CONSERVATIVES have defended Zac Goldsmith's London mayoral campaign after Sadiq Khan secured a resounding win for Labour in the capital.
The Tooting MP became London's first Muslim mayor after securing 57% support following a bitter campaign which saw senior Tories try to link him to Islamic extremists.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, one of those who hit out at Mr Khan, said it was all part of the "rough and tumble" of an election campaign.
Meanwhile, the lengthy counting process following the "Super Thursday" elections continued, with further results expected in Northern Ireland.
After the last declaration on the first day of counting, 81 of the 108 seats at Stormont were filled, with the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein on course to retain their position as the major parties in the power-sharing coalition administration.
READ MORE: London mayoral victory lifts election gloom for labour
DUP leader Arlene Foster said she was "confident" of continuing as First Minister after topping the poll in Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
After the success in London, Labour will also hope for a victory in Bristol's mayoral contest, where Marvin Rees is aiming to oust independent George Ferguson.
A handful of English councils were also expected to declare their results later.
Mr Khan's victory in London was hailed by Labour, with former rival and Tottenham MP David Lammy suggesting it could pave the way for an ethnic minority candidate to enter Number 10.
Mr Fallon defended the approach taken by the Conservatives in their effort to hold on to City Hall despite criticism from senior colleagues.
The Defence Secretary branded Mr Khan a "Labour lackey who speaks alongside extremists" during the mayoral race, and was repeatedly challenged on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme to say whether he was worried about the capital's security with Mr Khan in City Hall.
"London is safe with a Conservative Government working with the new Mayor of London," he said.
Tory former justice secretary Ken Clarke told the BBC the way the campaign had been run was a "mistake" and "probably had a counter-productive effect".
But Mr Fallon said: "Both candidates were asked questions about their backgrounds, their personalities, their judgment, the people they associate with. That's the nature of our democracy and the rough and tumble of politics."
The results in London and across England mean Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has survived his first nationwide electoral test, but critics - including within his shadow cabinet - continued to express doubts about him.
Speaking during a visit to Sheffield on Friday, where Labour held on to a safe Westminster seat in a by-election, a smiling Mr Corbyn said: "All across England last night we were getting predictions that we were going to lose councils. We didn't. We hung on and we grew support in a lot of places."
But shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray - Labour's only MP in Scotland - reflected deep unhappiness among MPs opposed to their leader's left-wing agenda when he told the BBC: "I don't think that the public see the UK Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn at the moment as being a credible party of future government in 2020."
Veteran backbencher David Winnick called on Mr Corbyn to consider his position in order to give the party a chance of regaining power at the general election.
"The party faces a crisis and the onus is on Jeremy himself. He should decide whether his leadership is helping or hindering the party," he told the Press Association. "I think all the evidence shows that it is not helping."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here