Election 2026: Live Results & Real-Time Reporting

The polls are open across the country for the 2026 local elections, marking a high-stakes moment for the UK's political landscape.

With 5,066 council seats up for grabs across 136 English authorities—including all 32 London boroughs—voters are delivering a critical verdict on local governance.

This year’s contests are further amplified by the landmark elections for the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd in Wales, alongside six major mayoral races in England. From the first verification stages to the final declarations, VP News is on the ground to bring you every development as the results break.

To ensure you don’t miss a single seat change or shock result, we have launched our dedicated live journalism feed. This real-time stream provides an unfiltered look at the counting halls, offering immediate updates and expert intelligence as the political map is redrawn. Whether it’s a council flipping control or a surge from the smaller parties, our live feed is the definitive destination for those who require the hard facts as they happen.

Read more: Editorial: A Brief Departure From The Dock

• Live Result Tracker: Minute-by-minute updates from all 136 contested councils and over 5,000 individual seats.

• National Impact: Real-time reporting on the Scottish Parliament and Senedd elections as the devolved nations head to the polls.

• The Mayoral Count: Instant verification and result status for the six directly elected mayors across England.

• Follow the Live Feed: Access our exclusive real-time journalism stream for direct intelligence from counting agents and polling stations nationwide.

Read more: Midlands Local Elections 2025: Key Contests and Emerging Trends

🔴 LIVE REPORTING ⬇️

Live updates: https://www.vpnews.co.uk/elections ⬇️

13:39

🔴 VOTING: PAWS AT THE POLLS

Forget the manifestos; the real stars of today’s local elections are the four-legged voters. #DogsAtPollingStations is officially trending as hounds across the UK wait patiently while their owners decide the country's fate. No bark, all ballot. 🗳️🐶

Read more: Will political earthquakes rock local elections today?

#DogsAtPollingStations

Live updates: https://www.vpnews.co.uk/elections ⬇️

LIVE UK LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS

13:00

Editorial: A Brief Departure From The Dock

It is a rare day indeed when the relative silence of the courtroom is not due to a legal technicality or a missing witness, but rather the democratic hum of a local election.

With the several of key court cases rising today to allow for the machinery of local government to turn, the benches are empty and the public galleries uncharacteristically still.

Consequently, I have taken the decision to pivot our coverage. For today and tomorrow, VP News and UK Courts Live will be stepping out of the dock and into the polling station. While we usually deal in the hard currency of Crown allegations and verdicts, it felt only right—given the lack of movement on the legal front—to bring you the latest from the local ballots.

Consider this a temporary discharge. We shall be following the developments from the ground as the results are tallied and the new political landscape takes shape. Rest assured, we have not gone soft; our usual service of clear, direct and uncompromising court reporting will resume in full over the weekend once the last vote has been counted and the political dust has settled.

Our normal legal programming resumes shortly. In the meantime, the candidates have put forward their cases, and the decisions are not in the hands of a jury, but the electorate. Now it is time to see what they have to say. We will be following events live from ballot centres up and down the country, and bring you all the live results as the electorate’s verdict begins to roll in.