Millions of voters headed to polling stations on Thursday in the biggest test at the ballot box for political parties since Labour won the general election in July 2024.

Almost 25,000 candidates fought to be elected to more than 5,000 seats on 136 councils across England, with Reform UK fielding around 4,800, less than 100 fewer than Labour and some 50 more than the Conservatives.

The Greens have almost 4,500 candidates, with the Liberal Democrats on just under 4,000 and there are more than 2,000 other candidates from minor parties or standing as independents or for residents’ groups.

Labour is defending some 2,500 of the seats being contested, meaning problems for prime minister Sir Keir Starmer as it appears the party has lost large numbers of councillors.

The Conservatives are defending 1,236 seats, the Liberal Democrats 706, the Greens 194 and Reform UK just 83, mostly as a result of by-election victories or defections since the previous times these councils went to the polls.

Some of the largest cities in the country and the whole of London also held elections, alongside a mix of rural districts and several county councils.

It is the largest set of local elections in England for three years and a key test for all political parties.

More than half of the seats that were up for grabs are being defended by Labour, reflecting the party’s current strength in London and in Metropolitan boroughs, while just over a quarter were Conservative defences.

This is a different scenario from last year’s local elections, when the Tories were defending the greatest number of council seats, due to most of those contests being for county councils where the party was dominant.

There has also been contests for mayoral elections in Croydon, Hackney, Lewisham, Newham and Tower Hamlets in London, and Watford in Hertfordshire.

Polling stations opened between 7am and 10pm on May 7, with the first results coming in within a few hours, and the final one on the evening of Saturday May 9.

All of the mayoral elections are counting on Friday May 8 with Hackney and Newham expected to declare at 1pm, Watford at 2pm, Lewisham at 3pm, Croydon at 4pm and Tower Hamlets at possibly around 6pm.

On the same day, elections are taking place in the Welsh and Scottish parliaments.

Where can I find the results?

The majority of counts have yet to begin, including results from Scotland and Wales.

But as results come in, we’ll be updating our live map for every seat across England, Wales and Scotland. You can keep track with The Independent’s live map here.

Welsh Parliament results estimate declaration times

Scottish Parliament results estimate declaration times