Chris Webb wins back ‘red wall’ seat held by Tories since 2019; Labour take control of Hartlepool, Thurrock and Rushmoor

• Local elections 2024: full council results for England
• Labour claims huge byelection win to claim back ‘red wall’ seat Blackpool South

The results of the London mayoral contest and London assembly elections are due on Saturday. Labour’s Sadiq Khan is seeking a third term and polls have put him comfortably ahead of Tory Susan Hall, despite jitters in Khan’s campaign team.

Following the closure of the polls tonight, Khan said his campaign and Labour activists “sent out a message of fairness, of equality and of hope”.

Chris Webb’s byelection victory with more than 7,500-vote majority hailed as ‘most important result’ of night by Labour leader

• Local and mayoral election results – live updates

Labour has regained the seat of Blackpool South in Thursday’s parliamentary byelection, in a fresh blow to Rishi Sunak’s leadership. The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, called it a “seismic win”.

The local and firm favourite Chris Webb won with 10,825 votes, followed by David Jones, the Conservative candidate, with a distant 3,218 votes, who finished narrowly ahead of the Reform candidate, Mark Butcher, on 3,101 votes.

Results from more than 100 English councils, as well as for several mayors, are announced as polls predict heavy Conservative losses. Find out what happened in your area

• Local and mayoral elections – live updates

Former PM made the requirement to bring photo ID a stipulation of the Elections Act in 2022

• Local and mayoral elections – live updates

Boris Johnson was turned away from his local polling station when trying to cast his vote in Thursday’s elections after forgetting to bring the required photo identity.

The former prime minister was initially told by polling station staff he would not be allowed to vote in the police and crime commissioner election in South Oxfordshire without proving his identity.

Results across 107 councils and in 10 mayoral votes will start coming in from the early hours of Friday

• Local and mayoral elections – live updates
• Local elections 2024: full council results for England

Voters across England have the opportunity to give their verdict on Rishi Sunak’s government on Thursday in the last set of local elections before the general election.

Many of the seats up for grabs were last contested in May 2021, when the Conservatives under Boris Johnson were enjoying a Covid “vaccine bounce”. Fast-forward three years and the Tories are trailing 20 points behind Labour in national polls.

Civil servant Josie Stewart spoke to media after government presented ‘dishonest account’, tribunal told

A Foreign Office civil servant felt “morally compelled” to speak to the media about the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after the government presented a “dishonest account” of what happened, an employment tribunal has heard.

Josie Stewart was sacked by the Foreign Office (FCDO) after blowing the whistle on the failures of the withdrawal from Kabul and disclosing emails indicating Boris Johnson’s involvement in an “outrageous” decision to prioritise the evacuation of staff from the animal charity Nowzad, despite his denials.

Exclusive: decision to grant licences condemned by critics as a stunt that shows Tories are ‘playing politics with climate’

Fossil fuel companies will be allowed to explore for oil and gas under offshore wind-power sites for the first time, the government will announce on Friday, in a move that campaigners said is further proof that ministers are abandoning the climate agenda.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), which regulates North Sea oil and gas production, will confirm that it is granting licences to about 30 companies to look for hydrocarbons on sites earmarked for future offshore windfarms.

• Contact with ‘representatives of the aggressor states’ discouraged
• Recommendations serve to avoid possible ‘provocations’

Ukraine’s athletes have been urged by their Olympic chiefs not to have any contact with their Russian and Belarusian counterparts at the Paris Games in July and August.

Ukraine had threatened to boycott the Games after the International Olympic Committee decided Russians and Belarusians who do not openly support the invasion of Ukraine and have no army connections can compete as neutrals.

The launch of the uncrewed Chang’e-6 is part of China’s effort to put a human on the lunar surface by 2030

China will attempt another mission to the far side of the moon on Friday, the first of three planned over coming years as part of its goal to land a human on the lunar surface by 2030.

The launch of the uncrewed Chang’e-6 is expected sometime between 8.30am GMT and 11am GMT and the mission – if successful – would go far to bolster China’s ambitions to put a man on the moon by 2030.

Voxelotor, which can help reduce need for blood transfusions, is administered as a daily tablet

A new treatment for sickle cell disease has been recommended by the health watchdog in a move described as life-changing for people living with the condition in England.

The drug, Voxelotor, has been recommended for use on the NHS in England by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) in people with the disease who are aged 12 and over.