The Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the Independents have made substantial gains, getting hundreds of council seats. The Conservatives' 2010 coalition government partners — the centrist, pro-EU Liberal Democrats — have picked up more than 300 hundred seats.
"The old politics of Labour and the Tories simply isn't good enough. The Lib Dems are the real alternative, demanding better for Britain from local government up to our national issues," the Lib Dems said in a statement on Friday.
Another grateful recipient was the Green party, who seek to "opening up politics to those outside the Westminster Establishment." The Greens have won more than 40 seats across England — an outcome that the former leader Caroline Lucas called "a brilliant launchpad for European elections in 3 weeks."
Societal division and frustration over unsuccessful Brexit negotiations led by the Conservatives and the inability of the main opposition party to effectively influence the outcome of the talks were seen as key reasons for the downfall of the big players in the local elections.
Independent candidates have been on the march, picking up more than 220 seats as a result of the vote. The pro-EU Change UK — the Independent Group, formed in February 2019, celebrated their gains, slamming Brexit failures of the mainstream politicians and hailing the voters for supporting "parties backing a #PeoplesVote and independents."
The sore losers of the local elections, both Conservative and Labour parties, have lost more than 433 and 85 seats respectively.
"We'll see what final results of local elections look like by end of day as they are pretty mixed geographically up to now but so far message from local elections- 'Brexit — sort it.' Message received," said the Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP.
The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, said that "if message Labour takes from English local elections is that they should now be the facilitator of a Tory Brexit, I suspect their troubles will just be beginning."
The ruling Tory party still holds the biggest number of seats, despite dealing a major blow following 2 May vote.
Citizens of England and Northern Ireland went to polls on Thursday to choose members of 248 out of 353 English local councils, six directly elected English mayors and members of all the 11 local councils in Northern Ireland.