The ruling Conservatives failed to make any big gains in England and Wales, but made good headway in Scotland where partial results show it may leap-frog Labour as the second party of the Scottish National Party.
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The former London Mayor was suspended by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn last week for saying Hitler supported Zionism in the 1930s “before he went mad” and killed six million Jews.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon will be looking to lead her party to a historic third term win north of the border, where all 129 seats to the Scottish Parliament are being contested.
And shadow cabinet minister Andy Burnham revealed he is considering running for mayor of Greater Manchester, in an apparent sign that pessimism about Labour’s prospects of regaining power at Westminster reaches into the party’s highest echelons.
But the Labour MP insisted “now is not the time” for any challenge to Mr Corbyn.
Voters punished the opposition Labour Party in Scotland as the results rolled in Friday for local and regional elections – races that underscored divisions in the public mood across the United Kingdom.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that the referendum on Britain’s European Union membership in June could be a trigger for her SNP party to demand another independence vote – if Britain as a whole votes to leave the European Union but Scotland votes to stay in.
Britain’s Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives to cast his vote at a polling station in Islington, north London Thursday May 5, 2016.
Deputy leader Tom Watson urged Labour activists and MPs to “respect the mandate” given to Mr Corbyn by members and supporters past year, and suggested that it was too early in his tenure to expect him to be chalking up significant electoral advances.
“So, no, overall I think the record’s been impressive”. As of 5am, Labour’s losses were restricted to 28 seats.
Asked on BBC Question Time if Mr Corbyn’s position could be threatened if the party loses seats as some experts have predicted, Ms Nandy said: “I’m a loyal supporter of Labour and I’m a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn who was elected with a resounding vote from our members”.
Mr Jones ruled out a pact with Tories or Ukip, but indicated he would be ready to consider working with Plaid or the Liberal Democrats.
Following her shock victory, Ms Wood said: “A new dawn is about to break in Wales”.
He told Sky News: “The simple fact is, so many people have gone on to the internet now, they have seen Joseph Finkelstein’s brilliant interview”.
“We should have been winning by a landslide across the country with the way this Tory government’s been acting and the way they’ve dealt with the country”, Labour MP John Mann told the BBC.
In the English city of Liverpool, Labour’s Joe Anderson held on as mayor.
Labour’s anti-Semitism row that has engulfed the party seems to have cost the party the Eastwood seat in East Renfreshire, which is home to nearly half of Scotland’s Jewish population. The only party pushing for a so-called Brexit, the U.K. Independence Party, made gains at Labour’s expense but is on course to do no better than expectations.
With the first five English councils declaring, Labour had gained four seats as it held on to its strongholds of Sunderland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, South Tyneside and Halton on Merseyside.
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Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith, a wealthy environmentalist, has described Khan as “dangerous” and accused his opponent of giving “platforms, oxygen and even cover” to Islamic extremists -a charge repeated by Prime Minister David Cameron and other senior Conservatives.
