in that. that's right. 25 and 34 to laboun that's right. 25 and 34 to labour. so that's just 9% now that's higher than their polling average, much higher . yeah. so average, much higher. yeah. so the question is whether that is completely reflective of where the british public are. because i mean the blackpool south was result was much more in line with the national opinion polls .

with the national opinion polls. but it will certainly be comfort to many conservatives that things might not be as bad as as the opinion polls suggest. >> although 25% is not a course for victory . just one quarter of for victory. just one quarter of the election backing the party at the next general election could still be a seismic drubbing, a scale it's less than john major got in 1997. >> well, it would still mean a labour majority of about 100 seats is what it would mean. so it would be. >> but not a conservative sort of. it's not less than canada. >> yes, yes, yes. whereas yes, a 20% labour leader takes the conservatives below 100 seats or so, which, you know, and if they lost even more votes to reform, it could get even worse. >> but so we're not talking we're talking between the difference between an extinction event and something that is just a very bad election result. yes >> it's disastrous rather than calamitous. >> blimey. well, i mean , i'm >> blimey. well, i mean, i'm sure there will be many conservative strategists breathing a sigh of relief that that or perhaps not, shall we zoom in to some specifics here? because whilst it's clear the labour party are ahead, there are certain areas where the labour party has gone backwards,

particularly wards in the country that have a very high muslim population, there have been some big successes by independent candidates taking seats from the labour party there. >> yes, oldham and kirklees were labour lost control of the councils, and, and those are areas, as you say, with a high muslim population. on the other hand labour are gaining in interesting areas for them like essex and hampshire and worcestershire. so that i think it's possibly keir starmer's bargain with himself is that he doesn't mind losing a few muslim voters in areas which, on the whole are probably going to turn labour mps anyway. okay. if he can pick up, disgruntled conservatives and lib dems in the south of england. >> and this is perhaps what jeremy corbyn got very wrong in 2017, where he got a similar vote share to theresa may, but was about 60 points behind, 60 seats behind, or maybe more than 60 seats behind because he piled up the labour vote in areas where it was a sort of inefficient vote. if keir

starmer gets perhaps no seats with 80% vote share, but a lot with 80% vote share, but a lot with over 50% vote share, it's a more efficient vote spread across the country. >> absolutely. yes. i think you said it. you said it perfectly. so both labour and to some extent the lib dems are all about concentrate the votes where they're going to do the most good, so , so it's i suppose most good, so, so it's i suppose speaks to the peculiarities of our system. >> it's not a proportional system. it doesn't matter the, the proportion of votes you get. it matters where you get them . it matters where you get them. >> yes. and that does encourage i think people parties to try and reach as many people as possible . net so that and it possible. net so that and it pushes parties. i think a little bit towards the centre rather than going to the extremes. so in that way perhaps that's a good thing. >> yes, it is interesting because there is one election that we're still waiting. well, there are a couple of elections we're still waiting on. perhaps the biggest question mark over this set of local elections, which i don't think many people suggested was going to be a question mark. only a couple of days ago is that of the london

mayoralty . much, much mayoralty. much, much speculation now that sadiq khan could be in trouble. >> well, yeah, it's hard to believe , isn't it? i mean, believe, isn't it? i mean, london is getting more and more labour city. the number of conservative mps is dropping. obviously boris johnson was mayor, eight years ago, but sadiq khan has won two elections. was the odds on favourite this time. and of course no votes have been counted so he may well win. but equally some of his policies, like on the ulez, are unpopular in the outer boroughs of london, where many more people drive. we remember that the uxbridge by—election was won by the conservatives very much against the formbook there, and so there is, i suppose, a slim chance that we might see an upset in london. but it's the race is not always to the swift, but that's the way to bet at the moment. so i think money is still on sadiq khan. but, we will have to wait and see what the ballots say. >> i suppose the big difference between the london mayor election and all of those parliamentary seats in london is

