Tim Page
Live page editor

That's it for our live coverage of the election counts across Coventry & Warwickshire today. Thanks for joining us.

To recap:

• Labour remains the largest party in Coventry, but has lost its overall control of the authority.
• Reform has made gains in all three councils we've been covering, but only became the largest in Nuneaton and Bedworth.
• In Rugby, the Conservatives were the largest party, but previous coalition partners Labour and the Liberal Democrats have enough seats to remain in charge if they decide to do so.

You can follow continuing BBC News coverage of the elections across England, Wales and Scotland into the evening.

Jamie Riley
BBC CWR

Gary Ridley, the group leader of the Conservatives, was among those who lost seats in Coventry as the last counts came in.

He lost in Woodlands, as the Conservatives lost two seats in the very closely contested ward.

Ridley, a councillor since 2002, left the hall before the result had been declared and was feeling dejected over the results earlier in the evening.

Across Coventry and Warwickshire, Reform made fewest gains in Rugby.

Liberal Democrat group leader Jerry Roodhouse said it had been "a good result" for his party there. It finished behind the Conservatives on 15 seats and level on 12 with Labour.

"Liberal Democrats are community campaigners, we are community champions," he said.

"I think that’s clearly demonstrated here today."

He highlighted taking two seats from the Tories in what had traditionally been "a strong Conservative area" and that they had held back "the tide" of Green and Reform UK.

"I’m really pleased with that, but I’m also especially pleased for candidates who worked non-stop," he said.

"We’re standing up for Rugby because Rugby deserves councillors that are working in the communities."

Simon Gilbert
Political Reporter, Coventry and Warwickshire

The final results are in, and no party has overall control at Coventry City Council.

It means discussions between the parties will now begin in the coming days and weeks to decide how the council is run, and who leads it.

Labour sources are confident they can strike a deal with the Greens, which would take them to the 28 seats needed for a majority. The next few days will be interesting!

(Seat changes are against election results in 2022)

We've been reporting on Reform gains, most notably in Nuneaton and Bedworth, but also in Coventry and to a lesser extent in Rugby.

Elsewhere in the West Midlands this evening, Nigel Farage's party has taken control of Sandwell and Walsall from Labour and the Tories respectively, and is making gains in Birmingham.You can follow those stories on our Birmingham and Black Country page.

And remember BBC News is right across the national picture too.

Simon Gilbert
Political Reporter, Coventry and Warwickshire

Image source, Coventry City Council

There's been a high profile loss for Labour in the past few minutes.

Jim O'Boyle, Coventry City Council's cabinet member for jobs, regeneration and climate change has lost his seat by just nine votes.

O'Boyle is a prominent figure in the media and has overseen projects like Very Light Rail, the Gigapark plan at Coventry Airport and the City Centre South redevelopment project.

He was also considered one of the front runners to potentially replace George Duggins as leader of the group, should Duggins step down.

This is a loss that will send shockwaves through the local party.

His two Labour colleagues in the St Michael's ward hung on, but there is now a Green Party councillor joining them. The Greens will see this as a significant scalp.

Simon Gilbert
Political Reporter, Coventry and Warwickshire

George Duggins has said he is going to consider his future as leader of Coventry City Council's Labour group over the weekend

Labour is due to decide who its group leader will be on Monday, but Duggins is yet to decide if he wants to continue in the role.

He said the results in Coventry were a message for both Labour nationally and locally adding "you can't detach both".

He added: "We need to know how a government not two years in can see the kind of catastrophic results that have happened this afternoon."

Asked if Sir Keir Starmer was the right man to continue to lead the Labour Party, Duggins said: "no comment".

Simon Gilbert
Political Reporter, Coventry and Warwickshire

George Duggins, the Labour leader of Coventry City Council, has held on to his seat by just 89 votes.

With the Greens and Tories winning three seats each as counting continues, it looks like the other parties are starting to join the show!

George Finch, the Reform UK leader of Warwickshire County Council, says it is an "honour and privilege" to be elected as a borough councillor too.

He took the Bede seat in Nuneaton and Bedworth from Labour, having previously suggested he would have time to lead both councils.

"This has been a fantastic day for Reform across the country," he said on X. , external

"The British people are making themselves heard loudly and proudly."

Jamie Riley
BBC CWR

After 27 seats split between Reform and Labour in the first half of the Coventry count, Conservatives have held all three seats in Wainbody.

These are their first wins of the day here, for John Blundell, Martha Heaven and Pratibah Chimmula.

Phil Upton
BBC CWR

BBC CWR has been catching up with one of the members of its election panel, to find out what she makes of today's results so far.

Malkit lives in Coundon. The 71-year-old moved to the city from Nairobi in Kenya in 1970.

She said she had voted for Reform UK, because she was struck by their pledges to increase police on the street and improve education and transport.

She said she and others had become disillusioned with the traditional parties not delivering on promises.

“Let’s give a new party a chance and let’s see what they can do," she said.

If they were to win control in Coventry, she said she wanted them to "stand by their policies".

“We also need to know, if the changes are going to be made, when are they going to implement them?”

This is how it finished at Rugby Borough Council earlier (changes shown against last election for these seats)

We're now halfway through Coventry's results.

The new ward of Tile Hill and Canley has been announced - and it's a clean sweep for Reform. It takes the numbers at the halfway stage to Reform 15, Labour 12.

Simon Gilbert
Political Reporter, Coventry and Warwickshire

Foleshill has been declared and it's an important win for Labour who have held on to all three seats.

Deputy Council Leader Abdul Khan is among the winners, topping the votes.

All three winning candidates had a comfortable margin over the Greens in fourth, fifth and sixth.

Foleshill was the only ward in the city where turnout was down on 2024.

Reform UK has taken all three seats in Wyken from Labour.

Frank Beechey, Andrew Bullock and Dawn McCann celebrate as they are surrounded by colleagues.

Simon Gilbert
Political Reporter, Coventry and Warwickshire

We are one third of the way through the result in Coventry.

As it stands:

Reform has 12 councillors.

Labour has six.

Jennifer Wells and Lisa Boyle celebrate taking Bablake ward for Reform UK, where turnout was 42%.

Jamie Fearn was also elected in the ward for Reform.

Hannah Griffiths
BBC CWR

"Nationally, it's clearly a disappointing day," said Rugby's Labour MP John Slinger when he popped into the count at Benn Hall.

"This is what happens with incumbent governments.

"You have to reflect, dust yourselves down and then get on with the really important job of delivering for people and that's on a national level and also at the local level."

He said he was sad for councillors who had lost their seats, but the party would "get on with the job of rebuilding the country".

Hannah Griffiths
BBC CWR

Labour have lost three seats to Reform but held two - and that means they may well hold on to a Labour-Lib Dem coalition here.

The Lib Dems have held four seats and gained two from the Conservatives.

But the Conservatives remain the largest party on the council with now 15 seats - having held on to four seats and lost none to Reform.

The Labour group here will now go away and hold their AGM tonight and pick a new leader, after their previous one stepped down at these elections.

When they do. They'll have to pick up the phone to the Lib Dems and see if there is a new "supply and confidence" deal to be done.

The Lib Dem leader in Rugby, Jerry Roodhouse, tells me he will be speaking to both of the main parties - the Lib Dems hold the key to who is in power here now.

How that plays out may take some days to become clear.

Overall, one commentator tells me, this feels like the dull one-all draw with both managers taking a point.

St Michaels, based in Coventry city centre, is to be recounted.

There are differences of just four and five votes between some of the candidates.

Some of these contests look set be on a knife edge.