Health minister Maria Caulfield has attempted to downplay the results of the local elections, which saw the Conservatives lose hundreds of seats and a dozen councils.

She said the results were "disappointing", but claimed opinion polls had overestimated Labour's lead over the Tories.

Rather than a 20-point lead, Ms Caulfield says Labour are seven to nine points ahead.

The minister adds: "Experts are saying if this was reflected in a general election then actually Labour wouldn't be winning a majority, it would be more like a hung parliament, and then depending on parties like the Lib Dems and the SNP to form a government.

"Our message from that is that we need to continue to deliver on the priorities that people have asked us to deliver on, and come a general election they will have a much tougher choice to make.

"Whether they want Keir Starmer as their prime minister, or Rishi Sunak, who is delivering on things."

She points to improvements to the economy and their policy on small boats.

The results of the local elections are in - and they make for grim reading for the Conservative Party.

So much so, in fact, that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today admitted that the Tories may not win a general election, with the UK on course for a hung parliament.

Last Thursday, polls opened in 107 English councils, with thousands of seats up for grabs. Ultimately, the Tories lost 474 seats and 12 councils, while Labour gained 186 and eight respectively.

You can see the results in full below:

There were also a number of mayoral elections.

In total, 11 mayors were elected. Here are the results in full:

• Tees Valley, Conservative Ben Houchen re-elected
•  York and North Yorkshire, Labour's David Skaith 
• North East, Labour's Kim McGuinness 
• East Midlands, Labour's Claire Ward
• Liverpool City Region, Labour's Steve Rotheram re-elected
• South Yorkshire, Labour's Oliver Coppard re-elected 
• Greater Manchester, Labour's Andy Burnham re-elected 
• West Yorkshire, Labour's Tracey Brabin re-elected 
• London, Labour's Sadiq Khan re-elected 
• Salford, Labour's Paul Dennett re-elected 
• West Midlands, Labour's Richard Parker defeats Conservative incumbent Andy Street

Rishi Sunak's internal critics have abandoned their attempt to unseat him because they have run out of time and do not believe Penny Mordaunt would do what is necessary to save the party.

The Politics at Jack and Sam's podcast this week discusses how the PM is unlikely to face a challenge but will be confronted by an exhausted, sceptical and in parts broken Tory party when Parliament returns on Tuesday.

He faces legislative challenges in the coming weeks, with revolts on the criminal justice bill and sentencing bill, that could be aggravated by the party's poor performance.

However, efforts by plotters - a loose band co-ordinating to bring down Sunak dominated by ex advisors rather than Tory MPs - have been abandoned.

They are understood to believe the local elections show the Tories still on course for annihilation but they have run out of time, and the window for a challenge was back in December or January.

They had hoped a suitable candidate would emerge and the closest they came to believing someone was interested was with Penny Mordaunt, though she has denied plotting. In the end, rebels concluded she would not do what it takes. They also said the political cost of changing leader increased sharply in recent months.

Sunak is now hoping Britain coming out of recession this Friday will help turn his fortunes around.

👉Listen above then tap here to follow Politics at Jack at Sam's wherever you get your podcasts👈 

The Sky News live poll tracker - collated and updated by our Data and Forensics team - aggregates various surveys to indicate how voters feel about the different political parties.

With the local elections complete, Labour is still sitting comfortably ahead, with the Tories trailing behind.

See the latest update below - and you can read more about the methodology behind the tracker here.

By Serena Barker-Singh, political correspondent

The government at one point considered using Iraq to process asylum seekers - like the Rwanda scheme - according to documents seen by Sky News.

This could have seen people sent from the UK to a country the government advises against all travel to.

The two countries already have a returns agreement - but only for people who are from Iraq.

According to leaked correspondence between high-ranking officials, the Iraqi returns commitments were made with a "request for discretion" and no publicity.

The country was willing to move forward but did not want a formal or public agreement.

The current travel advice to Iraq on the Foreign Office website simply advises against "all travel to parts of Iraq". However, according to the document, negotiations were fairly advanced and described in one table as "good recent progress with Iraq".

You can read more in the link below:

John Swinney appears set to become Scotland's next first minister after Graeme McCormick pulled out of the race to become SNP leader.

Mr McCormick's decision not to pursue a leadership bid leaves Mr Swinney as the only official candidate after Humza Yousaf announced he is stepping down.

Mr Yousaf said he was resigning last week after he decided to end the power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Green Party.

Reports of a contest began early on Sunday when Mr McCormick said he had secured the 100 nominations from 20 branches needed to run against Mr Swinney.

But in a statement shared with Sky News, the party activist said he had had a "lengthy and fruitful conversation" with Mr Swinney, adding he had "met the threshold set by the party rules".

You can read more below:

Rishi Sunak has admitted the Tories may not win the general election after grim defeats in the local polls.

The prime minister suggested the UK was on course for a hung parliament and claimed voters would not want to see Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer "propped up in Downing Street" by the SNP or smaller parties.

In an interview with The Times, Mr Sunak pointed to Sky News analysis of the local election results by election expert Professor Michael Thrasher which suggested Labour would be the largest party in a hung parliament.

"These results suggest we are heading for a hung parliament with Labour as the largest party," Mr Sunak told the paper.

You can read more from Sky News below:

Good morning!

Welcome back to the Politics Hub and for the start of another week in Westminster, now the dust has settled over the results of the local elections.

That's not to say there isn't plenty going on today:

• Fallout will likely continue in the wake of the local elections, which led Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to admit the Conservatives might not win a majority at the next general election;
• Meanwhile, Mr Sunak's internal critics have abandoned their attempt to unseat him because they have run out of time and do not believe Penny Mordaunt would do what is necessary to save the party;
• We will likely hear from the prime minister, who is visiting a non-profit in north London, later on Monday;
• Nominations to become the next leader of the Scottish National Party close at noon. Currently, John Swinney is the only candidate after Kate Forbes opted not to run;
• The government at one point considered using Iraq to process asylum seekers - like the Rwanda scheme - according to documents seen by Sky News.

We'll be discussing all of this and more with:

• Mental health minister Maria Caulfield at 7.20am;
• Labour chair Anneliese Dodds at 8.15am.

Follow along for all the latest news and analysis throughout today.

We're pausing our live coverage for today - thanks for joining us and be sure to check back in tomorrow.

Before you go check out some of today's stories below:

Suella Braverman wrote in the Daily Telegraph about her party that "the hole to dig us out is the PM’s, and it’s time for him to start shovelling".

She also called for the party to take a stance further to the right of where it is now.

Tobias Ellwood - a Tory MP who is much more on the One Nation side of the party - has now called for her to get on board with the PM and help his election efforts.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Ellwood says: "Why not be part of the efforts Suella Braverman? 

"Why not be part of the team with the prime minister that grabs the shovels as well, rather than simply commentating from the sidelines.

"Let's be bit more JFK about this - you know, every one of us, as the election approaches, especially parliamentarians, should be asking ourselves, do our actions, do our comments, help demonstrate unity or distract from that core message? 

"Did they help win back the middle ground that's vital for electoral success - or do they push to the extreme? 

"Do they help retain Conservative seats, or do they help lose them? 

"That's the big test that we now face with just months away from the next general election."