Labour faces first electoral test since taking power as voters head to polls

Kemi Badenoch has conceded the scale of the Conservative victory when these councils were last up for election in 2021 means losses are likely.

Sir Keir Starmer on the phone during a Labour Party telephone campaigning session — Sir Keir Starmer has acknowledged that Thursday’s local elections will be ‘tough’ for the Labour Party. (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Voters will go to the polls on Thursday as Labour faces its first electoral test since taking power last year.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party faces a twin challenge of local elections across England and a by-election in Runcorn and Helsby, a seat Labour won convincingly in 2024 but that is expected to go down to the wire in a contest with Reform UK.

In a final message to voters ahead of the polls opening at 7am, Labour chairwoman Ellie Reeves insisted the Government’s plan was “already starting to deliver”.

She said: “As voters head to the polls today, there’s a clear choice between Labour with a plan for change to deliver the security working people deserve and renewal for our country, or more of the same chaos voters rejected last year with the Tories and Reform.”

Labour has sought to cast Thursday’s contest as a test not for Sir Keir but for Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner saying the elections were “predominantly… the Tories trying to retain seats that are in the shires”.

Mrs Badenoch has conceded that the scale of the Conservative victory when these councils were last up for election in 2021 means losses are likely.

Kemi Badenoch meets staff at a football ground on the campaign trail — Kemi Badenoch faces the prospect of significant losses, with her party defending more seats than any of its rivals on Thursday (Jacob King/PA)

But in her final message to voters, she said: “If you want a great council, don’t just hope for it, vote for it.

“Vote Conservative because Conservative councils deliver better services for lower taxes across the board.”

Experts have suggested the Tories could lose around 500 seats, with gains for the Liberal Democrats and, especially, Reform.

Nigel Farage points into the crowd as he speaks at a Reform UK rally — Nigel Farage’s party is expecting to make significant gains on Thursday, with the leader saying Reform will win ‘two or three’ of the six mayoralties up for election (Jacob King/PA)

Both of those parties have talked up their prospects, with Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey saying Mrs Badenoch faced “a reckoning at the ballot box as former Conservative voters across the home counties rally behind the Liberal Democrats”.

He added: “Badenoch sneering at the Lib Dems for being the party that cares for your community and will fix your local church roof shows exactly why her party has lost the public’s trust.”

Meanwhile, Reform leader Nigel Farage told a rally in Staffordshire on Wednesday night that the elections would see his party eclipse the Conservatives as the main opposition party in England.

Sir Ed Davey speaks in front of Liberal Democrat supporters — Sir Ed Davey said the Conservatives faced ‘a reckoning at the ballot box’ on Thursday (James Manning/PA)

Predicting a political “earthquake”, he said: “Tomorrow is the day that two-party politics in England dies for good.”

In an interview with Sky News, he said he also expected Reform to win “two or three” of the six mayoralties up for election on Thursday, saying he was “confident” of a win in Hull and “reasonably confident” of victory in Lincolnshire.

He also said he was “optimistic” about the Runcorn and Helsby by-election but stopped short of predicting a win.

The by-election, the first since Sir Keir entered Downing Street, follows the resignation of former Labour MP Mike Amesbury, who won the seat with 53% of the vote last year but stood down following his conviction for assaulting a constituent.