News comes as Labouras Chris Webb wins back ared walla Blackpool South Westminster seat held by Tories since 2019

• Local elections 2024: full council results for England
• Analysis: Blackpool verdict looks like electoral death sentence for Tories

The results of the London mayoral contest and London assembly elections are due on Saturday. Labouras Sadiq Khan is seeking a third term and polls have put him comfortably ahead of Tory Susan Hall, despite jitters in Khanas campaign team.

Following the closure of the polls tonight, Khan said his campaign and Labour activists asent out a message of fairness, of equality and of hopea.

Defeat could have spurred Conservative rebels to move against prime minister

• Local and mayoral election results a live updates

One of the Conservative partyas highest profile metro mayors, Ben Houchen, has won Tees Valley, giving Rishi Sunak a potential political lifeline.

Houchen was elected with a much reduced majority. He won 81,930 votes against 63,141 for Labour and 7,679 for the Liberal Democrats. The turnout was 30%. His previous majority was 76,323 votes.

Pollsters say early results suggest Tories could lose half of council seats contested, putting party on course for as many as 500 losses

• Local and mayoral election results a live updates

Keir Starmer has hailed Labouras aseismica win in Blackpool South in a night of local elections that provided further evidence that the party is heading for a large majority at this yearas general election.

The Labour leader called the result in the Blackpool South byelection atruly historica after the partyas candidate, Chris Webb, won the seat with the third biggest swing from the Conservatives to Labour in postwar history.

Co-leader Adrian Ramsay says party has won spread of council seats in urban and rural areas, from Labour and Tories

• Local and mayoral election results a live updates

The Green party is celebrating gains in areas where it has traditionally not been strong, including Newcastle upon Tyne, where it took seats from Labour.

Adrian Ramsay, a co-leader, said he believed the party a which is hoping to win control of Bristol city council later on Friday a would end up with a record number of councillors.

A aseismica night at the polls seems to indicate an electorate sending a clear message to the government. Whatas the reality?

Looking for a national picture in local council and byelection results always calls to mind the old joke about two drunkards scouring the pavement under a streetlamp. aAre you sure this is where you dropped your keys?a says one. aNo,a says the other, abut this is where the light is.a

Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist

Environmental campaign groups took joint action against decision to approve carbon budget delivery plan

The UK governmentas climate action plan is unlawful, the high court has ruled, as there is not enough evidence that there are sufficient policies in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, will now be expected to draw up a revised plan within 12 months. This must ensure that the UK achieves its legally binding carbon budgets and its pledge to cut emissions by more than two-thirds by 2030, both of which the government is off track to meet.

Post featured compromising image of the broadcaster Narinder Kaur, who said she was left aincredibly upseta

Police are investigating a social media post by Laurence Fox in relation to an aupskirting offencea.

The tweet, posted on Tuesday, featured a compromising image of Narinder Kaur, a broadcaster on Good Morning Britain and GB News. The post remained on Foxas account until it was deleted on Thursday.

Philip Morris International has supported non-smoking programmes around the world ato advance its own interestsa, say health professionals

The tobacco company Philip Morris has sponsored courses for doctors in multiple countries, in what critics have called a agrotesquea strategy.

Medical education programmes on quitting smoking and harm reduction in South Africa, the Middle East and the US have been supported by Philip Morris International (PMI) or its regional subsidiaries, according to advertising material seen by the Guardian.

The launch of the uncrewed Changae-6 is part of Chinaas effort to put a human on the lunar surface by 2030

China has launched a probe to collect samples from the far side of the moon - in a world first - as part of its goal to land a human on the lunar surface by 2030.

A rocket carrying the Changae-6 lunar probe blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern Chinaas Hainan province just before 5.30 pm (0930 GMT).

Experts fear children questioning their gender may turn to hidden economy to obtain hormones illegally

Cross-sex hormones designed to masculinise or feminise a personas body are available to buy online for less than APS11 a month, with experts warning that growing numbers of under-18s may turn to the medicines hidden economy.

