Reform takes control of South Tyneside Council
BBCReform UK has taken control of South Tyneside Council after winning three-quarters of the local authority's seats.
Labour, which had previously led the council for seven years, was left with a single seat.
Newly elected Reform councillor Paul Mackings said he was delighted with the results seen by his party across the region.
He said people wanted change and the outgoing Labour leadership had "stopped delivering" for locals.
"People have stopped knocking on their doors, [they were] not looking for votes," he said.
"Labour haven't done themselves any favours."
Mackings said the first thing Reform would do was look at an opening balance sheet for the council's finances so it could understand its "true financial position".
"We know they are £730m in debt, we know we have the highest debt per capita in the whole of the North East," he said.
"That is something we want to address."
He said Reform would work to bring down council tax and address adult services, anti-social behaviour and pot holes.
He called on Keir Starmer to "consider his position" as prime minister after Labour's poor performance at the local elections.
South Shields Labour MP Emma Lewell also joined calls for Starmer to resign and said it had been clear the party would lose seats at local elections if it did not "change course".
"Instead, we committed to going further and faster with our plan for change - what we needed was a change of plan," she said.
"I have nothing personally against the prime minister, I like him, but it is very clear he is not popular with the public and he's lost their trust and once you lose the British public's trust it's very hard to gain that back."
She said Starmer first lost the public's trust when he decided to cut winter fuel payments, a decision he later reversed.
Former Labour council leader Tracey Dixon was among those to lose their seat.
Speaking at the half-way point of the count, she said she was "devastated" at her party's performance.
She said Labour needed to be proud of their achievements while running the council, such as its regeneration projects and supporting the voluntary sector.
"What we need to do is do a bit of analysis to find out what has gone wrong," she said.
There were a total of 54 seats being contested in South Tyneside. The full results are:
Reform - 41
Green - 10
Indy - 2
Labour - 1
