Counting underway last nightLouis Ashworth

by Matt Gutteridge, Kate Solomon, Caitlin Smith & Lucia Keijer-Palau

This article is 7 years old

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• James Palmer (Con) announced as the inaugural mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

• Conservatives win a majority on Cambridge City Council

• Labour win 7 city seats as UKIP are wiped out across the county 

6:06pm And it's a wrap: James Palmer has been officially announced as the inaugural mayor for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, with 56.9 per cent of the vote. Varsity is going home to lie in a darkened room and prepare to do it all again on 8th June. For those who have been following us until the bitter end, we hope you've enjoyed our coverage!

5:43pm Cambridge News is reporting that Palmer has claimed victory

5:32pm The second choice votes from Cambridge are in: Lib Dem candidate Rod Cantrill has scooped most of them, but James Palmer's majority still stands at 23848. Palmer's victory is looking increasingly likely.

5:00pm Amidst all the excitement today, the Conservatives have announced their candidate for the general election - Dr John Haywood will be standing. It'll be an uphill battle for him, as there hasn't been a Tory MP for Cambridge since 1992

4:53pm Huntingdonshire is the first to declare a result from the second count, and it's a narrow win for James Palmer. That's increased his majority to almost 30,000 votes. It will take a lot to topple that

4:40pm While we wait, it's worth looking at how the first round compared to this morning's County Council elections.

Both of the remaining candidates performed worse in the Mayoral election than their parties did in the County Council election, around 4 per cent down on this morning. The big disparity is UKIP and the Greens, whose support is almost double what it was in the County Council districts.

It hasn't done them much good though - they're both out of this one 

4:14pm If you don't get this whole vote redistribution thing (and I don't blame you) - there's a nice guide here.

Brush up quickly though, we're half an hour out from the next flurry of results

4:10pm The Guildhall is one of six counting stations working on redistributing second-preference votes, as we wait to see whether James Palmer or Rod Cantrill will be Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's first mayor.

South Cambridgeshire was crucial in the outcome of the first round, will it be the same again?

3:57pm Ouch, that's going to hurt.

3:50pm The question is who did those 37,000 Labour voters choose for their second preferences? 

We can speculate that Labour and Green voters will favour Cantrill, while UKIP voters will support Palmer. If you combine those votes, then Cantrill is in the lead, but not all voters will necessarily match this trend.

Spare a thought for those who voted for two candidates who were eliminated in the first round. Their votes won't count for anything in the crucial run-off.

3:42pm So, the breakdown of the first count is as follows:

Conservative - 38.0%

Lib Dem - 23.5%

Labour - 18.6%

UKIP - 8.0%

Green - 6.3%

Independent - 4.6%

English Democrat - 1.1%

3:36pm South Cambridgeshire is in ... and it will be Rod Cantrill progressing to the second round! A huge swing to the Lib Dems gives them a 10,000 vote cushion which belies how close it was until the very last moment

3:33pm There's currently exactly 100 votes separating Rod Cantrill and Kevin Price, with just South Cambridgeshire left to declare. James Palmer will be feeling very confident, but the race for second place has been the real talking point

3:31pm We have a declaration from Cambridge City - Lib Dem Rod Cantrill has beaten Labour's Kevin Price by just over 1,000 votes 

3:24pm If you're bored of listening to what we think, Chris Rand has put together an interesting take on the results so far

3:06pm Three results now in, and the Conservatives are streaking clear on 44% of the results.

The race for the second place in the run off is looking like it could be mighty close. Clare Porter Kevin Price, running on the Labour ticket, is currently edging it on 16.39%, but Lib Dem Rod Cantrill is on 16.34%. With just 50 votes in it so far, it could all come down to the Cambridge City votes

2:49pm Currently, only speedy East Cambridgeshire, who were first to announce this morning have declared their result, where odds-on favourite James Palmer (Conservative) has taken 46% of the vote.

Promising for the Tories, but the failure to achieve 50% in this Conservative heartland suggests that a second count is all but guaranteed

2:45pm After this morning's excitement, all eyes are now on the mayoral election. This is the first time this election is being run, so here's a quick guide on how it will work.