Last month the landmark Cass review of childrenas gender treatment in England concluded there was a lack of reliable evidence supporting the use of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers by young people questioning their gender identity.

UN humanitarian office spokesman says hundreds of thousands of lives could be at risk and there would be a huge impact on aid operations

Daniel Hurst is Guardian Australiaas foreign affairs and defence correspondent.

The Australian government faces a decision next week on whether to support admitting Palestine as a full member of the UN and is swapping notes with allies including South Korea and Germany.

Police arrest more than 200 students at UCLA as law enforcement clears camp at Dartmouth, arresting more than 90 students

More than 2,000 people have now been arrested during pro-Palestinian protests across dozens of US college campuses in recent weeks.

Police arrested more than 300 pro-Palestinian demonstrators on college campuses on Wednesday night into Thursday morning, pushing the total past 2,000, according to an Associated Press tally.

Planned works by Network Rail will force more people onto the roads to join the bank holiday getaway, with rail strikes to follow the week after

Bank holiday getaway traffic jams will signal the start of a bumpy 10 days on Britainas roads and railways, as a rainy early May is peppered with engineering works and train driversa strikes.

Motoring organisations were expecting late Friday afternoon to bring the longest delays on roads, particularly those heading to the south-west from London.

Sara Davies hopes release of song and glitzy video will adrive the idea forward and get people talking about ita

Musicians, language campaigners and pro-independence politicians have backed a campaign to win a place for the land of song in Eurovision.

There is an increasingly loud chorus of music fans who believe that Wales, a country of heavenly choirs, anthem-belting sports crowds and rousing rock bands, should be given its own place in the song contest.

Man who emerges from German TV series is a far cry from myth of tortured artist alienated from his family and job

The word akafkaesquea has come to describe the sensation of powerlessness when dealing with bureaucratic systems; of getting lost in labyrinthine administrative errands, being shut out by faceless officialdom and having your hopes strangled by red tape.

But kafkaesque does not come close to describing the life of the man who lent the term his name, according to an irreverent biopic of the Prague-born author.

Failure of Manchester venue to open has angered those who paid for travel and hotels for cancelled events

The repeated failure of the new Co-op live venue to open in Manchester has led to shows being cancelled at the last moment, gigs rescheduled, and has caused huge inconvenience to people who had booked non-refundable travel and hotels to enjoy events they had been looking forward to.

It has, of course, though, allowed the British public to also enjoy one of its greatest pastimes a hilarious schadenfreude on social media. Not least because its general manager, Gary Roden, was forced to resign over the issues, not long after he hadnat exactly endeared himself to organisations such as the Music Venue Trust by suggesting that many grassroots music venues are often apoorly runa and that was a factor in the new venue not wanting to take part in a levy scheme to help keep smaller venues open.

The former England spinner on his goals in politics, standing alongside George Galloway and why a thick skin is his superpower

Monty Panesar has imagined what the lectern would read if he ever addresses the nation outside Downing Street as prime minister: aImmigration Makes Britain Great.a

aItas catchy, right?a Panesar says over a vegan breakfast he moves around his plate for almost an hour as he mulls over his policies on the third day of his new political career. On Monday the former England cricketer, who collected 167 Test wickets and a cult-like following across 12 years as a professional, received a call from his lawyer asking if head fancy standing as the candidate for George Gallowayas Workers Party for Britain in Ealing Southall, west London. A day later, under the gaze of the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square, Panesar the politician was unveiled to the world.

Some are optimistic about a change of government after the next general election, while others are frustrated at the choices

Joshua Holmes, 29, from Barton Hill, Bristol, went out to vote in the local elections on Thursday afternoon.

aThe polling station was pretty quiet,a he said. aI was probably the youngest person there, and the only person in my shared house that voted.a

The much-derided film returns to cinemas for its 25th anniversary. Once a rare blot on the galactic landscape, these days itas far from the only stinker in the canon

Can it really be that there are Star Wars fans who see George Lucasas Episode I a The Phantom Menace, once considered the emblem of everything that went wrong with the long-running space saga, as a bona fide classic ripe for rehabilitation 25 years on? As the much-derided 1999 film returns to cinemas this weekend, there are rumblings in the ether that millennials, and perhaps those even younger, are completely unaware of just how much of a disaster it was. Then again, perhaps those of us who remember its debut in cinemas should be prepared to listen to voices from a new generation. Was it really so bad after all?

