Counting begins after polls close in "Super Thursday" elections

A long night of counting has begun after polls closed in a series of elections across the UK.

Published 5th May 2016

A long night of counting has begun after polls closed in a series of elections across the UK.

The elections will be the first national verdict on Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of Labour, but the results will also have implications for the country's other major political parties.

Counting has begun in some English local contests and the elections to Holyrood in Scotland and the Senedd in Wales.

But the counting process following the Super Thursday'' ballots will stretch into the weekend.

One of the biggest political prizes up for grabs, the London mayoralty, will not be decided until Friday evening, with Labour's Sadiq Khan looking to wrestle control of City Hall back from the Tories and defeat his Conservative rival Zac Goldsmith.

Counting in the Stormont elections in Northern Ireland will begin on Friday, with final results expected late on Saturday.

There are also mayoral elections in Bristol, Liverpool and Salford and two Westminster by-elections - the safe Labour seats of Ogmore and Sheffield Brightside & Hillsborough.