Local elections 2026: Everything you need to know about crucial vote that could spell the end for Starmer

More than 5,000 council seats will be up for grabs when voters in England go to the polls on Thursday.

Local elections are being held on 7 May for 136 local authorities, including some of the country’s largest cities and the whole of London.

A mix of urban authorities and rural districts, as well as various provincial councils, also hold elections.

This is the biggest local election in the UK in three years and an important test for all political parties.

How many parliamentary seats are elected?

A total of 5,013 seats are being contested in 136 offices.

When was the last time these seats were elected?

Most of the seats were last up for election in 2022, when the Conservative government led by former prime minister Boris Johnson fell behind Labor in opinion polls and lost support following the Partygate scandal.

This was also reflected in the results of the 2022 local elections, where Labor, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens made gains at the expense of the Conservative Party.

Reform UK contested only a small number of council seats in 2022, winning just two.

How many seats does each party defend in the elections?

While more than half of the seats up for grabs this year are defended by Labour, reflecting the party’s current strength in London and the Metropolitan boroughs, just over a quarter are made up of Conservative defences.

This is a different scenario to last year’s local elections, when the Conservative Party defended the largest number of council seats, as most of the contests were for county councils where the party dominated.

Of the 5,013 seats contested this year, Labor is defending 2,557, the Conservatives are defending 1,362, the Liberal Democrats are defending 684 and other parties (including independents) are defending 410.

These figures were calculated by local election expert professors Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher from the University of Exeter. These include seats being contested for the first time this year due to boundary changes, where a notional defense party is predicted.

What do surveys and recent trends suggest could happen?

According to analysis published by Professors Rallings and Thrasher, Labor could “lose more than 1,000 councillors”.

This assumes the party will perform as poorly as it did in the May 2025 local elections, when both Labor and the Conservatives lost seats to Reform, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the independents.

“Neither the opinion polls nor the local byelections suggest that much has changed in the last 12 months,” their analysis says, and suggests that both Labor and the Conservative Party could face heavy losses.

Since May 2025, Labor has seen its vote share in local by-elections fall by an average of 25 per cent; If it is repeated in this year’s local elections, “the party’s losses will be seen approaching 2,000”.

The Conservatives “face particular danger” in six county council elections, where dozens of seats could change hands if Reform performs as well as it did in 2025.

Reform, Liberal Democrats and Greens will achieve a net increase in seats overall; especially Nigel Farage’s party, which started from a very low base.

What are the challenges faced by the main parties in the elections?

Elections for local councilors and mayors will mainly affect community issues and services such as litter collection, social care, education and roads. This will be on the minds of many voters when they go to the polls,

However, local elections are also an indicator of how parties address issues at the national level; Other parties use these elections as an opportunity to express their dissatisfaction. According to YouGov data, issues such as the cost of living, economy, immigration and foreign relations are currently among the most important concerns of voters.

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch face the challenge of limiting the number of potential casualties.

By contrast, Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey, Reform leader Nigel Farage and Greens leader Zack Polanksi each face their own challenges of appearing to gain at the expense of the major parties and meeting the expectations of their supporters.

When will the election results be announced?

Polls close at 10pm on May 7, but only a third of councils will carry out the count and announce results overnight.

Most councils will wait until the next day, Friday 8 May, to begin counting votes, and are likely to start announcing full results in the early afternoon.

A small number of councils have indicated that vote counting will not end until Saturday, May 9.

You can find all expected declaration times here.

Are there any other elections being held on the same day in the UK?

Yes – there are elections for members of the Scottish Parliament in Scotland and for members of the Senedd in Wales.