18:51

The environment secretary, Michael Gove, has backed the notion that today’s English council election losses for the Tories and Labour were a clear warning that voters want to see Brexit delivered.

At a fringe event at the Scottish Tory conference in Aberdeen, Gove was pressed by Graham Simpson, a Conservative MSP who has been the most vocal advocate of Brexit at Holyrood, on whether he remained confident Brexit would take place. Simpson asked him: “Do you think there’s a danger that it won’t happen?”

Gove, who has been carefully wooing activists in Aberdeen before the contest to replace Theresa May, without stating he plans to run, replied: