So far at 3 am Greenwich time the Labour party in the U.K. has plenty to cheer about. With 85 0f 181 councils reporting their results Labour has won 44 of them a gain so far of 19, the Conservatives have won 26 a loss of 9 and the Lib Dems have won 3 a loss of 1.

In terms of council seats won Labour has won 840 out of the 1649 so far reported for a gain of 370; the Conservatives 499 for a loss of 236; and the Lib Dems 181 for a loss 107. No matter what happens in the London mayoralty race where Boris Johnson is favoured to defeat Ken Livingston the election is clearly a major success for Labour and the leadership of Ed Miliband.

As of 4 a.m. Greenwich time Labour has won 48 councils, the Conservatives 26 and the Lib Dems 3 with 92 of 181 councils reporting. They also have won 1002 council seats to the conservatives 510 and the Lib Dems 188. Labour is up 428 seats and 20 councils over the last election. The Conservatives are down 243 seats and 9 councils; the Lib Dems down 125 seats and one council. The B.B.C. has projected the vote share as 39 % Labour;31 % Conservative and 16% Lib-Dem, others 14%. Labour’s share is up 3 % points from last time. The Conservatives down by 4 % points.

As of 6 a.m. Greenwich time Labour has elected 1087 councillors of 2091 declared elected, up 456; Conservatives 549, down 272;the Lib Dems 211, down 127.Labour has won 49 councils, up 21; Conservatives 26, down 11 the Lib Dems 3, down 1.

As of 1:30 p.m. Greenwich time on Friday Labour has won 1405 council seats up 603; the Conservatives 751 down 349 and the Lib -Dems 291 down 182.Total seats declared 2902. Labour has now won 61 councils, up 27;Conservatives 35 down 12 and the Lib-Dems 5 down 1 with 132 of 181 now declared. London results still to be counted.

The vote for London’s mayor and council has some very interesting modifications to the first past the post anachronistic and unfair voting system we use in Canada. Every voter has the right to cast both first and second preference ballots for mayor. The top two finishing candidates have the votes for second preference of those voters who voted for  candidates other than one of the two top finishers counted in the second round of the count. The candidate with the largest total of first and second votes wins the election. In addition to the fourteen councillors elected from districts of London there are 11 others chosen from party lists on the basis of proportional representation and party preference vote. So if the Greens get 1o % of the vote they would win one of the city wide seats.

Results as of 5:06 p.m. Greenwich time.Labour 1943 council seats up 750; Conservatives 985 down 394; Lib Dems 399 down 296.

Labour has won 71 councils up 29;Conservatives 41 down 12;Lib Dems 6 down 1. 175 of 181 declared and 4469 council seats declared. In the race for London Mayor Boris Johnson leads Ken Livingstone 45 to 40 % with only first  round ballots counted.

Final results all 181 councils counted and declared: Labour 2159 council seats, up 824; Conservatives 1006 down 403;Lib dems 438 council seats ,down 438.London assembly Labour 8 elected from districts plus 4 from London wide. Conservatives 6 elected from districts plus 3 London wide, Lib Dems 0 from districts plus 2 . Greens 0 from districts plus 2 London wide Mayoralty election Boris Johnson defeats Ken Livingstone, 51.5 % to 48.5 % after second ballots are counted . Johnson was supported in the first round by around 800,ooo voters who had voted Conservative in the assembly vote plus a chunk of the 40,000 odd Labour voters who crossed over to vote for Johnson and against Livingston plus about 130,000 votes from the other parties including the Greens, the Liberal Democrats, UKIP and the National Front. In the second round preference count Livingstone bested Johnson but not by enough to overcome the deficit created by the first round vote and the second round preferences for Johnson.

Apart from the London mayoralty race it would seem that austerity and a recession are a toxic electoral project for any government. Lets now see what happens in France on Sunday.