Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

More and more criticism is pouring in from Labour people over this morning’s appointments.

A Labour MP says: "Not sure voters in Wigan, Wandsworth, Salford or Sunderland voted Reform because they thought we needed more advisers from a different era of Labour politics. I think this shows that Keir doesn't even understand the problem, never mind the solution."

A former Labour adviser says: "Is his plan to combat the notion that he has no ideas to just double down on that and bring in a load of other people to come up with ideas?"

Green Party peer Jenny Jones says the result from Thursday's election is "absolutely huge" for the Greens.

"If I weren't sitting down, I'd be dancing around the room," she tells BBC Breakfast.

The Greens have gained 374 seats in the English council elections, bringing their total number to 515, with only a handful of authorities left to declare. They have also gained two seats in the Senedd in Wales, up from none.

The party is hoping to get more seats in the Commons at the next general election than its current five, Jones says. Asked whether they have benefitted from a protest vote, she says: "I think a lot of people will be [with us for the long term]".

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

It’s early days but I am starting to hear some bafflement, even anger, from Labour ministers, MPs and officials about the appearance of Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman this morning.

While both widely respected by Labour MPs, there is widespread confusion about how figures from Labour’s past signify change.

One normally loyal minister just said to me: "It’s a joke. There is no question to which bringing these two back is the answer."

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been appointed as a special envoy on global finance.

The prime minister has committed to boosting the country's security and resilience and "in this role, Gordon Brown will advise on how global finance co-operation can help to achieve this," Downing Street says.

It comes after former Deputy Prime Minister Harriet Harman was appointed as an adviser on women and girls.

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

Not long after Harriet Harman emerged from No 10 with PM Keir Starmer, another figure from Labour's past has done the same - Gordon Brown.

We don't know what role the former prime minister has agreed to take. But this is a clear strategy: Starmer seeking to reassert his authority through the backing of some of the figures from Labour's past most respected by the party's MPs.

Harman charged with helping PM deliver change faster - but will it work?published at 10:12 BST

10:12 BST

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

The appointment of Harriet Harman is an attempt to flesh out what the prime minister means by delivering change faster.

He has repeatedly said that tackling violence against women and girls is one of his priorities.

Harman has now been charged with helping Keir Starmer deliver that.

The former Labour deputy leader Harriet is universally respected by Labour MPs, but whether her elevation to a part-time, unpaid adviser role is enough to reassure Labour MPs digesting the election results remains to be seen.

Harry Farley
Political correspondent, reporting from Downing Street

Harriet Harman has been appointed the prime minister’s adviser on women and girls as part of a reset following Labour’s heavy election losses.

Baroness Harman will work with ministers, Number 10 said, on tackling violence against women and girls.

Downing Street said: "The role will see her draw on work with women across Parliament to identify action needed to tackle misogyny and deliver greater opportunity for women in parliamentary and public life."

Image source, Getty Images

New Member of the Scottish Parliament Stephen Gethins says there is "now a bigger pro-independence majority" in Scottish Parliament than ever before, when other parties are included alongside the Scottish National Party (SNP).

Gethins is a former Westminster MP who will now need to step down after being elected as MSP for Dundee City East.

He tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that it is "incumbent on all politicians to listen to the electorate" in the aftermath of "seismic elections".

"People in Scotland want a choice about their future" and "deserve" that choice, he says.

The SNP won the Holyrood election for the fifth consecutive time with 58 seats, down six from 2021, but failed to achieve the 65 required for a majority.

Image source, Reuters

The deputy leader of Plaid Cymru says the party is "absolutely not" considering a coalition with Reform UK in the Welsh government.

Plaid Cymru made big gains in Thursday's election and is now the biggest party in the Senedd with 43 seats, but it hasfallen short of the 49 needed for a majority

Delyth Jewell tells BBC Breakfast that Plaid Cymru's success is a "historic moment" for Wales and says it signals faith in the country's potential and "a triumph in the politics of hope over division".

She adds that the party stands ready to form the next Welsh government and would consider co-operating with other "progressive parties" where there is common ground.

Pressed on which parties this may be, Jewell lists the Greens, Labour and the Liberal Democrats as parties it may work with on a "case-by-case basis" when there is common ground.

