Britain's Labour Party suffered losses on Friday in regional and local elections, especially in Scotland, but waited to see if it would, as expected, capture the big prize of London mayor.

It was not clear whether the scale of the losses would increase pressure on its new, leftist leader Jeremy Corbyn from centrists fearing a swing back to old-style socialist policies.

While the party, Britain's official opposition, fared poorly in some of dozens of contests in Scotland, Wales, parts of England and Northern Ireland, it looked set to win London's mayoral election, where former human rights lawyer Sadiq Khan was expected to become the first Muslim to take the post.