Labour celebrate as Tories lick wounds following local elections - what happened across the country and in Greater Manchester

The dust has settled on another dramatic round of local elections - with Labour celebrating and the Tories in dire straits. Sir Keir Starmer's party said the Conservatives' dire results marked a 'clear rejection' of Rishi Sunak in his first electoral test as Prime Minister.

Sir Keir was celebrating wins in key battlegrounds as an indication his party was on course to win the next general election. Mr Sunak was under pressure as Conservative losses neared the 1,000 worst-case prediction senior Tories had floated to manage expectations ahead of the poll.

With almost all authorities having declared, Mr Sunak’s party shed 48 local authorities and 962 councillors. Labour gained 632 seats and seized 22 councils, including ones that would be hotly contested at a general election – such as Swindon, Medway, Stoke-on-Trent, Dover and East Staffordshire.

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The Liberal Democrats had what Sir Ed Davey hailed as the 'best result in decades', taking 12 local authorities and 417 seats.

They particularly celebrated gains in Surrey Heath, where senior cabinet minister Michael Gove is the MP, and in former Prime Minister Theresa May's backyard of Windsor & Maidenhead.

“It’s little wonder Rishi Sunak is running scared of a general election, because he knows the Liberal Democrats are set to take swathes of seats across the Conservative Party’s former heartlands,” Sir Ed said.

The Greens made a record 199 gains, the party’s best-ever result at a local election, and gained control of their first English local authority, in Mid-Suffolk.

Labour looks set to control nine out of 10 councils in Greater Manchester following a grim night for the Conservatives. Cracks in the Red Wall