Seven candidates are competing to become the first Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Votes will be counted in two stages - initially, the first preference votes will be tallied, and the election will be called here if one candidate has received more than 50% of the votes. 

If, as is likely, this does not happen, then all candidates except the two with the highest number of first preference votes will be eliminated. Anyone whose second preference was for a candidate still in the race will have their vote redistributed, and a winner will be declared after this.

Simple really!

2:33pm The Liberal Democrats and Labour have more or less matched their 2013 performances, with 15 and 7 seats respectively, with three Independents completing the Council. 

The real shock has come from UKIP, who have lost all of the 12 seats that they won at the last elections, mirroring a disastrous national performance that has seen them lose more than 100 seats.

2:25pm And we're back! While we were away, the final counts from the County Council elections came in, and confirmed Varsity's prediction that the Conservatives would take control of the local authority. They are up four seats on 2013, to a total of 36, all the more impressive considering that there are eight fewer seats to contest due to district boundary revisions

12:40pm We're going to take a break now, while we wait for counting of mayoral ballots to begin. Join us again this afternoon, when we will pick up coverage of the final County Council seats, with the Conservatives chasing the nine seats they will need to form a majority, and hear the latest from the race to become the first Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

12:22pm With 41 seats now declared, the Conservatives are leading the way on 21 seats, the Liberal Democrats in second on 12, and Labour in third on 7. A single independent candidate in St Neots completes the line up so far.

12:17pm – Lunchtime summary of Cambridge results

All quiet here now as we pause for lunch ahead of the count for the mayoral election. While we wait for things to liven back up again, here's the breakdown from the Cambridge city division:

Lib Dems – 37.1%

Labour – 36.8%

Conservative – 14.9%

Green – 7.6%

UKIP  – 2.5%

Independent/Other - 2.3%

12:06pm As you can see, although Labour comfortably held all their safe seats, but in the marginals the Liberal Democrats have swept up. Julian Huppert will be feeling confident going in to the general election on these results

12:01pm To confirm, that is seven seats for Labour, and five for the Lib Dems, out of the twelve city wards. Only two seats changed hands, as Independent John Hipkin was unseated by Labour in Castle, and the Lib Dems lost Romsey to Labour.

This only tells part of the story though. Although improving their representation on the council, Labour's vote is just 36.8 per cent in the city wards, almost 10 per cent lower than in 2013. Despite taking fewer seats, the Lib Dem vote was actually higher, at 37.1 per cent. This more or less confirmed what we already knew - the general election battle is going to be extremely tight

11:52am Not many changes there. Labour will be pleased with that, but that's as good as it's likely to get for the party - they don't hold any seats outside of the city

11:52am The final results are now out for the Cambridge city division. It's a LAB hold in Petersfield, a LD hold in Newnham, a landslide LD hold in Queen Edith's, another LD hold in Trumpington, and a LAB gain in Romsey

11:46am Here's the breakdown of that ultra-close Castle result, courtesy of Cambridge's answer to John Curtice, Phil Rodgers

11:43am From the results so far, a pretty clear picture is emerging - the Conservative vote is well up, having profited from the total collapse of the UKIP vote, which is down from 21% in 2013 to just 2.5%. Labour's vote is down slightly, not as far as many predicted, but they are losing ground to the Lib Dems, who are surging in Cambridgeshire

11:37am The Conservatives are more than halfway to a majority now, having won 16 seats. 4 wins apiece for Labour and the Liberal Democrats are the only other results so far. UKIP are yet to win anything nationwide, and have been unseated twice in Cambridgeshire. Paul Nuttall's party is fighting for it's very existence, and the evidence so far is that it is losing.

11:26am Cambridge Student James Mathieson takes a strong second place in Cherry Hinton, which is a strong LAB hold. Fellow CUCA member Connor MacDonald comes a distant third in the brand new Chesterton district, which finishes as a narrow LD win

11:22am Abbey is a LAB hold. Expected in one of Labour's safest areas, but the Lib Dems ran them close! We see exactly the same thing in King's Hedges (LAB hold), where the Lib Dems put up another strong perfomance, but fall just short

11:18am Yes, yes it was. We're here all day folks!

