Major test for Labour as polls open in English, Scottish and Welsh elections | May 2026 elections
Voting has begun in a number of local, mayoral and parliamentary contests in England, Scotland and Wales; It is the biggest electoral test Keir Starmer and his Labor government have faced since the 2024 general election.
As millions of people in Great Britain head to the polls on Thursday, party leaders are bracing for a series of results that could fundamentally change the political landscape nationally in Scotland and Wales and local government in England.
The results will be watched closely by all parties and are increasingly seen as the first major political test of a multi-party system. These come after Labor and the Conservatives have been weak in the polls for months and the rising popularity of smaller parties such as Reform UK, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats.
The elections cover the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and 136 local councils in England; Here 5,014 seats are contested, including each of London’s 32 borough councils, more than a dozen borough councils, six unitary councils, six borough councils and three district councils. A further 73 councils are holding elections for half or a third of the available seats.
There are also six mayoral contests in Croydon, Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Watford.
Polling stations for local elections will be open between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., with the first results expected to be announced around 12.30 a.m. on Friday and other results expected to be announced starting around 3 a.m.
Around a third of councils are due to announce results by around 7am, with the most important results starting to arrive at lunchtime, including mayoral results in London boroughs and council results in Manchester and Leeds.
Around 80 more councils will announce results by the end of Friday, but the final councils (including Croydon and Tower Hamlets in London and Hastings in Sussex) will not be announced until Saturday afternoon.
Results in Scotland and Wales will be clear at around 4pm on Friday, with local election results due in the afternoon and early evening.
Counting for the mayoral elections will only begin on Friday; Hackney and Newham are expected to vote at 13.00, Watford at 14.00, Lewisham at 15.00, Croydon at 16.00 and Tomer Hamlets at 18.00.
After the May 2025 local elections, Labor held 34% of all council seats in England, down 2% from 2024. The Conservatives fell 4% on the previous year to 26% and the Liberal Democrats held 19%, up 1%. The number of council members represented by other parties increased from 11 percent to 12 percent. The Greens held 5% of the seats, a similar share as in 2024. The reform went from zero to 5% with the election of 677 council members.
In Scotland, 129 MSPs will be voted to Holyrood, where they will debate and pass legislation on all devolved issues, including education, health and transport. Policy areas with UK-wide or international impact, such as defence, foreign policy and immigration, are decided at Westminster.
In the last Scottish parliamentary election in 2021, the SNP won 64 seats – one short of a majority – and the Scottish Conservatives came second with 31 seats. Scottish Labor took third place with 22 seats, the Scottish Greens took eight and the Scottish Liberal Democrats took four.
Polling stations in Scotland will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Unlike previous years, the counting of votes will take place on Friday morning, with the first announcements expected to be made at lunch and most of the results expected to be announced in the evening.
Welsh voters will elect 96 representatives from 16 constituencies, with six members of the Senedd in each. The election changes mean a new proportional voting system will be implemented. Voters will be asked to support a party rather than a candidate, and the six Senedd members will vote largely based on the proportion of votes they receive in a constituency.
