Gemma Dillon
West Yorkshire political reporter

The Wakefield Council election campaign has very much felt like a two-party battle between Labour and Reform UK.

Reform are confident they can overthrow Labour's control of the authority, which would be a symbolic win because of Labour’s dominance in the area for decades.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has represented the Wakefield seat of Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley — previously Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford before boundary changes — since 1997.

If they return Reform UK councillors, it could be indicative of the pressure she will be under at the next General Election.

Image source, PA Media

Reform UK were just under seven thousand votes behind her in the 2024 General Election.

Aisha Iqbal
Political reporter, Bradford

We asked college students in Bradford for their views before the election.

Here's what they told us:

Gemma Dillon
West Yorkshire political reporter

We're hearing some rumours about potential winners and losers in Wakefield.

We do know that turnout appears to be up.

The council has been controlled and run by Labour since its creation in 1974.

The area has a strong mining heritage and past, and is home to the National Coal Mining Museum.

Its current leader, Denise Jeffrey, is the authority’s first female leader.

She represents Castleford Central and Glasshoughton.

Labour holds 49 out of 63 of the council's seats and the Lib Dems hold two. Due to a couple of defections, Reform UK has two councillors, and the Conservatives are down to one councillor.

Due to boundary changes, every seat is being contested in these elections.

Each of Wakefield's 21 wards has three councillors who each hold one of the authority's 63 seats.

As well as Wakefield, the district takes in Castleford, Normanton, Featherstone and Osset.

Elizabeth Baines
in Leeds

The verification process is under way at the John Charles Centre for Sport in Leeds.

A delay of 90 minutes is currently expected to affect the count because of the security process getting into the building itself.

Unlike the rest of West Yorkshire, only a third of council seats are up for re-election here.

The authority has been under Labour control since 2011 but support in Leeds tends to mirror the national picture and it is expected they will lose seats here.

That seems to be reflected in the nervous mood on the floor - I am seeing stern faces and hushed discussions.

The Green Party is hoping to pick up votes in traditional student areas such as Headingley and Hyde Park which puts pressure on the Deputy Leader Jonathan Pryor.

The ward elected a Green councillor last year and will be hoping to build on that momentum.

By the end of the day, Labour will still be the largest party here in Leeds but the question is by how much?

Gemma Dillon
West Yorkshire political reporter

Here in Wakefield Labour faces are looking increasingly glum as the reality hits home that their dominance looks set to come to an end.

Votes are being counted in two halves, so we won’t get full turnout figures until this afternoon - but it looks like it's higher than expected.

There's a feeling Labour voters have stayed at home - whilst Reform voters have been motivated to vote.

The first results are expected imminently.

Gemma Dillon
West Yorkshire political reporter

Kirklees Council has been Labour-led since 2009 but has flipped between the party having a majority and no overall control, with Labour forming a minority administration.

Image source, Getty Images

Prior to that the authority was run by the Liberal Democrats (2000-2006) and Conservatives (2006-2009), but as minority administrations.

Carol Pattinson is the current leader and has been for two years following a no confidence vote in Cathy Scott, who now sits as a councillor for the Community Alliance Kirklees group.

This year all 69 seats are up for grabs, across 23 wards.

Aisha Iqbal
Political reporter, Bradford

I've just arrived at Sedbergh Leisure Centre for Bradford count.

It means two locations for counts over two days so it's going to be a bit disjointed - Bradford will be finishing counting their seats tomorrow.

Eighty-seven of 90 seats are up for grabs - the death of former Lib Dem group leader Jeanette Sunderland a few weeks ago cancelled the election in her ward. A by- election for that area will take place in June.

Senior Labour figures are looking resigned however a bit more hopeful than in recent weeks.

All predictions were Bradford would be a battle for the balance of power between Greens Labour and Independents with Reform scooping up huge swathes of the rural, outer Bradford vote.

However I am hearing the Greens possibly not doing as well as expected - which has echoes of the national picture.

Labour sources tell me they think they think Independents and Reform likely to do best.

At the moments, the whispers suggest clear divisions are likely to emerge.

Labour council leader Susan Hinchcliffe is facing likely heat from Reform in her own seat.

Gemma Dillon
Political Reporter

I've just arrived at the count in Wakefield.

Reform UK are looking and feeling very confident in how the results are going to play out here.

Labour looking slightly more stoic and glum-faced.

It appers the possible reality of losing control of a council which has been run for decades is finally hitting home.

If it is lost to Reform it will be felt not just by the candidates in the room or the party across the city but will be seen as a warning sign to Labour nationally; places they could count on in the past - they might not be able to any more.

We won't know for certain for a few hours of course - but the feeling in the room seems to say it all. We expect the first result in the next hour.

David Rhodes
BBC Yorkshire data journalist

What can we learn from voting in other parts of the country this morning?

Wakefield has only ever been run by Labour since its creation in 1973, but Labour councillors will be fearing the worst - looking at places such as Wigan, a formerly solid Labour town. Overnight the town in Greater Manchester saw Labour lose 22 seats, all to Reform.

Look out for how the Greens perform in Sheffield to see how they might do in Bradford and Leeds.

Nigel Farage says he’s confident of good news for Reform in Calderdale, but along with Kirklees will Reform be the largest party or will they win enough seats to form a majority?

Whilst in Bradford some projections this morning suggest independent candidates could be the second largest group of councillors in the chamber when all the votes are counted.

Peter Barnes
Senior elections analyst

Counting is now under way in 46 councils in England, out of 136 local authorities where elections have taken place. As a reminder, counting in Scotland and Wales doesn't begin until Friday.

When those English results come in, the council seat change figures you’ll see on the BBC are calculated by looking back at who won the seats the last time they were contested at a scheduled election, and comparing those results with the winners this time around.

For most of the seats being contested this year, that means going back to the results in 2022. We ignore by-elections and changes of party allegiance – when a councillor defects from one party to another.

That’s the same approach we take when reporting the results of general elections, and many experts think it’s the best way to gauge how the parties have performed from one election to another.

Some media organisations calculate change differently – they look at what party each councillor represented just before this year’s elections. The difference between the two approaches is going to be unusually big this year.

Lots of councillors have switched from one party to another or have left the party they were originally elected for to sit as independents.

In particular, many Conservative councillors have defected to Reform UK and lots of Labour councillors have switched to the Greens or have become independents. Reform have also won a lot of seats in by-elections.

So, the BBC is likely to show a higher number of seat losses for Labour and the Conservatives, and a higher number of gains for Reform UK and the Greens, than you might see elsewhere.

Image source, PA Media

It's been a tough night for the Labour Party in other parts of the country.

Speaking to reporters, Prime Minister Keir Starmer says that he takes "responsibility" for Labour's election results in England.

"They are very tough, and there's no sugarcoating it," he says.

He says the party has "lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country... that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility".

“Days like this don’t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised," he adds.

Good morning and welcome to our coverage of the local elections in Yorkshire.

We will be with you through the day and into the evening as votes are counted in councils in your area.

At the moment counting teams are working to verify papers and begin the long job of totting up the ballots.

We'll bring you results, insight and analysis as the day goes on with teams at all counts taking place in the region.