that at a general election, the turnout is a lot higher. we see a very, very, high level of political engagement at general elections, mayoral elections . elections, mayoral elections. fewer people, frankly, can be bothered to vote. one of the theories is that those that are motivated and, against sadiq khan, against ulez, against more taxation, perhaps a more motivated to get out and vote than those who sort of think, oh, he's all right. that certainly i mean, for the conservatives nationally, turnout has been a problem. >> many conservative voters or people who supported the conservatives in 2019 have stayed at home and not they don't didn't vote labour or reform. they just stayed at home. now in london, if it's a different pattern, if sadiq khan supporters stay at home and are anti khan voters vote, then that might that could make difference. >> and we've just started to see some turnout figures in london where where central boroughs seem to have a bit of a lower turnout compared to 2021. but the outer boroughs seem to be

having a bit of a higher turnout. >> well, that's slightly suggestive, isn't it? but yeah, it's probably too early to make definitive conclusions. but if an upset happens, that's going to be that's the sort of thing that would cause it. >> that's it would be utterly extraordinary. it would probably blow out of the water. all the speculation, all of the programming that we've done for the last 24 hours, it would be the last 24 hours, it would be the biggest piece of news of this, of this election series. it wouldn't matter if the labour party won every other mayoralty in the country. >> yes. at the moment i think it's still an outside shot. but one to watch. >> yeah, absolutely. and just finally, of course, we're still waiting on the west midlands, where the tories might just hold on. >> yes, there. of course. it's, there's a lot of factors in play. andy street is personally popular, like ben houchen in the tees valley. it's distance himself from the conservatives nationally and there. of course, the fact that labour may be are losing some votes in muslim communities could help. andy street . so that that's quite street. so that that's quite close and that that one i think

genuinely could go either way. but there's a real chance andy street could win in very, very interesting because there's quite a strong independent, muslim candidates talking a lot about gaza that could take some of those votes from the labour party. >> well, martin baxter of electoral calculus, thank you so much for talking through what is a wide, wide array of elections coming up. we'll be talking to the man that was backing that candidate standing in the west midlands, but also many candidates across the country. what does george galloway have to make of these results? we'll be talking to george galloway after this

well. good evening. it's 7:23. there have been a huge array of results, and there's no doubt that the labour party has done very well. however, there are

areas where the labour party is going backwards . and one of the going backwards. and one of the most fascinating elements of this election could yet still be to play out. and that is what happensin to play out. and that is what happens in the west midlands. could there be an upset for the labour party there, and might there be a margin of error that is spread by some of these more minor candidates? campaigning predominantly on foreign affairs issues? well, one man has been backing a number of these candidates across the country. delighted to be joined now by george galloway, the leader of the workers party of great britain, george, first of all, on this question of the west midlands , the labour party has midlands, the labour party has been briefing today that they think that andy street will hold it , the conservatives holding it, the conservatives holding that mayoralty, the labour party losing. but the difference, the difference will be less than the number of votes going to the candidate that you've endorsed .

candidate that you've endorsed. >> well, sing hallelujah , i say, >> well, sing hallelujah, i say, we are determined to stop sir keir starmer forming a majority government. we seek to bring about a hung parliament in which about a hung parliament in which a negotiated programme which would include, for example, the introduction of proportional representation so that the british people's true will could be brought into for effect in elections, the kind of conversation you just had. and i was interested to hear it with your expert. we have a most peculiar electoral system. you'll remember mr farage's party used to get sometimes millions of votes and no seats at all. that's fundamentally undemocratic. so that would be one of our demands. should the hung parliament, which is currently being predicted. laboun currently being predicted. labour, following some 32 seats short of a majority, if they are

