When are the local elections? Everything you need to know as Starmer goes to ballots for first time as PM
Elections are being held in England on May 1 to choose hundreds of councillors, a handful of mayors and a new MP for the constituency of Runcorn & Helsby.
Here, we check out the locations, timings and key numbers behind this year's contests.
What elections are taking place?
Voters will go to the polls on May 1 to elect councillors for 23 local authorities in England.
Elections are also taking place in England for two local authority mayors and four combined-authorities mayors, as well as a new member of parliament for Runcorn & Helsby in Cheshire.
No scheduled elections are taking place in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Which councils are holding elections?
Of the 23 local authorities holding elections, 14 are county councils: Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Devon, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
Polls are also taking place in eight unitary authorities: Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Durham, North Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Shropshire, West Northamptonshire and Wiltshire.
In addition, one metropolitan council, Doncaster, is holding an election.
How many council seats are up for grabs?
A total of 1,641 seats are being contested across the 23 local authorities.
Every seat on all 23 authorities is up for grabs, but boundary changes mean some areas will be electing fewer councillors than before.
The number of council seats in Buckinghamshire is falling from 147 to 97; Durham is having its seats cut from 126 to 98; in West Northamptonshire the number is dropping from 93 to 76; and in North Northamptonshire the total is falling from 78 to 68.
By contrast, in Northumberland the number of council seats is increasingly slightly from 67 to 69; in Oxfordshire the total is rising from 63 to 69; and in Gloucestershire the number is going up from 53 to 55.
Overall, the total number of council seats across the 23 local authorities holding elections is falling from 1,736 to 1,641.
More than half of seats across the 23 local authorities are currently held by the Conservatives.
As of March 31, the Tories hold 954 of the 1,736 seats, or 55%, according to analysis by the PA news agency.
Labour hold 295 (17%), the Liberal Democrats hold 222 (13%), Independents hold 173 (10%), the Greens hold 42 (2%) and Reform hold 23 (1%).
Other parties hold 16 (1%) and 11 seats (1%) are vacant.
These numbers are likely to change between now and polling day due to councillors switching parties or seats falling vacant.
When were these council seats last elected?
Most of the seats were last contested in May 2021, at a time when the then-Conservative government, led by former prime minister Boris Johnson, was enjoying a spike in popularity following the successful roll-out of the first Covid-19 vaccines.
At the 2021 local elections the Tories made a number of gains while Labour and the Liberal Democrats, both of whom had recently elected new leaders (Sir Keir Starmer and Sir Ed Davey respectively) fared less well.
Where are mayoral elections taking place?
Four combined-authority mayors are being elected on May 1, for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, Greater Lincolnshire, Hull & East Yorkshire and the West of England.
Two of these are brand new roles, in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull & East Yorkshire.
Labour is the incumbent party defending the other two mayoral roles, for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough and the West of England.
In addition, two single-authority mayors are being elected, in Doncaster and North Tyneside, both of which are currently held by Labour.
When will the election results be declared?
Polls close at 10pm on May 1, but most councils are waiting until the following day to begin counting votes, with results expected from mid-afternoon on May 2.
Some of the mayoral elections are likely to be counted overnight.
A full list of estimated declaration times will be published by the PA news agency nearer to polling day.
Why is there a by-election in Runcorn & Helsby?
This contest has been triggered by the resignation of the previous MP Mike Amesbury after he was given a suspended prison sentence for punching a man in a street in Frodsham, Cheshire in October 2024.
Mr Amesbury won the seat for Labour at the 2024 general election with a majority of 14,696.
He was suspended by Labour after footage emerged of the punch, and spent the last few months sitting as an independent MP.
The result of the by-election will be counted and declared overnight.
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