The second part of my hour by hour guide to the local election results: what declares on Friday and what’s up for grabs: on.ft.com/3QrPLES

What's up for grabs in the local elections and declaring overnight? The first part of this year's hour-by-hour guide to the local elections, from 22:00 Thursday to 08:30am Friday can be read here: on.ft.com/4bhwe1G

Apparently 80% of the time when you make up statistics you don’t get away with it #NorthSouthAsylumSeekers

A fun snippet from More in Common's Greater Manchester poll:

The most supported candidate among people who voted Tory in 2019 is... Andy Burnham.

2019 Tory voters break down as:

Andy Burnham (Lab): 33%
Laura Evans (Con): 27%
Dan Barker (Ref): 22%
Nick Buckley (Ind): 12%

Michelle O’Neill becomes the longest-serving current First Minister…

At 39, Humza Yousaf will become the youngest ever ex-First Minister in UK history

28 days to find a First Minister seems awful tight for those of us who’ve been following NI politics over the years #Scotland

BREAKING: Humza Yousaf has resigned as first minister and SNP leader

He claims he could have won the no confidence vote but says: 'I am not willing to trade my values and principles, or do deals with whomever, simply for retaining power'

bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-s…

BREAKING: Humza Yousaf resigns as First Minister of Scotland, just a year into the job.

'I am not willing to trade my principles or values or do a deal with whomever simply to retain power.'

Labour's hopes of taking overall control of even more NW councils at the local elections have been affected by councillor resignations in Burnley and Pendle, mainly over Gaza. The party already controls 17 of 22 councils being contested though. Guide: liverpool.ac.uk/politics/news/…

We sure he’s going? I mean most of us consider our position on a Monday morning #Humza

The length of Scottish First Ministerial tenures since 1999:
- Nicola Sturgeon 8 years 128 days
- Alex Salmond 7 years 185 days
- Jack McConnell 5 years 170 days
-Donald Dewar 1 year 147 days
- Humza Yousaf 1 year 31 days*
- Henry McLeish 1 year 12 days #Holyrood #devolution

And finally in Greater Manchester we have Andy Burnham on course for an easy win, with the potential for the Conservatives to slip back and potentially a higher Reform UK vote.

Labour's polling lead 1 week before Local Elections:

2021: -7.2%
2022: +5.8%
2023: +15.3%
2024: +20.0%

Election day has been called. It’s next Thursday. It’s just that 68%* of folk won’t bother taking part (based on 2023 turnout in England). #LocalElections2024

Whoever Alliance chooses to replace outgoing MLA Patrick Brown will become the 59th co-opted Assembly member in the last 12 years #democracy

MP Mark Menzies resigns from Conservative Party bbc.in/3Q8OTEX

If any academic publisher ever wants to make a similar offer, happy to be disrespected.

There may be a sequencing issue here

This week's Red Lines...
The Stormont Insider - Money for nothing.
Mark Carruthers is joined by Deirdre Hargey Jonathan Buckley Eóin Tennyson MLA John Stewart MLA Matthew O'Toole and Gerry Carroll to assess the challenging state of the finances at Stormont.

bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0h…