coming to me, if i'm there with my friends, to seek our endorsement of a government program. well, they'll have to work hard to win our support. i can tell you , of course, george can tell you, of course, george galloway on these results. >> you are looking like you will lose your seat, no doubt an incredibly impressive by—election victory. we. we were doing a special programme on it on this channel, you got more votes than the other major parties put together. but in these local elections, your party has only won two seats on rochdale council. you're eclipsed by the labour party, who have retained control . who have retained control. >> i'm afraid you've been badly briefed, tom, on every aspect of that. we won two wards by a landslide . i mean a literal landslide. i mean a literal landslide. i mean a literal landslide in one case. >> that's precisely what i've said. you've won two wards and the labour party has retained control . control. >> i'm coming. i'm trying to

answer you, we only stood in five contests. we came second in three, and we won by a landslide in the other two. and we're now the number two party in the town. the whole town. not just my parliamentary constituency, the council area, the conservatives are ahead of you. no, they're not the conservatives are nothing and nowhere in the parliamentary stakes. no tom, we only started in february. the council that is currently there in the town hall has been there for years. there was only a third of the seats even up for election. labour literally could not have lost control of rochdale , even if control of rochdale, even if somebody had won every seat that was up there. they are a one party state or were. and now we have made a very significant dent , in that. but i think we're dent, in that. but i think we're not here to talk about my fate, are we? we're here to talk about. >> but of course, national key

is starmer's failure. and we will we will get further on to that. >> i just want to make this one thing clear, because when you won your rochdale by—election you said that you were going to form a grand alliance to sweep away labour from the council. you said that you could end labour control of rochdale council . not labour control of rochdale council. not in labour control of rochdale council . not in yesterday's council. not in yesterday's election, no, of course i did not. >> there was only one third of the seats up for grabs and labour had a 46 seat majority . labour had a 46 seat majority. so be sensible here. no one can clean out labour from its town hall nest, in one go. this is a programme for change that will take several years to bring about, but we will bring it about. we are determined to clean the town hall clock and we made a thumping start to it today. >> i'm sure that if every single one of those third seats that were up for election went to a party other than labour, they

would have lost their majority on the council. >> but let's let's see if you can do the maths, tom, i think you can do the maths and determine that that is simply, factually wrong. the reality is that labour was a one party state until we arrived , and now state until we arrived, and now they're not. now they're being pressed on all sides and they are going to over a period of elections . there's none next elections. there's none next yean elections. there's none next year, but there will be another third up the year after that. and the year after that. so we intend over a period of time to clean labour out of rochdale . clean labour out of rochdale. but i'm actually sat now in the house of the man who's just scored the most spectacular result in all of england. he defeated the deputy leader of manchester city council. he has changed manchester politics with

a seismic victory. we've done it in halifax, we've done it now in oldham and in blackburn and we are in the northwest of england. they're talking about a blue wave here, so give me some credit. tom i know you don't like it, but we started give me some credit. >> we started this interview talking about a candidate you'd endorsed in the west midlands that could, at least according to the labour party, be making all the difference there. i do want to say also on the question of maths, the labour party have 44 seats on rochdale council, 20 seats were up for election , 46. seats were up for election, 46. >> it was they had 46. they did have 46. >> they're down, down by two, down by two, down by two. but of course they could have been down by 20, that's the mathematical possibility there. but broader because broader is more important, i think, to everyone watching this conversation. did you have . did you endorse did you have. did you endorse did you have. did you endorse did you campaign for any of those candidates in oldham? of course.

labour lost oldham council . will labour lost oldham council. will they now have? no, there's no overall control of that council in particularly, muslim areas. independents won. did you campaign with those independents? did you know those independents? did you know those independents ? independents? >> yes, i've had several meetings with them. and i've done everything i could to persuade people who support me to vote for them. some of them are members of our party. many more will be members in the days and weeks to come, i was in blackburn just a couple of weeks ago campaigning with the blackburn independents , who have blackburn independents, who have just scored another seismic set of victories. and of course, i spoke and was featured on the literature of ahmed yakub, the independent in the west midlands mayor. so yeah, and more importantly, actually , it was importantly, actually, it was our victory in rochdale in the by—election that got this wave really rising and i think that