Part of the problem is that where it was once a rare blot on the galactic landscape, a Star Wars movie that failed to live up to the glories of the original trilogy, these days itas far, far away from being the only rubbish film in the canon. In fact, it could be argued that when considering movies such as the execrable The Rise of Skywalker, the middling Solo: A Star Wars Story and the two painful prequel follow-ups, The Phantom Menace is closer to the mean average for the saga than it is to the bottom of the Dagobah swamp.

A widespread search has been sparked after Victoria Mary Clarke noticed a rifle owned by the late Pogues frontman was gone. She explains why this piece of history was one of the few possessions he cherished

OK, hands up a whoas nicked Shane MacGowanas gun? MacGowanas widow Victoria Mary Clarke is not happy and she wants it back now, sparking a widespread search after tweeting: aShaneas 1916 rifle has gone missing, most likely been stolen.a

The gun is not any old gun. Itas a rifle from the 1916 Easter Rising, and was probably used in the takeover of the General Post Office (GPO) by armed groups of the Irish Volunteers and the Citizen Army, commanded by Padraig Pearse and James Connolly. It was given to MacGowan as a 60th birthday present by the singer-songwriter Glen Hansard.

Tom Bakeras scarf! Jodie Whittakeras cupboard! David Tennantas gifs! As Ncuti Gatwa picks up his sonic screwdriver for the new series of Doctor Who, we rate every two-hearted Time Lord so far

It is too soon to place the Fifteenth Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, in the pantheon of actors to take on one of British TVas most beloved characters, but to whet your appetite before his debut series lands on 11 May, here is a top 20 of actors to have owned the Tardis since William Hartnell first emerged from a police box in 1963 a|

Patricia wants to sell the family home and split the profits between her sons, but Martin feels the deal is unfair on him. You decide whose argument deserves credit
More money disputes where you are the judge

Iam happy that Rob will get a hand, but itas a lot more than I had from Mum, which I donat think is fair

Iave tried peanut butter and bacon pizza, and had a caviar one, too

There is nothing I like more in this world than pizza. I grew up in the early 90s in Connecticut, where my dad owned a pizzeria called Kenny Vas until I was three. I still have his old restaurant sign in my garage.

For the last six years, Iave eaten pizza every single day. Sometimes it might just be a slice, but most days I will get through a whole one. My favourite is a classic American deep-pan pepperoni. I also love tomato and cheese on a nice thick crust, so a plain margherita will never go amiss.

If the Italians sitting near me looked confused at their pricey plates of sepia stodge, I canat blame them

I am just a lone woman, eating a pickled egg and asking Poppies to love her. Yet, from my table in the new Portobello Road branch, the love is not reciprocated. Solo dining is one of my specialist subjects, and my advice for lone wolves hoping for a walk-in anywhere is to turn up slightly earlier than the rush, when the staff are likely to be less fractious and dismissive of you turning up to clutter a table.

Poppies starts serving its famous fish and chips from 11am, so I arrived 10 minutes before noon. Once inside, and as usual when Iam on my tod, I scan the room so Iam able to dispute whichever dismal crevice the server might try to stuff me in. By the toilet door? Next to the Epos machine? In this all-new Poppies, the worst seats out of the 64 available are those next to the open front door, where the queue is sorted into takeaway and eat-in diners. Armed with the knowledge that Iam intending to spend about APS30 on regular fish with chips and a slice of apple pie, I fight the serveras urge to seat me there. aHow about there or there?a I ask, pointing a hand towards a couple of nicer spots, but he seems to have suddenly become acutely myopic.

As humans enter what has been termed the athird space agea, itas private companies a not governments a leading the charge

If the 20th-century space race was about political power, this centuryas will be about money. But for those who dream of sending humans back to the moon and possibly Mars, itas an exciting time to be alive whether itas presidents or billionaires paying the fare.

