Local elections 2024: Everything you need to know ahead of a big night for Rishi Sunak
Voters across England and Wales are set to go to the polls on 2 May, in what will be the largest test of electoral opinion before the next general election.
Most of the seats up for grabs on Thursday - when the public will also cast their verdict on 10 metro mayors across England - were last fought in 2021, postponed from 2020 owing to the pandemic.
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Boris Johnson was riding high from a successful vaccine rollout, translating into the Conservatives' best local election performance since 2008.
But significant losses are expected this time - Rishi Sunak's party trails 20 points behind Labour in the polls and has endured several damaging by-election defeats involving massive swings.
Ahead of a potentially defining night for Mr Sunak's premiership, Sky News takes you through all you need to know about the local elections.
Where are they taking place?
Local elections will take place across 107 English councils, including 31 metropolitan boroughs, 18 unitary councils and 58 district councils.
A total of 2,636 seats - the smallest number of any local electoral cycle - are up for grabs.
Police and crime commissioners (PCCs) are also being elected across England and Wales, with 33 in the former and four in the latter.
There are no local council elections in Scotland and Wales.
There are also nine mayoral elections for combined authorities: the East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, North East, South Yorkshire, Tees Valley, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire, and York and North Yorkshire.
Of these mayoral posts, three - East Midlands, the North East, and York and North Yorkshire - are newly created and will be holding their inaugural election, which will use the first-past-the-post system that is used in general elections.
Sadiq Khan is seeking a third term as London mayor and there will also be elections to the London Assembly, with 25 seats available.
Fourteen of these are elected using the traditional first-past-the-post system, while the remaining 11 members are elected using the additional member "top-up" system, whereby each voter gets two separate votes - one for the constituency, another for the list seat.
A by-election will also be held in Blackpool South to replace the outgoing MP Scott Benton after he was caught in a lobbying sting.
How many seats/councils are parties defending?
The Conservatives are defending 985 seats, Labour 965 and the Liberal Democrats 410.
The Greens hold 107 seats, while independents have 112 and other parties the remaining 57.
Labour currently has majority control in 45 of the 107 councils. The Conservatives control 18 and the Lib Dems 10.
Just under a third, 34 councils, are under no overall control.
Why are these elections significant?
Local elections always provide a good test for how well the governing party is faring with the electorate - and will be of even more value in an election year.
Sky News will be using these local election results to calculate a National Equivalent Vote (NEV) - a figure that estimates the vote share parties would have received had elections been carried out across all local authorities.
Labour peaked in 1995, when Tony Blair's New Labour inflicted huge damage on the Conservatives to take 47% of the NEV. Last year, Labour's NEV reached 36%, while the Tories fell below 30% at last year's May elections.
What also makes these elections significant is they involve the re-election of metro mayors.
A key test of Mr Sunak's leadership will be whether Tory mayors Ben Houchen and Andy Street - regarded as success stories - will be able to buck the national trend and keep hold of their seats in the Tees Valley and West Midlands.
Read more:
What local elections could mean for the general
Tories expect a pounding - but could Labour have tougher job?
How to vote
Polls open at 7am and close at 10pm.
There are three ways to vote - in person at your local polling station, by postal vote, or by appointing someone to vote on your behalf.
To vote you must be 18 or over, and be either a British, Irish or EU citizen, or from an eligible Commonwealth nation.
You must also be registered at an address where you intend to vote.
Rules brought in last year mean you must bring a form of photographic ID with you in order to vote. There are 22 accepted types of ID - or people had until 5pm on 24 April to apply for a voter authority certificate.
When will the results come in?
Around 35 councils will declare on the Friday morning, beginning at around half midnight morning with Broxbourne.
The next local authority to announce results will be Hartlepool at 1.30am, followed by Rochford at the same time, Sunderland at 1.50am, and Gosport and Newcastle-upon-Tyne at 2am.
The latest batch to declare will be around the 6am-7am mark, beginning with Lincoln at 6am, followed by Southampton and Tameside at 7am and Winchester at 8.30am.
Three PCCs will also be declared during the early hours of Friday.
From lunchtime on Friday, a further 48 councils will declare along with four mayors and 24 PCCs. The last council to reveal results will be Gloucester at 11pm.
On Saturday, six metro mayor regions will reveal their results, including Liverpool City Region, South Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, and London.
How to follow the results on Sky News
Sky News will bring you live coverage of the local election results on web, mobile, and TV on Thursday night and throughout Friday.
A live blog will be running throughout the night while a special programme will come from various count locations, providing analysis of the results as they come in hour-by-hour.
Find out more about our coverage plans here.