wave has still got a long way to go. it's going to carry a lot of people to power , just finally, people to power, just finally, george galloway earlier this week, you suggested that no fewer than two labour mps were in talks to join your party and that it could happen next week. do you stand by that ? do you stand by that? >> well, i'll probably be more now after the elections here. the truth is , labour is fatally the truth is, labour is fatally harmed by losing the key demographic on which they relied for so very long, and they won't get it back . and so people who get it back. and so people who are depending on previously loyal support from people that have now abandoned labour should take this opportunity now to open talks with us. my phone is ringing off the hook. not with mps, not with mps, but with councillors. >> so should we expect mps joining your party next week or not? >> well, well, i hope so. and if

they have any sense, they'll do it very quickly while we've still got room for them. >> well, george galloway, thank you very much for joining us >> well, george galloway, thank you very much forjoining us and you very much for joining us and talking through what has been a very interesting, day of election results here across england and wales. that's the, george galloway, of course, the leader of the workers party of great britain. coming up, we're going to be speaking to none other than nigel farage, the honorary president of reform uk, and of course, gb news presenter. what does he make of the rather unusual and in some places unsettling results

next. good evening. it's 7:37 now. there have been a huge array of elections. every adult in england and wales has been able to vote in some form of election , yesterday. and the picture is beginning to . to become clearer beginning to. to become clearer and clearer. let's speak now to john mcternan, the strategist

and commentator. he was, of course, formerly tony blair's political secretary when he was prime minister and, john, first of all, looking at some of these results and comparing it to the height of the sort of new laboun height of the sort of new labour, enthusiasm of the late 1990s, tony blair would never have lost in the tees valley. tony blair would never have led us to a situation whereby it looks like , that the incumbent looks like, that the incumbent labour mayor might lose in london. >> tony blair didn't , win five >> tony blair didn't, win five by elections from the tories with swings over 20, culminating , in blackpool south with the third largest swing, from the tories to labour since since the second world war, this is an unprecedented, strength for the labour party and an unprecedentedly weak tory party

it's not surprising to see labour back across the i mean, right across the country winning police and crime commissioner in norfolk, winning in cumbria, where labour hold no parliamentary seats. winning hartlepool winning. you know, redditch winning winning in aldershot . winning in plymouth. aldershot. winning in plymouth. i think you can go around all around the country. you can find examples of where labour's vote is delivering in exactly the constituency's labour needs to win. so you can also look at places like harlow or farnham and, and say that these are places that labour campaigned very hard . their parents lived very hard. their parents lived in fareham, is not labour. >> there are places you can you can look, you can look across to so many places where senior labour figures campaigned pretty hard, but didn't quite make it through. my, my contention to you is not that labour is not on course to win. i think it's pretty clear that on these results it is. my contention is that this is not a situation that this is not a situation that would see the conservatives go below 100 seats. this is not

a situation that looks better for the labour party than 1997, mate. >> come on, a strong result for the tories is keeping above 100 seats and they're, they're historically the most successful. >> why are you saying this is a strong result? >> i'm not saying it's a strong result at all. it's a good result at all. it's a good result for labour. what? it isn't is a drubbing. what it isn't is a drubbing. what it isn't is a drubbing. what it isn't is dropping. what it isn't isn't is dropping. what it isn't is the kind of, poll projections that we've seen in the last few months where what's known as the multilevel regression and post stratification analysis, these mrp polls that have shown the tories down to sort of 60, 70 seats. what tonight showed was those are all nonsense. sorry, you're saying you're comparing projections for a general election , to local election election, to local election results? >> i mean, by all means do that. but it's got nothing to do. i

