Reform UK have surged to victory and taken control of Kent County Council.

The party has won a majority following the capitulation of the Conservative vote - winning 57 seats of the 81 available.

Seats won – final total: Reform – 57; Labour – 2; Lib Dem – 12; Green – 5; Conservative - 5

The Tories lost a whopping 52 seats from the start of the day and have relinquished control of the council after 30 years in power.

The Liberal Democrats have moved into second position and are now the main opposition group with 12 councillors.

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Many Tory big-hitters – including KCC leader Roger Gough and his predecessor Sir Paul Carter – have been ousted.

Earlier, Mr Gough described the situation for his party as "apocalyptic" and added: "That is the only way I can describe it."

The Conservative said after learning his fate: “Obviously I am deeply disappointed. It is extremely sad to lose my division which I have represented for 20 years and sought to do my best for these communities.

“It appears to be part of a much bigger picture we are seeing across the county and indeed the country."

He wished his Reform UK victor Marc Logen well in the division.

The political map has shifted as Reform secured all the available seats in five districts across Kent - Ashford (seven seats), Thanet (seven seats), Dover (five seats), Dartford (seven seats) and Gravesham (five seats) - along with success across the rest of the county.

Speaking outside County Hall this evening, Maidstone South East member for Reform Linden Kemkaran said: “I can’t go into too much detail [about plans] as a newly elected councillor.

“But the first thing we’re going to do is open the books.

“We’re going to see where the money is going and look at contracts awarded to people fixing potholes, providing services to schools and social care and look at those and whether they offer value for money.

“If they don’t we’re going to change them.

“A lot of my Reform colleagues are business owners, have owned businesses and run businesses and understand how things work.

“We’re so grateful for the people of Kent putting their trust in us.”

Reform candidates in Dover - at the symbolic heart of their flagship issue of immigration - are jubilant, having claimed all seven seats up for grabs in the area.

Paul King, new Kent county councillor for Dover West, said it feels "humbling, amazing, exciting and daunting”.

“People are desperate for the change that Reform can do – and there’s a weight of responsibility with that but we’re all committed to do that, it’s exciting,” he added.

“Never write them [Tories] off. The last 24 hours has been as much about Labour as it has about the Tories.

"The legacy parties still label us as a protest party – we’re clearly not a protest party, we are a party of common sense and of putting the general public first – it’s as simple as that."

The vote counting has taken place at 12 sites across Kent to determine the results of 81 seats in KCC’s 72 divisions.

Medway is not part of this election as it is a unitary authority which runs its own affairs.

Ashford’s Labour MP Sojan Joseph has reacted to the result at County Hall, saying: “I look forward to working with all of the incoming councillors elected to KCC from the constituency.

“We have some very tough challenges to overcome left over from the last 14 years of Tory mismanagement.

“We face a shortage of SEND schools, potholes blighting our roads, we must find a long-term solution to Operation Brock, and we need to resolve the small boat crossings.

“I hope we can work constructively together over the next few years to fix these issues and deliver for our constituents.

“This was always going to be a challenge for Labour locally. The government has had to make difficult decisions to get the economy back on track.

“However, we had nothing to lose going into the election yesterday in Ashford - we were not the incumbent party.

“Finally, I would like to thank everyone who put their faith in the Labour Party at the ballot box yesterday.”

Anthony Hook (Liberal Democrats) held on to his seat in Faversham as the party gained more seats than four years ago.

He said the rise of Reform elsewhere does concern him but had a warning for Reform on taking control at County Hall and says he feels they could quickly runaground.

Cllr Hook said he feels the new leaders at Kent County Council do not have actual solutions to problems the council faces and will find running the authority effectively is a lot tougher than they made out during the campaign.

He added he feared Kent residents will have to suffer the consequences as a result.

The first result saw Gravesham Tories’ leader Jordon Meade lose his seat to Reform’s Diane Morton, setting the tone for what was to come.

Elsewhere in the country, Reform has been making huge gains against the major parties - including securing victory by six votes over Labour in a by-election in Runcorn and Helsby.

The defeat there was branded “shockingly terrible” by Independent Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield, formerly of Labour, who posted on X: “Any leader who truly cared about the potentially terminal damage inflicted on the LP should be horrified and asking themselves some serious questions.”

Reform’s narrow victory has set a new record for the smallest majority at a parliamentary by-election since the end of the Second World War, and also marks the party’s highest-ever share of the vote in a by-election.

KentOnline will be bringing you the latest news and results throughout the day with links to local stories at the bottom of this article.

KMTV will be on air from 5pm with a special edition of the Kent Politics Show and kmfm will be covering the election in its regular bulletins.

The election is likely to be the last time people will return members to KCC before it is broken up to make way for a new local government structure.

The previous make-up was Conservatives 57; Labour six; Liberal Democrats six; Green Party five; independents two and Reform UK two.

Predictions have been made difficult by the perceived weakness of the Conservative and Labour parties, the rise of Reform UK and the appeal of the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats.

Although a recent Electoral Calculus’ poll suggests Reform UK will win control of the county council.

Local results

To see the results local to you, click on the relevant area:

Ashford – Dover – Canterbury – Dartford – Folkestone and Hythe – Gravesham – Maidstone – Sevenoaks – Swale – Thanet – Tonbridge and Malling – Tunbridge Wells