Ella Wills3 May 2018
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Voters will today head to the polls for local elections across England.

More than 4,000 seats are being contested in around 150 councils, including all 32 London boroughs, as well as every ward in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.

Mayoral elections are also taking place in Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Watford while the first-ever mayor for the Sheffield City region will also be chosen.

There are no local elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but a parliamentary by-election for the Westminster seat of West Tyrone is taking place.

London is the major battleground after recent polls pointed towards a substantial swing to Labour.

Jeremy Corbyn's party will be hoping to win control of Tower Hamlets and Barnet and possibly even the flagship Conservative councils of Wandsworth and Westminster.

Most councils are counting votes overnight but others will declare results during the day on Friday.

The first results could begin to arrive at around midnight and are expected to be in full flow by 2am.

Pilot schemes forcing voters to prove their identity before casting their ballot will be trialled at polling stations including Bromley, Gosport, Swindon, Watford and Woking.

Ministers say the scheme will help combat electoral fraud but critics argue it will suppress turnout.

The Electoral Commission website gives full details about which ID is required in each of the pilot areas.

The elections will give voters a chance to pass their verdict on the Prime Minister's handling of Brexit, and Liberal Democrats are hoping their promise of a second referendum will help them regain Remain-backing Kingston and Richmond in south London.

Elsewhere, Conservatives may be boosted by Ukip's decline in the polls, with targets like Basildon or Great Yarmouth potentially up for grabs if the Eurosceptic party performs poorly.

Recent national opinion polls have seen Conservatives and Labour running neck-and-neck on about 40 per cent each.

But a survey last week for Queen Mary University gave Mr Corbyn's party an overwhelming 51 per cent - 29 per cent lead over the Tories in London - enough to deliver the best result in the capital for any party in more than 40 years.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in