mean, these are local elections. it's. there's a general election coming that will be a drubbing. whether you choose 100 seats as your benchmark to be above 100, being great or not great, that's a matter for you. it's a drubbing. and thursday was a gobbing and a drubbing for the tories , where there were also tories, where there were also some questions for the labour party. >> that won't necessarily mean that the labour party is in risk of losing seats this time around, but does show perhaps a slight weakness, perhaps in the following election after this one, maybe it's something that will grow in time is areas that have high muslim populations seem to be turning away from sir keir starmer's party areas that have very high muslim populations. you've seen a collapse in the labour vote. some areas where the labour vote had previously been 80 or even 90, now down to the low 20s. >> yeah, look, the labour party needs to communicate much better with all voters, whether they

are, white voters in inner urban areas or , or, previously loyal, areas or, or, previously loyal, muslim voters , in other areas muslim voters, in other areas needs to communicate really clearly its position on gaza and labouris clearly its position on gaza and labour is for a ceasefire in gaza.labour labour is for a ceasefire in gaza. labour won that vote in parliament. labour forced the government to change its foreign policy, which is normally an election causing issue. but labour labour got the government to vote in favour of a ceasefire at the un security council. labour did that. labour has moved on gaza and labour needs to be better at communicating that position and labour needs to listen when its voters have moved away from labour. >> or was it david cameron, the foreign secretary? >> no, it was labour, labour, laboun >> no, it was labour, labour, labour, labour, labour won, the same labour that was led by keir starmer, a man who once said it was fine to cut food and water suppues was fine to cut food and water supplies off from gaza. >> he didn't say that. that's a lie. >> he retracted it. >> he retracted it. >> he retracted it. >> he retracted it after he said it. but he did say it. >> didn't say it. it's just a lie. anyway it was labour that

won the one. the vote in parliament. it was after that that david cameron changed position, and, you know, david cameron on his own doesn't change government position, but parliament can change the government position. but put that to one side. labour needs to communicate much better. it needs to listen hard to the voters. there is lost, but it should be proud of what it's donein should be proud of what it's done in winning in every part of the country north east, north west, east midlands, west midlands, in peaks across the country, west midlands . country, west midlands. >> do you think labour is going to win, i doubt it, because they're not winning. they're no. >> look labour won in redditch. won in big time in redditch. it looks as though it looks it looks as though it looks it looks as though all of the incumbent mayors are going to get re—elected, which shows you something about the mayoral. the mayoral set up. and it shows you something about the strength of that. and it shows you okay. >> john mcternan, that's all we have time for. but thank you so much for talking through those results. really, really interesting stuff. let's get the reaction now of nigel farage. gb news. presenter of course, and honorary president of reform uk. joining us from dallas, texas

this evening, nigel, i suppose on one sense, last night's results show that incumbent mayors are doing fairly well. london to one side. and we'll sort of leave off too much speculation about london, but it looks like there could be an upset there. is this the united kingdom, following this almost american experiment of, of split ticket voting of, of almost states, being comparable to mayoralties and incumbents and people feeling like, yeah, this is our guy . is our guy. >> yeah, to some extent you're right, of course. and you know, ben houchen personally has a lot of support in tees valley . he of support in tees valley. he won again. but hey you know he was still down by 20. so there was still down by 20. so there was still down by 20. so there was still a big, you know, national vote share drop for the conservatives that played its role. we're going to find out in birmingham very shortly what happens.i birmingham very shortly what happens. i suspect birmingham very shortly what happens . i suspect that your happens. i suspect that your previous guest in the last segment, george galloway, may have actually turned that vote in street's favour by splitting laboun in street's favour by splitting labour. but look, take the big

picture . do you take the picture. do you take the personalities out of it? there were four things that i deduce as number one, the conservatives are doomed . there is no way are doomed. there is no way back. number two, whilst it's a good night for labour, there's no excitement or enthusiasm . no excitement or enthusiasm. number two, the reform vote where they stood shows that the polls, you know, aren't mythical . actually. you give people the chance to vote and they vote as they say they're going to with they say they're going to with the pollsters. and the fourth is that sectarian politics is here to stay. this is way more than just gaza. we now have islamic voting in britain, which over the course of the next decade will give the labour party a very, very major headache, certainly seems to be in places like oldham in kirklees, although perhaps not enough to dent any sort of parliamentary majority at the next election. >> nigel, i want to pick you up on blackpool's south because the reform party, this was almost the perfect petri dish to break

