Party source describes region as ‘beating heart of general election battleground’ as prime minister says Labour threw ‘lot of mud’

• Local elections 2024: full council results for England
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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”.

Former MP beats Conservatives’ Ben Bradley in region encompassing several former ‘red wall’ seats

Labour’s Claire Ward has been elected the first mayor of the East Midlands, beating the Conservative Ben Bradley by more than 50,000 votes.

Ward, a former Labour MP for Watford, said she was “humbled” to have been elected into the role, and that voters had not only endorsed her but also “a changed Labour party that can now confidently and with conviction say we are ready to lead”.

On track to lose 500 council seats, Conservatives point to Labour’s failure to win control of Harlow council – by one seat

• Local and mayoral election results – live updates

Some Conservatives had feared that Friday’s political bloodbath for the Conservatives could have been even worse. As the local election results began to trickle in, Rishi Sunak and his team were arguing there were reasons to be cheerful.

It was a remarkable way to confront one of the worst local election performances the Conservatives have ever suffered, which experts said demonstrates that Labour is firmly on track for a parliamentary majority.

With an estimated at 25% vote share, Tory performance matches 1995 nadir reached under John Major

Results from local elections held across England on Thursday appeared to confirm that Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives are on their way out of power after 14 years.

The party, which brought the world Brexit, has been consistently trailing its main rival, Labour, led by Keir Starmer, by about 20 points in opinion polls.

The leader and his chancellor look like incumbents. That will make voters even more impatient for solutions to Britain’s ills

It was not an opinion poll. These were local elections about local issues. The results tell you only about where we are now, not where we might be come the autumn, or whenever it is that Rishi Sunak finally submits himself to the judgment of the country.

You know all the caveats, to which we can add one more: some of the biggest results, namely the mayoral contests in London, Manchester and the West Midlands, won’t come until Saturday. And yet, taken together, the votes cast on Thursday form an increasingly clear picture. It is a bleak one for the Conservatives – while for Labour it contains both cheer and a perhaps unexpected warning.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

Glossy promotional leaflet handed out to asylum seekers detained under Rishi Sunak’s deportation policy

Asylum seekers who have been detained under Rishi Sunak’s deportation policy are being handed a colourful promotional document entitled: “I’m being relocated to Rwanda. What does it mean to me?”.

The news came as the government faced a second legal challenge over the prime minister’s £500m policy and it emerged that dozens of asylum seekers were being forcibly taken to detention centres.

Exclusive: Ceilings in two units in Stepping Hill hospital collapse days apart including in critical care unit

Parts of ceilings have fallen in at two key units of a decrepit NHS hospital, forcing it to evacuate patients and cancel X-rays and scans, the Guardian can reveal.

The problems at Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport, which is plagued by leaks and major structural defects, have prompted claims it is “dangerous for both patients and staff”.

It had to close its Outpatient B unit last November after inspectors reported a “significant deterioration of the structure of the building”.

It is providing only 51% of the outpatient appointments it should because some of the services that were provided in that now-mothballed unit are now operating at less than the previous capacity.

Staff in some areas have to form “bucket squads” when it rains to stop water causing flooding and affecting vital equipment.

It has had to reschedule 99 operating theatre sessions – involving orthopaedics, general surgery and gynaecology – while it builds a new emergency and urgent care campus.

Donald Trump’s former communications director testifies that the 2016 campaign wasn’t sure how to respond to Access Hollywood tape, ‘everyone was still absorbing the shock’

• Trump trial continues with judge dismissing claims that ex-president can’t testify

Judge Juan Merchan was referring to a claim Donald Trump made while addressing the media yesterday outside of court.

Speaking to reporters after court adjourned for the day on Thursday, the former president said:

I’m not allowed to testify. I’m under a gag order. I guess, right?

I’m not allowed to testify, because this judge, who’s totally conflicted, has me under an unconstitutional gag order.

I want to stress Mr Trump that you have an absolute right to testify at trial.

That is a constitutional right that will not be denied or abnegated in any way ... It is a fundamental right that cannot be infringed upon ... the order prohibiting extra-judicial statements does not prevent you from testifying in any way.

Inquiry hears Jarnail Singh ‘sat on’ email highlighting bugs in Horizon system

A former Post Office lawyer has denied “covering up” knowledge of problems with the Horizon IT system after a public inquiry heard that he “sat on” an email highlighting IT bugs, which was not disclosed to the criminal trial of a pregnant post office operator.

Jarnail Singh, the former head of criminal law at the Post Office, was being questioned at the long-running public inquiry into the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of branch owner-operators who were hounded by the Post Office because of financial shortfalls in their branch accounts. It has since emerged that these discrepancies were due to IT bugs in the company’s Horizon computer system.

• Chief of football operations rails at ‘high degree of untidiness’
• IT department and age-group dressing rooms ‘reflect poorly’

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has ordered Manchester United’s staff to raise standards after describing the level of untidiness in offices as a “disgrace” and some dressing rooms as “not much better”.

Ratcliffe, the minority owner who controls United’s football policy, made his comments after a two-day tour of Old Trafford and the Carrington training ground.