Many voters in England, Wales and Scotland will go to the polls on 5 May to elect their new local representatives.
More than 4,350 seats will be contested in England in more than 140 councils, with all 32 Scottish councils and all 22 Welsh councils also holding elections.
While these elections will directly decide who is responsible for planning, housing and garbage collection in a given area, they will also allow voters to express their views on national issues, including the cost of living crisis, the ongoing party dispute, held on Downing Street and Whitehall and the government’s response to the war in Ukraine.
With a huge number of seats being contested, the results are likely to paint a vivid picture of national sentiment for the first time since the early general elections in 2019.
But how do they work, what are the key areas that need to be addressed and what will be constituted as a good or bad result for the main parties?
How can I vote?
To vote in the upcoming local elections, you must have registered and turned 18 in England or over 16 in Scotland and Wales.
Citizens of the EU or the British Commonwealth living in the United Kingdom can vote in England, while any foreign national legally residing in Scotland and Wales has a chance to vote.
Polling stations will be open between 07:00 and 22:00 on 5 May – but as long as you are in line at 22:00, you have the right to vote.
Voting usually takes place at local schools, churches and leisure centers, and you will be given a ballot on arrival.
In some circumstances, for example if you have COVID, you can apply for an emergency power of attorney – when someone votes on your behalf – until 17:00 on election day.
Image: Local councils are responsible for issues such as garbage collection, reform planning and mental health services
what am i voting for
Local councilors are elected for a four-year term by the local community to represent its views.
They are responsible for a wide range of issues from transport, garbage collection, application planning and management of mental health services.
Participation in the polls allows residents to say what is happening in their locality.
Locals can vote for as many council seats as are contested in their area – as will be clear at the top of the ballot.
What are the key results to watch for?
London, which represents more than four in 10 of all English places in the game, may be witnessing some frustration for each of the two main parties.
Wandsworth and Westminster – both currently controlled by the Conservatives – are two London councils that are particularly in the spotlight.
Labor won more votes but fewer seats in the local elections in Wandsworth last time – but detained all members of the constituency – and will want a different result next month.
Early adopters of Thatcher’s policies, including the sale of townhouses and privatization, Conservatives will be willing to retain the esteemed South London Council.
Westminster has never been under the control of another party, but some commentators believe the Conservatives may be under pressure here as the party rages.
Other southern councils where conservatives are also expected to face the challenge include Westminster, Barnett, Harlow, Southampton and Thurrock.
In Croydon, meanwhile, Labor’s current Labor-controlled government has been plagued by recent problems, Labor may face a battle amid growing voter discontent.
Hartlepool, which the Conservatives won in the by-elections in 2021 – winning more than half of all Labor votes for the first time since its creation in 1971 – is likely to be in the field of view of Labor.
Labor lost control of power in 2019 and is currently ruled by a coalition of conservatives and advisers to the Hartlepool Independent Alliance.
Peterborough was won by Labor in the 2019 by-elections, only the party lost to the Conservatives in the general election months later.
Therefore, the result can be seen as a good indicator of public opinion for the current government.
In Wales, as most councils are now run by coalitions, it will be interesting to see if that changes and if Labor can hold Cardiff while the Conservatives can maintain a strong position in the north-east.
In Scotland, meanwhile, all eyes will be on whether the Conservatives can at least maintain or even improve the gains made by Labor in 2017.
When will we know the results?
The results are expected in the early hours and throughout the day on Friday, and some councils will probably declare on Saturday.
In England, about half of the councils are expected to start counting their votes on Thursday night, and the rest of the councils are expected to start on Friday morning.
In Scotland and Wales, meanwhile, the countdown won’t start until Friday, with the earliest results expected in the afternoon.
A fuller picture should be clearer than Friday night.
Image: Labor will want to take advantage of its growing popularity in recent opinion polls
What will the main parties consider a good or bad result?
Leading sociologists Colin Rawlings and Michael Thrasher gave their interpretation of how we should look at the possible results of research.
They suggest more than 350 losses would be a figure the Conservative Party will not want to reach.
This could make many conservative MPs – both in the former marginal areas of the Red Wall and in the south – particularly worried.
The party will try to write off the losses between 100 and 150 as “medium-term blues”, sociologists suggest, but this level of decline will still show that the Tories are lagging behind Labor in terms of people’s support.
Meanwhile, gains of more than 100 will show that the Conservatives continue to break into the hearts of former Labor and will be seen as a great success for Mr Johnson’s government.
Labor, on the other hand, will want to take advantage of its growing popularity, according to recent studies.
Mr Rawlings and Mr Thrasher suggested that 200 or more winnings – which would be the party’s best performance in the local elections in a decade – would be seen as a triumph for Sir Keira Starmer.
Profits between 50 and 100 will also be seen as a positive step forward, illustrating that the party has made progress since 2018 and is likely to even focus on some key council seats in London.
However, minimal or no gains will be seen as disappointing, given Mr Johnson’s current declining popularity ratings.
More than 100 losses would be presented as a particularly bad result, overshadowing the woes of 2021.
Image: Boris Johnson’s premiership could be under even more pressure if the Conservatives perform poorly
What is happening now?
As Boris Johnson faces growing pressure over the party scandal, the local election will be seen as an indication of what voters have done about it.
If the Conservatives perform poorly in this election, his presidency could come under even greater pressure – with a potential leadership challenge that is closer to triggering.
Tory MPs are likely to worry that if they run again in the next general election, such results could lead Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer to become prime minister.
At the end of November, there were reports that letters of no confidence had been sent to the influential Tory Committee since 1922, when the question of the party’s door arose.
The Conservative Party’s rules state that at least 15% of Tory MPs must write a letter of no confidence to make the leadership challenge possible.
There are currently 359 conservative MPs, which means that 54 letters are needed to provoke a competition.
Before the election, more than a dozen Tory MPs called on Johnson to leave.
Now this number can increase. But because the letters are transmitted confidentially, there is no exact total amount for how many were sent to the chairman of the 1922 committee, Sir Graham.
But Mr Johnson is adamant that he will still be prime minister in six months, despite the noise of discontent on the back bench over the party.
On the other hand, if Labor misbehaves – at a time when the Conservatives’ popularity rating is falling sharply – Sir Care’s leadership is also likely to be called into question.
This will be especially the case if the Labor Party fails to rebuild the land in one of the former areas of the Red Wall, where the Conservatives won general elections in 2019.
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