She says that Plaid Cymru will be "standing in Wales' corner" and demanding what she characterises as a better deal from Westminster.

The results are "historic" for the country and Reform UK, the party's home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf tells BBC Breakfast.

The Conservative party have been "rendered irrelevant in Scotland, Wales and large parts of England now", he says, and adding he believes it's a similar picture for Labour, saying the party has been "annihilated" in large parts of England.

The party has taken a "big step towards making Nigel Farage our prime minister", he says.

The party has gained 1,442 seats in English councils so far, up from just two in 2022. It has also emerged as the second largest party in Wales and joint second in Scotland.

Asked whether he's concerned the party is just a protest vote, Yusuf says the UK is on a "trajectory of decline" and suggests that won't change under Labour. He says the party can increase its vote share before a general election and then "deliver for the British public".

It's then put to Yusuf that defending policy once you're in government is more challenging. "We welcome scrutiny," he says, saying that Reform took control of a number of councils last year.

Trickle of Labour MPs join calls for Starmer to go, but so far no cabinet ministers or rivals have joined thempublished at 09:05 BST

09:05 BST

Harry Farley
Political correspondent, reporting from Downing Street

This morning has seen a trickle of Labour MPs joining those calling for the prime minister to step down.

In the last few minutes the former minister Catherine West added her voice.

"The Labour Party need the chance to have an honest conversation about how we deliver the change we promised in 2024, and that requires new leadership which understands the urgent and real concerns of people across the UK," she said.

I’m reporting from a sunny Downing Street this morning. But if you’re one of those sat inside pondering the prime minister’s next steps, it’s looking pretty gloomy.

Their one silver lining is, so far, there haven’t been any cabinet ministers or leadership rivals among those saying Starmer should go.

He will give a speech on Monday to try and set a direction and vision for where he wants to take the country now. But writing in The Guardian, the prime minister said he'd made mistakes, but added "that doesn’t mean tacking right or left". From that, it doesn’t sound like a major overhaul in policy or approach.

His problem is many more Labour MPs than the 20 or so who’ve publicly said so believe his time is up.

Polling expert Prof Sir John Curtice tells BBC Breakfast the picture for Labour "has frankly emerged to be one that has been about as bleak as might have been imagined in advance of these elections".

In Wales, the defeat was "about as serious as anybody had thought it might be", he says.

Downing Street has a "substantial challenge on their hands" he says - to persuade colleagues they do not need a new leader, and if they don't change leader the challenge for Starmer to turn things around "is clearly now a very very substantial one".

Looking at the wider trends, the polling expert says "frankly none of the political parties have the support of a substantial section of the public", and are all minorities.

He says a national share projection shows Reform with more support, and that it's then "hard to get a cigarette paper" between support for the Green Party, Labour, Conservatives and Lib Dems.

"The crucial point is the results confirm the fragmentation of our politics," he adds.

Labour, he adds, now have to "think seriously" about the "substantial difficulties" they find themselves in.

Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell is pressed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme about the growing number of Labour backbenchers calling for a Starmer to set out a timeframe for when he could stand down as prime minister.

She says she agrees there has to be a "step change", but that she wants to see Starmer continue and lead that process.

Thinking that setting out a timetable would "put to bed the issues of leadership I think is actually the wrong conclusion", saying it would "fire the starting gun of a quite honestly, a very distracting and ongoing debate about leadership".

She says there has been "incessant speculation" in the last few weeks, adding: "I don't want to hear about that anymore. I want us to get on with the job."

Powell is asked if she can say categorically that Starmer will still be Labour leader in six months time, or if there will be a change.

"I don't think it should happen and I don't want it to happen," she says.

Challenged again, she says that predictions about a leadership change are "already being proven to be incorrect" and adds that "we don't do hostile takeovers in the Labour party".

Powell is asked to answer the question directly and say if she can say Starmer will still be leader in six months' time.

"Yes, yes, yes," finishes Powell.

Powell is asked about rumours there are plans for a Labour MP to step aside so Andy Burnham can become an MP and challenge Starmer.

Does she know if that's happening? "No," she says, adding the party has a leader.

What has been damaging, she says, is the endless speculation and rumour about a leadership challenge.

The government would look "ludicrous" if they turned in on themselves at this stage, she says.

