Local elections are taking place across the country today, May 1
Voters across the country are heading out to the polls today, May 1, to vote in what is the first local elections since the Labour party came into power.
Millions of people are voting for 1,631 council seats, 23 county, unitary and metropolitan councils, and six directly elected mayors.
Voting will cover local government elections, parish council elections, local authority mayoral elections, combined authority mayoral elections and combined county authority mayoral 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.
The others are the unitary authorities of Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Durham, North Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Shropshire, West Northamptonshire and Wiltshire, plus Doncaster Metropolitan Council.
Every seat on all of the combined 23 authorities is up for grabs, but boundary changes mean some areas will be electing fewer councillors than before.
The six mayoral elections include four combined authority mayors in Greater Lincolnshire, Hull and East Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, West of England, plus two Metropolitan Borough Mayors in Doncaster and North Tyneside.
Voters living in the constituency of Runcorn and Helsby, in Cheshire, will choose a new MP after former MP Mike Amesbury stood down after being given a prison sentence for assaulting a constituent.
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If you want to cast a vote you need to make sure you don’t miss the window of opportunity as polling stations have specific opening hours.
Polling stations operate for one day only between 7am and 10pm, with voting outside these hours not permitted. Registered voters should have received their poll card, which indicates where to vote – though it’s not necessary to bring it along.
Upon arrival at the polling station, you’ll need to provide your name and address to the staff. You’ll then receive a ballot paper listing the individuals, parties or options you can vote for. As of 2023, you need to provide photo ID to be able to vote.
In general, passports, driving licences and blue badges are accepted forms of identification when going to vote. Or, if you don’t have any of these forms of ID, you can also apply for a Voter Authority Certificate.
However, applications for Voter Authority Certificates for the May local elections have now closed. Voters wishing to vote by proxy, post or from abroad who have not already applied to do so have also missed their deadline.
Voters can use the Where do I Vote? website to see their nearest poll station and its opening hours on election day.
For full information about voting in the local elections, visit the gov.uk website.
