The Conservatives held their majority at Dartford council after a long count went on for most of the night.

In what one returning officer described as 'the most complicated' vote he's ever done, due to a high amount of split votes, the Tory council held on.

The shock of the night came just before 5am as Labour leader Jonathon Hawkes ((Lab) lost his seat in Stone House to fellow Labour candidate Kelly Grehan and Conservative Tom Oliver.

After the long count, which press were denied access to until the results were announced, of the 42 available seats 29 are occupied by Conservatives, 10 by Labour and three for the Swanscombe and Greenhithe Residents' Association (SAGRA).

Since 2015, Dartford council has been run by the Conservatives with Jeremy Kite as leader.

For all the results and reaction from across Kent follow our live blog and follow live updates from the Dartford count below, with full ward results updated as they come in.

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7.44am

Here's what Dartford council leader Jeremy Kite had to say about the election results.

7.41am

The Tories lost four seats in the Dartford Borough Council elections and Labour, where notably the opposition group's leader Jonathon Hawkes lost his seat, has actually gained three since 2015. The other group is the Swanscombe and Greenhithe Residents' Association. Here's an outline of what happened.

6am

Counting has been underway overnight. To see how the results came in live, head to our Dartford Messenger Twitter account. We'll put the highlights in this blog throughout the day too.