through in a way that ukip managed to time and time again in 2013 and 2014. you'll remember very well places like eastleigh, where the where, ukip beat the tories into second place, got over 30% of the vote. well, in this by—election last night, in a heavily brexit voting area where the tory resigned in disgrace, the reform party couldn't even make it into second place. >> well, by 117 votes you're right. but that's not really the point, is it? look, reform where reform is now is not where ukip was ten years ago. ten years ago, we'd spent i'd spent 20 years building up a national structure in that party. most politics that happens in britain is unpaid. volunteers and to build that, that organic structure doesn't happen overnight. so there was no comparison between ukip ten years ago and reform now. reform

is a relatively small structure. it doesn't have a big base. it's not been around very long. it wouldn't have even survived unless richard tice had kept it going. and the fact that they outpoll in a competitive by—election, where the big parties are piling in hundreds of their own people every day, the fact that it managed to get just shy of 17% of the vote tells you the reform vote is real, and there's something quite big to build on here. >> the reform vote certainly does seem to be more real than some snide and sniping columnists have suggested. in the last few weeks , but but ukip the last few weeks, but but ukip was on twice that share in by elections as ukip was winning seats in hartlepool reform uk currently coming a strong second in some seats in hartlepool ukip with more organisation, more on the ground, councillors was able

only ever in a general election to win one seat on these numbers. reform uk .will not win a single seat . a single seat. >> well, in 2015, of course, which was the general election that i led ukip into , the big that i led ukip into, the big problem we faced was that there was a perception that we were splitting the conservative vote, and because of that, and we still got 4 million votes, but because of that, a couple of million people who might have voted for us didn't. they feared a labour snp coalition fine. here's the difference this time. and by the way, i'm just the honorary president. i'm giving you this as whilst i support the party and believe in it. but here's the difference. when voters go to the polls, this yean voters go to the polls, this year, i'm guessing november, but who knows the argument that a vote for reform is a wasted vote and will let labour in has almost disappeared overnight in the midlands, the north and i

think south wales is in that category. the tories cannot win the election . they cannot. the the election. they cannot. the tory press cannot squeeze the reform vote because they're going to lose anyway. and what you're going to see, and we saw it last night in sunderland, in barnsley and places like that is that reform will be the challenger to the labour party. now albeit the labour party are a long way ahead at the moment. and what reform will need to do is to get the almost the whole of that conservative vote with it, to have a chance of winning those seats. i wouldn't, given how politics is changing so quickly, i wouldn't, rule it out. well on that note, nigel farage live from dallas, texas. >> thanks so much forjoining us here. well, back here in the united kingdom, this ain't texas coming up. we're going to be talking to steve mccabe, the shadow defence minister and labour mp for birmingham selly

well. good evening. it has just gone nine minutes to eight. and what an exciting result set that it has been so far. every adult in england and wales was able to vote in some form of election on thursday. and we still have a few more to wait for. but we've got a pretty clear idea of what it looks like across the country, and that is a good night for the labour party. some big wins, even in the prime minister's backyard. yes, the york and north yorkshire mayoral authority, a new one that was created in time for this election, has gone. labour that contains lots of conservative seats, including, what was once a conservative seat, selby and ainsty, where the labour party won by quite a large degree in that sensational by—election. but of course, you've been getting in touch throughout the programme and, one person has asked me why on earth did i not asked me why on earth did i not ask nigel farage if he is

