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UKIP is gaining council seats across England at the expense of both the Conservatives and Labour.
The anti-EU party is on course to show that last year's breakthrough in town halls was not a one-off.
Labour is struggling to make progress and the Tory vote, which has been hit most by UKIP, is falling back.
The Lib Dems' vote share has been hit hardest but most results in 161 English councils are still to come. Euro election results are due on Sunday.
Some 11 councils in Northern Ireland are also up for grabs.
- AT 0325 BST, Labour has gained 15 seats, the Conservatives had lost 63, UKIP had gained 66 and the Lib Dems had lost 21
- Three Tory councils had gone to overall control following UKIP gains
- Most councils will not declare their results until after sunrise on Friday
- Essex has voted strongly for UKIP - and the party has also increased its share of the vote in the north
- But indications are it is faring worse in London
- So far turnout is up on average by 1 point compared with 2012
- You can follow full coverage with all the latest updates at bbc.co.uk/vote2014.
- There are election specials on BBC One and on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 5live.
The surge in support for UKIP has sent shockwaves through the main parties at Westminster, with just a year to go before the next general election.
There are some parallels: the UKIP advocates tax cuts and "localizing" government, most especially getting out of the EU; they have been dismissed as "kook fringe;" they are disaffected by their "ideological party," the Conservative Party; and they are for cutting stuff like green energy subsidies and foreign aid.
There are also significant differences: the UKIP, unlike the TEA Party (despite the blatantly false claims to the contrary by the Left) are genuinely anti-immigration; they are not interested in dismantling the NHS, but instead to re-arrange the deck chairs on that Titanic; and they generally want to just find a way to protect the social safety hammock (©2005 BoogerSnax) rather than trying to get people off of it and into producing for themselves.
The UKIP is clearly far closer to xenophobia than the TEA Party (though the usual suspects will falsely try to claim differently), but they are not actually xenophobic. They just have the same valid fiscal concerns about unchecked immigration that a whole lot of the TEA Party do.
What's most interesting, though, is this huge surge. The pick-up of 80 seats (so far) has clearly shaken up a whole lot of folks at Westminster.