We have had all the results for the 2026 local council elections and the political make-up of the North East councils is now completely different than it was this morning.

Here is a round-up of what happened:

• Hartlepool was the only overnight count this year - only a third of the council seats were up for grabs and Reform UK took them all which means the party is in no overall control
• Reform UK has taken control of Sunderland City Council after more than 50 years of Labour leadership
• It was a similar picture in Gateshead with Reform UK taking over from Labour
• And Reform took charge of its third council of the day winning control of South Tyneside from Labour
• Only a third of seats at North Tyneside Council were being voted for this year so there was no chance of a leadership change but Reform UK is now the main opposition
• No party has a majority in Newcastle - the Liberal Democrats are the largest party, narrowly ahead of Reform UK and Greens. Labour started the day with 34 seats and ended it with two

Luke Walton
Political correspondent, BBC North East and Cumbria

The result in Newcastle means no party is even close to a majority in the council chamber.

That could mean one party aiming to lead the council as a minority or perhaps lead to two or more parties agreeing a deal to run the local authority.

But a final agreement may be difficult to come by after a hard-fought campaign. Local parties are likely to discuss options in coming weeks.

Luke Walton
Political correspondent, BBC North East and Cumbria

Three parties have ended the day roughly neck and neck after the final results from the Newcastle City Council election.

The Liberal Democrats are narrowly the largest party with 25 seats up; with Reform UK and the Green Party both on 24 seats.

Labour - which started the day on 34 seats - ended it with just two.

Three Independents were elected while the Conservatives lost their only seat.

No party has a majority.

James Robinson
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Reform UK secured a slim majority in Gateshead as heavy Labour losses saw the party lose control of the council for the first time.

Steve Campion, the new Reform councillor for Blaydon, said: “We will need to meet internally and decide who is going to form our cabinet which we will do over the next few days.

"The plan is to then work with officers to look to see where money is being spent and where we can achieve savings. That’s a key objective."

Image source, LDRS

Helen Richardson
Political correspondent, BBC Radio Newcastle

Counting has finished in South Tyneside Council and it's been seismic.

Results are: Reform 41, Green 10, Independent two, Labour one.

Reform UK have taken control of the council from Labour. Greens are the official opposition.

BBC Sounds

Sunderland Labour MP Lewis Atkinson said people were "sending a national message that they are not happy with the pace of change that they are seeing in the country" after his party's significant losses in the city.

"They are fed up that the cost of living has not improved significantly," he said.

"For a period beyond this government, over the last five or seven years, they have not seen improvement in living standards. That is really, really tough for any party that is in power."

"I am really sad that we have lost some really good Labour councillors in Sunderland tonight. I don't think it was a local vote.

"I think people recognise that Sunderland is a city on the up and there has been some really good work done by the Labour Council working together with the Labour government but ultimately national factors were the determining factor here."

Reform UK took control of Sunderland City Council earlier - here's a look at the final make-up of the council.

Helen Richardson
Political correspondent, BBC Radio Newcastle

Tracey Dixon, now the former Labour leader on South Tyneside, has lost her seat.

She has left the count, but earlier said: "The North East was a red wall and now it's actually crumbled to a Reform Wall."

With two wards left to declare, Reform UK have a clear majority.

The turnout here was 43.6%.

One of the newly-elected Reform UK councillors in Gateshead, Fiona Pearce, said people were "fed up of the current Labour councillors".

Reform UK swept to victory today, taking control of Gateshead after it was run by Labour for more than five decades.

Pearce, now representing Wardley & Leam Lane, said constituents felt a "vote for Labour was just voting for the status quo".

"It's just keeping things the same and a lot of people are unhappy with things like anti-social behaviour," she went on.

"We've got a lot of issues with the high street, the local shops are closing down, a lot of the businesses would like to succeed but they're struggling."

