UK-LOCAL ELECTIONS

We encourage everyone who can to vote this Thursday 1 May. We can see what we get, when many do not!

WHERE ARE ELECTIONS HAPPENING? Elections are taking place in 23 councils across England.

All seats will be contested in:
– 14 county councils: Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Devon, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire
– 8 unitary authorities: Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, County Durham, North Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Shropshire, West Northamptonshire and Wiltshire
– 1 metropolitan district: Doncaster
– 6 mayoral elections are also happening: in the West of England, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, North Tyneside, Doncaster and – for the first time – in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire
– Voters in the Runcorn and Helsby constituency will also elect their new MP on 1 May

IMPORTANT: ​Local elections in the UK often feature extremely tight races, where a handful of votes can determine the outcome, for example:
– In 2019 Cotswold District Council – Tetbury Town Ward election, Conservative candidate Stephen Hirst won by just ONE vote over Independent David Painter
– 2023 Blackpool Council – Greenlands Ward: Labour’s Peter Wright secured victory over Conservative Jane Warne by 32 votes… and local councillors in particular have a big influence on whether anti-motorist measures happen or not.

Ask candidates our questions (or research and find out where they stand on them) to help you make your decision.

Note: you may say “the candidate in question will not have direct control over all these things.”

That may be true, but the questions are about their principles, and commitment to influencing things the right – or wrong – way.