Campaigning for the local elections has entered its final day ahead of the first major test of public opinion under Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership.
Politicians and candidates will make their closing pitches to voters before the polls open across England on Thursday.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage will be among those out canvassing.
Voters will go to the polls in 23 council areas across England and six mayoral contests across devolved regions on Thursday.
Running alongside them will be a by-election in former MP Mike Amesbury’s vacated seat of Runcorn and Helsby, which is expected to be closely fought by Labour and Reform.
Labour and the Tories are seeking to defend seats amid opinion poll momentum for Mr Farage’s party ahead of the first big electoral test under Sir Keir’s premiership and Kemi Badenoch’s opposition leadership.
It comes after politicians from the five main parties in England clashed over local services, Donald Trump and protest votes as polls suggested disillusionment could be a key factor in the polls.
In a debate on Channel 4 News on Tuesday night with representatives from the five main parties, Environment Secretary Steve Reed criticised Reform London Assembly member Alex Wilson over his history as a Tory party member and councillor.
“He must believe in what the Conservatives believe, or he wouldn’t have been doing that,” he said.
Shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake urged voters to use their ballot to elect “good people” rather than to express dissatisfaction.
“I think we can bring forward the solutions and then we won’t need Reform to try and have that situation where people think ‘vote for none of the above’, which is effectively what you do when when you’re voting for Reform,” he said.
“When you’re casting your vote on Thursday, do not use that vote to protest.”
Mr Wilson insisted he was “not particularly typical of a lot of our candidates” when challenged over his history as a Tory member for more than 20 years and his previous experience as a councillor.
“Absolutely we have a choice, and we have a choice between a political class that has taken your vote for granted for far too long and new parties.”
Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay said “moving away from the two big parties is not about a protest vote” and that his party offered a “hopeful vision” for the future.
He appealed to voters not to back Reform, which he said was “only really about supporting the very richest in society”, but to support the Greens’ offering of “a safe environment” and “tackling inequality”.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the UK’s institutions are not built for the country’s current political make-up, arguing that the first-past-the-post voting system is “broken”.
She said: “We have a lot of people who haven’t forgiven the Conservatives for the state they left the country in and they’re deeply disappointed with some of the decisions… that the Labour Government has taken, and people I think are crying out for change.”
Luke Tryl, executive director at More in Common, which has been surveying the public across areas where ballots will be held this week, told reporters that “disillusionment” is a “primary driver”.
He said: “I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say that the groups that we did over the past week are some of the most disillusioned, disappointed, disaffected that we’ve run.
“There was a real sense that people keep demanding change from politics and they’re not getting that change, and that they are as a result not just thinking things are bad, but starting to lose faith in the inability of the system to change things.”
Local and mayoral contests can reflect attitudes towards neighbourhood concerns such as potholes and bin collections, but they can also indicate where parties stand nationally.
Polling released on Tuesday indicated Reform was leading nationally, with YouGov putting Mr Farage’s party at 26%, Labour at 23% and the Conservatives at 20%.
