The Standard View: Tories suffer big losses as the race for City Hall is now a waiting game

The votes are still being counted and in London we will not know the result of the mayoral election until Saturday. But one thing is clear: this is shaping up to be as bad a night for the Conservatives as the polls predicted.

Labour secured a 26.3 per cent swing in Blackpool South, the third largest from the Tories to the party at a by-election since the Second World War. And this was no outlier — Sir Keir Starmer has now achieved six by-election swings greater than 20 percentage points in the past 12 months. Labour also took control of a range of councils, including Thurrock, Rushmoor and Hartlepool — the latter being the scene of Sir Keir’s nadir when Labour lost the 2021 parliamentary by-election.

Rishi Sunak will hope to be able to point to victories in the Tees Valley and West Midlands mayoral elections, where Ben Houchen and Andy Street enjoy at least relative popularity. But even decisive victories in these two races cannot undo a growing sense that the opinion polls are broadly correct, and the Tories are on course for defeat at a general election.

As for the capital, follow our live blog at standard.co.uk for the latest as counting begins at 10am tomorrow. Early indications are that it may be a close one.

The right to protest is fundamental, but it is not total. It is a right to peaceful protest. This is important to remember as pro-Palestinian protests at UK universities, inspired by those in the US, increase.

Such young people follow in a long tradition of activism, but they must understand where the line is. Occupying shared spaces to paralyse the running of a university ought not be tolerated. Nor should chants and slogans that amount to calls for violence, whether demanding the destruction of the State of Israel or attacks on civilians.

Jewish students in this country should not expect to have to endure intimidation or overt racism as they go about their studies. University administrations must act with common sense, but also with conviction to prevent the ugly scenes witnessed in the US.

Technology ought to make things smoother and cheaper for businesses and customers alike. Not so, says Gloria, an Italian restaurant in Shoreditch. Diners recently discovered that on top of a service charge, they had a “check out” fee added for using an app to pay the bill.

Quality food and attentive service is always worth paying for. But nonsense fees leave a bitter taste in the mouth. Restaurants should confidently charge what they feel, and customers can decide whether it represents value.