This is fabulous.

Everyone rightly lauding John Curtis also needs to follow Ben Walker - a truly excellent polling analyst. Have a good rest Ben, need you fresh for the The New Statesman podcast this afternoon!

We’re going to get distracted by 2000 more council seats today and the mayorals but worth dwelling on Blackpool South

🗳️ massive 26% swing to Labour
🗳️ third biggest swing to Lab in history
🗳️ Conservatives only just beat Reform (by just over 100 votes)

We’ve become used to…

'It made me worry for anyone who is Jewish. This isn’t about the boy who spoke about me. It’s about the crowd’s complete indifference', writes David Ellis

Read more: standard.co.uk/comment/jewish…

🚨 NEW: Council seats at 06:00am - every party making gains but the Tories

🔴 LAB: 304 (+56)
🔵 CON: 112 (-120)
🟠 LDEM: 103 (+16)
⚪️ IND: 62 (+36)
🟢 GRN: 20 (+12)

33/107 councils declared

Sir John Curtis says that the results in the local elections so far are ‘not far short’ of catastrophic for the Tories
 
They are ‘one of the worst if not the worst’ Conservative performances in local elections for 40 years
 
He says that Tories are losing half the seats they are…

Repeal the voter ID rule. It's stupid.

Donald Trump is at it again. He told a campaign rally in Wisconsin: ‘We’ve seen what happened when Europe opened their doors to jihad. Look at Paris, look at London - they’re no longer recognisable.’

Am I the only one who thinks a win for Count Binface in London could actually be a good thing?

'Bit of drama' the words of a man who has just discovered the controversial voter ID restrictions his party implemented over a year ago

There were plenty who did not trust my refugee grandfather's motive and would have deprived him the right of asylum. If they'd listened to the baying mob he would have died, or been classified 'illegal'. Perhaps treated like this? Manhandled out of refuge? Sickening

Catherine West: The Tory candidate for mayor of London, Susan Hall, is actually a member of the 6 Facebook groups... that are full of islamophobia, antisemitism... & the worst bit... death threats to Sadiq Khan... will he investigate..

Rishi Sunak: No

#PMQs

Big fan of Derek's work but this thread takes the cake. Excellent work, sir.

I want to say something to the people with mental health conditions that have got in touch with me worried / panicked about the govt news on possible benefits changes... NOTHING HAS HAPPENED.

- The govt has put out a green paper. That is an EARLY STAGE consultation document.…

Ed Balls

🚨FEBRILE🚨FEBRILE🚨FEBRILE🚨

Action stations everyone, it's the febrile klaxon.

It was fascinating to host this edition of the The New Statesman⁩ podcast with guests former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, and author Richard Beard. What impact has boarding school culture had on our political leaders, and - by implication - the country? podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…