BREAKING: Tories brace for hundreds of losses as local election voting closes

Millions cast their votes today in the first major electoral test for since winning power.

Voting closed at 10pm in local elections held across England with over 1,600 council seats up for grabs alongside six mayoral contests. There was also a key by-election in Runcorn and Helsby - triggered after the ex-MP Mike Amesbury quit the Commons after an assault conviction.

activists and MPs poured into the seat on Thursday where the party is hoping it can cling on in a closely fought battle with Reform UK. At last year's , Labour won 53% of the vote in the constituency. But Nigel Farage's right-wing party is hoping to translate its lead in the polls and steal the seat in what would be a major upset for the PM.

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Tory leader is also bracing for an electoral bloodbath. Polling experts have suggested the Conservatives will lose hundreds of councillors to both Reform UK and the as the party slides further into irrelevance.

Reform UK could see a win in the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral contest if turnout at the ballot boxes ends up being low, polling experts have predicted. Boris Johnson's former pal and ex-Tory MP is running for Farage's party.

Leave campaigner and former Ukip donor Arron Banks is also in the West of England contest - a race described as too close to call by experts. And in Hull & East Yorkshire the Reform candidate, Luke Campbell, a former boxer and Olympic medallist, is narrowly ahead according to a recent poll.

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Mr Farage is also hoping to make gains in Lincolnshire where the Conservatives have a majority in the council. The Local Government Information Unit points out that Farage's former party once performed well in the area in the mid-2010s.

Ms Badenoch has already ruled out quitting if the losses are disastrous. Speaking earlier this week, the Tory chief said: "Anyone who thinks that this is an overnight task and that changing leader yet again is the solution is not paying attention. The public are quite tired of watching us change leader.”

In a final message to voters ahead of the polls opening, Labour chairwoman Ellie Reeves also insisted the Government's plan was "already starting to deliver". She said: "There's a clear choice between Labour with a plan for change to deliver the security working people deserve and renewal for our country, or more of the same chaos voters rejected last year with the Tories and Reform."