Space flight is having a renaissance moment, bringing a fresh energy not seen since the days of the Apollo programme and, for the first time, with private companies rather than governments leading the charge.

Simon Chambersa film about his late uncle David makes for candid and compelling viewing. Along with one of Davidas former pupils, and a fan of his film, he talks care, contempt and infatuation

aIave always liked the company of older people,a says Julian Clary, still smoothly beautiful at 64. aI like the fact theyave lived a life they are often assumed not to have done.a He pauses. aWhat old people donat know about recreational sex,a he continues, cadence familiar as a cuckoo, ayou could write on the back of an incontinence pad.a

There are plenty of those knocking about in Much Ado About Dying, a documentary about Claryas old drama teacher. But David Gale a 86 when we first have the pleasure a does not put them to their intended use. They plug holes in the wall, drafts in the window. One becomes a tea cosy.

We seem to have reached the stage where Sunakas MPs seek empathy for their inability to comply with their own policies

Are you, like me, struggling to get a handle on the current governmentas approach to empathy? It increasingly seems to be a commodity that many Conservative MPs believe should be available to Conservative MPs only. A few weeks ago the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, described William Wragg a fellow Tory MP and then-chair of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee a as acourageousa. By way of a reminder, acourageousa is the sort of word we would typically reserve for people whoave singlehandedly held a bridge for the Allies against the Germans despite being wounded/posted a picture on social media of themselves without makeup; whereas Mr Wragg had simply shared MPsa private phone numbers with a blackmailer in the current security environment. Is that brave? If it is, can the no-makeup girls please get a VC?

Further bravery seems to have been on show during yesterdayas local elections, which took place under electoral law changed by the Tories in 2022. All voters are now required to present an approved form of photo ID, which even Jacob Rees-Mogg last year implied was an attempt to agerrymandera and aupset a system that worked perfectly wella. Flash-forward to the eve of this weekas polls, and the Ipswich MP Tom Hunt a who, naturally, voted in favour of voter ID a could be found informing a WhatsApp group of local party members that it aturns out I have no appropriate ID to vote tomorrowa, and requesting someone to ado the honoursa and assist him in getting an emergency proxy vote. Unclear which lucky local did athe honoursa, but Ipswich Labour used a screenshot of his APB in their own ad to remind people that they need voter ID, warning: aDonat be like Tom.a

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

This exercise in shrinking the electorate to Conservative advantage must not be the new normal. Labour, in office, should scrap it

Unlike Boris Johnson, did you remember to take ID when you went to vote yesterday? Did you remember to take the right kind? Or, like one in seven Britons, did you have no idea you needed ID to vote? Or, like at least 2 million Britons, did you have no acceptable voter ID at all?

Until last year, when the 2022 Elections Act came into effect, British elections were free of these questions. For centuries, despite the slow, sometimes hugely contentious expansion of the electorate, and the acrimonious and distrustful character of our politics, voters were not required to produce documents in polling stations to prove who they were. This country did not believe in identity cards, many of our politicians proudly told us a particularly Tories. As the then shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, put it in 2009, shortly before his party returned to power: aID cards a| are both an affront to British liberty and will have no place in a Conservative Britain. They are also a huge waste of money.a

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

With the chain selling off 126 restaurants, Iam worried. Will I be able to get the bottomless glasses of orange juice I need?

Itas 8:25am and Iave made it down, bleary eyed, to breakfast at Premier Inn a all the more miraculous because I havenat even stayed the night. Iave just come to eat. My visit comes hot on the news that Premier Innas owner, Whitbread, is to cut 1,500 jobs and sell off 126 restaurants as part of a APS150m three-year cost-cutting drive, although it sounds as if theyall still have some in-hotel restaurants for guests only.

You know the restaurants: usually large, noisy pubs run by the Brewers Fayre chain, although sometimes Beefeater, the other side of the car park from your digs. If youare staying at a non-city-centre Premier Inn, theyare usually the only place to eat that doesnat involve getting back in the car or dicing with death as you meander down a busy A road to a 24-hour McDonaldas.