Elections 2021: Sturgeon says SNP majority was ‘very long shot’; Starmer ‘bitterly disappointed’ by Hartlepool loss – live

Reactions and all the latest results after Thursday's elections in Scotland, England and Wales

• Nicola Sturgeon plays down SNP prospects after pro-UK tactical voting
• Starmer says Labour has spent too long talking to itself
• Liverpool votes in UK's first directly elected black female mayor
• England's Greens and Lib Dems make gains in local elections
• 2021 elections: results for the English local, Scottish and Welsh polls

8.00pm BST

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she hoped and expected that Boris Johnson would not block another independence referendum.
When we get to that point we will take the action, introduce the legislation that would be necessary for an independence referendum, and if Boris Johnson wants to stop that he would have to go to court," she told Channel 4 News. I hope and expect that wouldn't happen because actually Boris Johnson is not exempt from the rules of democracy." Sturgeon added: If this was in almost any other democracy in the world it would be an absurd discussion."

7.53pm BST

Or perhaps not. https://t.co/eOPxipNZeS