If things don't improve then Reform UK leader Nigel Farage could be "walking up Downing Street in two or three years time", Powell says, adding she "can't even begin to think" about letting that happen.

She says they have to do better as a party and that Starmer "knows that as well as everyone else".

Labour's deputy leader Lucy Powell is pressed on whether Starmer can continue as Labour leader.

Several quotes are put to her on BBC Breakfast from senior Labour MP Clive Betts who told the BBC that the public has "stopped listening to Keir" and they have made their minds up.

Powell says that the problems the country is facing and the expectations people have for the party will still be there "whoever was the Labour prime minister at this point in time".

She says the right course of action now is for the party to "reflect, to hear, to listen" and "to change what we're doing and how we're doing it, but to get behind Keir as the leader and go forward as one team".

She adds that Starmer has spoken about previous mistakes that have been made and that she has heard a deep sense of frustration and disappointment across the country.

Powell is repeatedly pressed on whether she has spoken to Starmer about his future and whether she has suggested that he should stand down - she says he wants to continue.

Asked if she has suggested he shouldn't, she says "no", adding she wants him to continue as leader.

Labour's deputy leader Lucy Powell is speaking to BBC Breakfast and says prime minister Keir Starmer "takes responsibility" for Labour's poor election results.

Asked what Starmer's mood is like, she says: "He is very reflective, he's understanding as I do that these are very tough results for Labour, incredibly painful."

She adds: "He is accepting responsibility, he is saying we've got to change. He hears what people are saying."

Asked what accepting responsibility means and if Starmer is saying that he is the reason Labour has done badly, Powell says "he is absolutely accepting that these election results are a reflection on the Labour government" and what it has been doing and not doing.

People are feeling "incredibly disappointed and frustrated", she says, adding the party has to hear what voters have said and "we've got to do a lot better".

Starmer has been clear he has a job to do and he wants to carry on, she says.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Former deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman says Starmer should not stand down as prime minister but "he really has got to step up" and listen.

She tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme Starmer is only two years into being prime minister and took on a "very difficult" situation.

He has made "unforced errors", Baroness Harman says, but people "don't want instability" in government.

Two years into his premiership "things have got worse, some because of his own responsibility, some not", she says, but Starmer "has got to turn it around, that's on him".

There are examples of prime ministers who have been unpopular at one point but gone on to win back support when circumstances changed, she says.

Harman says Starmer's job is to rebuild confidence with voters and respond to the message they have sent.

Clive Betts, one of Labour's longest serving MPs, has been speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Asked if he still thinks Starmer is the right person to lead the party, he says: "In some ways it's not what I think this morning, it's what the electorate were telling us in the last few weeks."

He says the results have been "pretty devastating", seats have been lost that the party has held for decades, and people have repeatedly said they wanted to vote Labour "but not while Keir is the leader".

"That is a real problem going forward," he says. "People have made their minds up."

He says either Starmer carries on and Labour lose "badly" at the next election, Starmer decides to stay and an "internal battle" turns off the public and potentially leads to an election loss, or Starmer recognises "for the good of the country" that "he has to stand down" in the "not too distant future".

He says the public has stopped listening to Starmer and says a timeframe needs to be brought in to introduce a new Labour leader in the next few months.

No leadership pressure on Badenoch despite Tory lossespublished at 07:24 BST

07:24 BST

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent

Image source, PA Media

The Conservatives have suffered heavy losses in elections across the UK - but there is no hint of leadership speculation surrounding Badenoch.

That might seem strange for a party that has had such a bad night at the polls.

But it will not surprise anyone who has been watching the Tories closely in recent weeks, when it's become clear that regardless of the level of Conservative losses, Badenoch's future would not be in doubt.

The party is pointing to some glimmers of hope among these election results, including Westminster and holding on to other councils such as Harlow, Broxbourne, Bexley and Fareham.

But there are two much more important factors which have prevented any sense of jeopardy from forming around the Conservative leader.

The first is her performances in Parliament. Many MPs believe that Badenoch has for some months now been an impressive combatant at Prime Minister's Questions, her weekly joust with the prime minister.

The second is a stark lack of alternatives. During the early part of Badenoch's tenure as leader, there was much chatter that Robert Jenrick wanted the job for himself. But he has now defected to Reform UK.

• Jack Fenwick's analysis continues here