Spread of Tory losses leads former minister to say there’s ‘no such thing as a safe seat any more’

The Conservatives are facing one of their worst local election results in 40 years, with striking Labour gains across England and Wales in key battlegrounds they need to secure victory at the general election.

The spread of the Conservative losses led one former minister to claim there was “no such thing really as a safe Tory seat any more”, but the prime minister appeared committed to clinging on until polling day, with rebels in his own party lacking the support to oust him.

As party narrowly misses out on overall majority, co-leader says it has won spread of urban and rural seats

The Greens are celebrating a spectacular win in Bristol, where it became by far the largest party, as it headed for a record number of councillors in local elections across England.

Party officials said they believed they were on track to finish with more than 800 members on more than 170 councils.

Party did better in places it had lost since 2016 but one commentator called it ‘progress at a price’

Labour was celebrating a string of election successes on Friday in a set of results that party officials said showed it heading for victory in the upcoming general election.

Beneath the euphoria of wins in places such as Blackpool, Hartlepool and Thurrock, however, lay a nervousness about the party’s performance in urban areas, with campaigners warning it had lost ground in both London and Birmingham.

Tory council representation has imploded, but Labour’s gains have not been seismic. These charts show what this may signal for a general election

Conservative representation has collapsed to its lowest level since 1998 in the areas that voted in Thursday’s local elections, according to a Guardian analysis.

The Tories now control 19% of seats in the 98 council areas that had announced results by 20:40 on 3 May – their lowest level since Labour’s Tony Blair swept to power in the late 1990s.

The leader and his chancellor look like incumbents. That will make voters even more impatient for solutions to Britain’s ills

It was not an opinion poll. These were local elections about local issues. The results tell you only about where we are now, not where we might be come the autumn, or whenever it is that Rishi Sunak finally submits himself to the judgment of the country.

You know all the caveats, to which we can add one more: some of the biggest results, namely the mayoral contests in London, Manchester and the West Midlands, won’t come until Saturday. And yet, taken together, the votes cast on Thursday form an increasingly clear picture. It is a bleak one for the Conservatives – while for Labour it contains both cheer and a perhaps unexpected warning.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

Glossy promotional leaflet handed out to asylum seekers detained under Rishi Sunak’s deportation policy

Asylum seekers who have been detained under Rishi Sunak’s deportation policy are being handed a colourful promotional document entitled: “I’m being relocated to Rwanda. What does it mean to me?”

The news came as the government faced a second legal challenge over the prime minister’s £500m policy and it emerged that dozens of asylum seekers were being forcibly taken to detention centres.

Exclusive: Ceilings in two units in Stepping Hill hospital collapse days apart including in critical care unit

Parts of ceilings have fallen in at two key units of a decrepit NHS hospital, forcing it to evacuate patients and cancel X-rays and scans, the Guardian can reveal.

The problems at Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport, which is plagued by leaks and major structural defects, have prompted claims it is “dangerous for both patients and staff”.

It had to close its Outpatient B unit last November after inspectors reported a “significant deterioration of the structure of the building”.

It is providing only 51% of the outpatient appointments it should because some of the services that were provided in that now-mothballed unit are now operating at less than the previous capacity.

Staff in some areas have to form “bucket squads” when it rains to stop water causing flooding and affecting vital equipment.

It has had to reschedule 99 operating theatre sessions – involving orthopaedics, general surgery and gynaecology – while it builds a new emergency and urgent care campus.

Ex-president’s former communications director says Access Hollywood tape ‘was a crisis’ for his campaign

Hope Hicks, Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign press secretary, broke into tears on Friday while testifying in the ex-president’s New York criminal hush-money trial, hours after she described his complete control over the campaign.

Hicks, who cut a skittish figure in Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom, is a key prosecution witness. She described Trump campaign staffers’ panic when a recording emerged in which Trump bragged about groping women. “This was a crisis” for his presidential bid, she said, describing the sentiment among the campaign staff.

New York police say about 29% of those detained ‘not affiliated’ with university as more are arrested at NYU and New School

New York’s police department has declared that approximately 29% of the people it arrested at pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University were “not affiliated” with the institution, as the city’s mayor continues to face scrutiny over his claims that the hardline police response was due to the actions of “outside agitators”.

The NYPD also said 60% of arrestees at City College of New York (CCNY) on Tuesday night were unaffiliated with the college, though a CCNY spokesperson confirmed to the Guardian that these arrest figures applied to protesters both on and off the college’s grounds.

Every point counts, but this one is unlikely to be enough for Luton Town. When the story of the 2023-24 Premier League season comes to be told, it is likely that they will look back with regret when they remember the night when they failed to find a way past a negative, limited Everton side.

Of course, nobody inside Kenilworth Road could quibble with the level of Luton’s spirit and desire. There was also a lovely equalising goal from Elijah Adebayo, whose strike cancelled out Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s early opener, and there were periods when Rob Edwards’s team looked capable of breaking Everton down. The pressure was relentless during the second half. Tahith Chong, who never stopped running, was outstanding.