11:12am One small correction - Henry Mitson did not make his declaration. I know this because he's just told me so. Not that it made much difference, he finished plum last with just 10% of the vote in Market division

11:11am With that brief flurry of excitement, let's fill you in on the bigger picture. Cambridgeshire is currently looking bluer than today's glorious skies, with the Conservatives having won 11 of the 15 seats declared so far. Labour and the Lib Dems have picked up two apiece

11:07am And it's a LAB hold in the Arbury county council division as well. Market doesn't produce the exciting result we expected, and ends as a solid LD hold. Excitement in Castle division as just 1.5 per cent of the vote splits the top three candidates. In the end, it is a LAB gain from IND

10:59am The first result is a City Council by-election for Arbury ward. It's a comfortable LAB hold, as expected.

10:55am It seems like CUCA abandoned the media balcony in search of candidate Henry Mitson. He appears to be absent, with the result in Market imminent

10:49am While we wait, it's worth taking a look at the interest in the Cambridge city divisions. Many of the city wards are safely Labour territory, and so the party will be relying on wards such as Arbury and Cherry Hinton to mitigate what looks like it might be quite a depressing set of results. Student heavy Castle is currently held by independent John Hipkin, but is a target for both Labour and the Lib Dems. As ever, keep an eye out for Market, with the Greens bullish about their prospects of taking the ultra-marginal ward

10:46am ...or is it? Things have gone a little quiet in the Guildhall, as we wait for the returning officer to announce the results. CUCA have abandoned the media balcony though, perhaps they know something we don't?

10:40am Candidates are being called to the platform ahead of the first city declarations. Hold on to your hats folks, this is going to get interesting!

10:32am CUCA have arrived on the balcony, looking for a strong showing from their three candidates seeking election. They've got reason to be smiling, with all results from East Cambridgeshire now in, 7 out of 8 seats are Tory wins

10:27am We've got some very bored looking vote counters twiddling their thumbs next to neatly organised piles of ballots. Results from the city wards to be expected soon!

10:24am Six results in so far, and so far things are looking very good for the Conservatives – five seats, and over 50 per cent of the vote. Labourites do not despair just yet, we've only had results from East Cambridgeshire so far, which is a Tory stronghold

10:17am The Liberal Democrats have made their first gain on the council – unseating the Conservatives in the East Cambridgeshire seat of Sutton

10:09am We've already our first two seats declared, and its two victories immediately for the Conservatives. Soham North & Isleham is a Tory stronghold, so no surprises to see a win there, but Littleport is a gain from UKIP, reflecting the party's terrible showing so far

10:06am As if things couldn't get any more exciting, this will be the first election held under revised ward boundaries. Many wards have been substantially redrawn, which could mean that previously safe seats could become tightly fought marginals, or change hands altogether

10:05am Let's give you a rundown of the state of play. At the moment, the Conservatives are the largest party on Cambridgeshire County Council, holding 32 of 69 seats, three short of a majority. The second party is the Liberal Democrats on 14 seats, with UKIP closely behind on 10. Labour are only the fourth largest party on the council, with just 8 seats, all of which come from Cambridge's fourteen city wards. Since these seats were last contested in 2013, the Conservatives returned a majority government at the 2015 general election, Jeremy Corbyn was been elected as Labour leader (twice), and Britain voted to leave the European Union. A lot has changed in four years, so expect a number of surprising results before the mayoral count begins this evening.

10:02am Overnight results suggest that it might be a painful day for Labour, who have suffered substantial losses in council elections elsewhere in the UK. The evidence so far is that the post-Brexit Liberal Democrat fightback will not be as strong as previously indicated, while UKIP face annihilation, failing to win a single seat so far. Obviously, local factors mean we should take this with a pinch of salt, but we're not too far away from the first declaration now, after which we should start to get a clearer picture of how results will play out in Cambridgeshire

10:00am Good morning and welcome to Varsity's live coverage of the Cambridgeshire County Council election. News team Matt Gutteridge, Kate Solomon, and Caitlin Smith are live from Cambridge's Guildhall to bring you all the results as they come in. Over the next few hours, we are expecting 61 declarations which will determine the composition of Cambridgeshire's next County Council

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