standing or not in the next general election? and the reason i didn't ask was this. we all know the answer. he has not yet made up his mind, but, i think it is worth every now and again asking that question , i do get asking that question, i do get the sense it won't be one that is revealed in an interview like this. probably be a larger announcement were it to be the case. although looking at the results of reform uk still lower than the level that ukip was in 2014, to some extent around half the level in real results that ukip achieved in that year. perhaps the lack of prospect of seats that could be won by reform might well be putting nigel off, lee says. i hope nigel off, lee says. i hope nigel does stand in the election. it would upset the status quo to the max, and, richard says the reform party. oh. he says something quite rude about the reform party that we won't read out on air. joining me now is mark dolan . because, me now is mark dolan. because,

mark, you've got quite a lot coming up. what do you make of the array of results that we've seen across the country? >> well, what i think it means is that it's all to play for in november or october or whenever the polls. >> january 2025. >> january 2025. >> well that's it. they could just hang on. they could wait till january and then cancel all elections. it's very popular elsewhere in the world. but look, the bottom line is that i don't think it's quite the headune don't think it's quite the headline of victories that labour would perceive it to be, the reason being, i don't detect any great enthusiast, the reason being, i don't detect any great enthusiast , for a any great enthusiast, for a labour government, this is not 1997 all over again. yes, the pubuc 1997 all over again. yes, the public are furious with the tories, and it's highly likely that rishi sunak will be out of power in a few months time . but power in a few months time. but are we in the territory of a hung parliament? are we in the territory of a narrow labour victory? 10 or 20 seats. now, given the current makeup of the labour parliamentary party, i think that that would be a very difficult to govern rabble. you look at the corbynites on those

back benches, they could make life very hard for keir starmer. so i just think there's a of light for the tories. and by the way, we'll be talking about it in my show in a couple of minutes time. what is reform uk's strategy? because at the moment it seems to be a labour government very, very . government very, very. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar, sponsors of weather on gb news, who's. >> evening. welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. a mixed may day bank holiday weekend. some places having warm sunshine but there will be a fair few showers around as well. had a real mixed picture today. cracking day in western scotland. dull and damp over the central areas, the rain here slowly edging northwards. clearer skies in the south could allow it to turn quite chilly actually . may not be far off actually. may not be far off freezing in some rural parts of the south, whereas the cloud and the south, whereas the cloud and the rain over northern england, southern scotland, northern ireland will keep the temperatures up in double digits

here does make for a pretty dismal start to the long weekend. a lot of cloud and rain and drizzle on and off through the day. north east england may well brighten up a much brighter day tomorrow for the midlands, east anglia and many southern counties of england and wales. fine tomorrow with some sunny spells and again the west coast of scotland doing okay for sunshine. not quite as warm as today, but 1718 likely here. cool on some of these north sea coasts, particularly in the far north—east where it stays fairly murky. that's going to be an issue, i think, on sunday as well. mist and low cloud around the coast in the north—east could be some heavy showers developing through the day over central and eastern scotland, but again, many areas fine on sunday. some spells of sunshine, increasing chance of seeing cloud and showers coming up from the south but with a bit of sunshine , temperatures getting sunshine, temperatures getting into the high teens once more, that'll feel pretty pleasant. so a brighter day on sunday, certainly across northern england . we'll keep that mixture england. we'll keep that mixture of some places staying fine and sunny on monday , but that will sunny on monday, but that will still be some showers around. >> looks like things are heating up. boxt boilers sponsors of

weather on

gb news. >> what a day from the world headquarters of gb news. this is friday night. live with me, mark dolan. the weekend starts here, so bring your own drinks. the admission is free. our labour drinking tonight on tonight's show. the tories collapse. but is sir keir starmer celebrating victory too soon? also is rishi sunak's goose now cooked? and if so, who replaces him before the election ? is nigel farage. keir election? is nigel farage. keir starmer's number one political asset. also, his french president emmanuel macron, now a greater threat to britain than vladimir putin and poor old prince harry won't be staying at buckingham palace when he visits the uk next week. should he go