Helen Richardson
Political correspondent, BBC Radio Newcastle

Counting is still under way, but Reform UK has won a majority of seats on South Tyneside Council.

There has been a major change in the political make-up of the North East with today's election results. Here's what has happened:

• Hartlepool was the only overnight count this year - only a third of the council seats were up for grabs and Reform UK took them all which means the party is in no overall control
• Reform UK has taken control of Sunderland City Council after more than 50 years of Labour leadership
• It was a similar picture in Gateshead with Reform UK taking over from Labour
• Only a third of seats at North Tyneside Council were being voted for this year so there was no chance of a leadership change but Reform UK is now the main opposition
• We're still waiting for the results of Newcastle and South Tyneside councils and our reporters reckon those will both come in about 19:00 - so still plenty to come

More results are coming in for Newcastle City Council, and still no seats for Labour.

Former elected North of Tyne Mayor for Labour, Jamie Driscoll, won for the Greens after joining the party late last year.

All three seats in his Monument ward went from Labour to the Greens.

Image source, Hazel Plater

Mark Denten
BBC North East and Cumbria

The now-former Labour leader of Gateshead Council Martin Gannon lost his seat this afternoon, after 42 years on the council.

Speaking after the result, he said people across the country were "angry and dissatisfied".

"And I don't blame them," he went on. "I feel exactly the same way."

"We've got to win back trust."

Mark Denten
BBC Look North

Reform UK has become the largest party on Gateshead Council.

It officially takes control in the local authority which had been Labour since it was formed in 1974.

Helen Richardson
Political correspondent, BBC Radio Newcastle

"We just need to clear the decks and reboot," says South Shields Labour MP Emma Lewell.

At the halfway point in South Tyneside, Labour only had one seat. Reform UK had 18, the Greens seven and Independents one.

"Anyone looking at what happened in local elections elsewhere last year could see that if my party did not change course, this was what was going to happen," Lewell said.

"And instead, we committed to go on further and faster with our plan for change instead what we needed was a change of plan."

She said: "There's one fundamental in politics. If the public are telling you they don't like something and you keep doing it, do not expect their vote, and that's what we're seeing being played out here."

Earlier, Keir Starmer said he was "not going to walk away".

Image source, House of Commons

Mark Denten
BBC North East and Cumbria

Reform UK is one seat away from taking control of Gateshead Council....

Joshua Aitken
BBC Look North

There's been some good news for local Conservatives in North Tyneside - Jay Bartoli has been elected to a new ward meaning he will continue serving on the council alongside his father Lewis Bartoli.

Naturally Bartoli Snr was beaming with pride and said: "Well my daughter turns 18 soon, so maybe the family business will grow, although I'm not sure she's as into it as us."

You can listen to more on BBC Sounds here.

Mark Denten
BBC Look North

Labour has lost control of Gateshead Council, which it has controlled for 52 years.

Reform UK is the largest party at the moment, and is seven seats short of an overall majority

BBC Sounds

Newly-elected Washington North councillor Paul Donaghy thinks Reform's gains in Sunderland are more than a flash in the pan.

"I think this is the start," he said.

"Three years ago when I first came over to Reform UK. I came because I could see the passion and the plan and I sat down with people at the time and they said this is what we want to do and I believed in it and I still believe in it and a lot of people who came into it believe it as well.

"This is not a flash in the pan, we've got a plan, we know what we want to do, we know how we want to do it and it is now our job to deliver that plan, deliver the promise of change that we have made."

Helen Richardson
Political correspondent, BBC Radio Newcastle

For a while it was looking like a straight battle between the Greens and Reform UK, but at the halfway mark it is: Reform 18, Green seven, Independent one, Labour one.

Reform have by no means swept the board but they are picking up seats from Labour and the independents. The Greens have lost some seats to Reform but gained some from Labour.

Some wards have three Reform councillors now, so all new faces representing the residents.

Labour is worried about so many new councillors in the chamber. They’ve only held on to one seat.