UK local elections LIVE: Tories suffer double mayoral election losses in London and West Midlands – with Rishi Sunak warned he could face fresh rebel coup bid

Key battlegrounds across the UK have turned from blue to red as counting for local elections have changed the political landscape in England and Wales.

You can see how some former Tory heartlands swung away from the Conservatives in the maps below:

Rishi Sunak has admitted it was ‘disappointing’ that Andy Street lost, but insisted the country was ‘turning a corner’ and that his party’s plan ‘is working’.

Tory rebels are lining up to stick the knife into the Prime Minister as they warned that the ‘gamechanging’ defeat meant Mr Sunak could now face a fresh bid to oust him – although other MPs reiterated their view it was too late.

But Mr Sunak remains defiant, insisting that the Tory party ‘understand the priorities of the British people and are delivering on them’.

You can read his full response here:

Jubilant Kier Starmer last night hailed Lbaour’s victory in the West Midlands mayoral election as a ‘phenomenal result’.

Labour’s Richard Parker beat Tory incumbant Andy Street by 1,508 votes to become Mayor in an extremely close contest.

Talking after the result, Street said he was ‘incredibly proud’ he had lost by such a thin margin, despite being ‘personally devastated’ by the result.

He said: ‘Given that this has always been a place where some people said you should never have won in the first place, I’m actually very, very proud of what we’ve done.

‘The thing everyone should take from Birmingham in the West Midlands tonight is this brand of moderate, inclusive, tolerant conservatism that gets on and delivered has come within an ace of beating the Labour Party in, what they considered to be their backyard.’

You can read the immediate reaction to that result below:

If you spent Saturday away from your phone or the news, the biggest thing you may have missed was the results of the London and West Midlands mayoral elections.

Labour’s Sadiq Khan won a historic third term as Mayor of London, fending off the Tory Susan Hall with an increased share of the vote.

There had been some late jitters within Labour after initial polls suggested lower than expected turnout in some key Labour areas, but in the end he won with a maority of nealry 276,000 votes.

But it was the loss of Conservative Andy Street in the West Midlands that will have dented egos within the Tory party after he fell by just 1,500 votes to Labour’s Richard Parker (pictured together below)

Sir Keir Starmer hailed it as a ‘phenomenal result’ for Labour, given the strength of Street’s personal brand and popularity among swing voters.

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s coverage of the UK local elections and reaction to the results.

It has been a chastening 48 hours for the Conservatives, losing key mayoral races as well as hundreds of council seast across England.

The fallout is continuing and with more results set to come through today, kep your eyes peeled to our live blog for the latest updates.