The Government have received their eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth defeats in the House of Lords during the Report stage of the EU Withdrawal Bill. 

A vote on an amendment to ensure our future interaction with EU law and agencies was passed by a cross-bench majority of 298 to 227

A further vote on an amendment to remove the exit date from the bill passed by a cross-bench majority of 311 to 233.

And finally, an amendment that would keep Britain in the single market passed with a cross-bench majority of 245 to 218

On Thursday, England went to the polls in the local elections – and going in the pundits weren’t exactly predicting a great night for us:

Net seat changes prediction from @StephenDFisher at Oxford (and also of the GE exit poll team):

CON +8
LAB +131
LD -83https://t.co/wzhjyaUwi6 pic.twitter.com/5QxOtforCy

— Number Cruncher Politics (@NCPoliticsUK) May 2, 2018

But we’ve defied the pundit’s expectations and had a phenomenal night – our best local election result in more than FIFTEEN years.

We held every single Council and Mayoralty we were defending including, Eastleigh, South Lakeland, Sutton, Cheltenham and Watford.

And we took control of Richmond, South Cambridgeshire, Three Rivers and Kingston-upon-Thames.

Topping it off, we’ve gained seats across the country in Hull, Liverpool, Cambridge, Sunderland, Gosport, Merton, Portsmouth, Sheffield, St Albans, Winchester, Bolton, Barnsley (electing our first councillor in eight years with a massive majority!) and Haringey and in many, many more!

All told, we’ve made net gains of +75 – more than any other party and elected 536 Liberal Democrat Councillors.

Firstly, I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard in these elections.

Whether you got the result you hoped for or not; you have done a fantastic job. Thank you.

So far it looks like we’re on course for a great set of results.

We’ve defended our Councils in Eastleigh, Cheltenham and Sutton. We have also pulled off a spectacular victory in taking control of Richmond.

We’ve made gains in Hull, Liverpool, Sunderland, Gosport, West Oxfordshire, Cambridge, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Winchester and St Albans. We’ve held our ground in places like Southwark.

All over England, people are voting Liberal Democrat today – because they know they’ll get Councillors who will champion quality social care, strong local schools, and well-funded services.

And – even better, thousands of people have been tweeting to say why they’re voting for their local Lib Dem candidates – here are a few of our favourites:

What was the amendment on Monday evening?