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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Christy Cooney (now); Andrew Sparrow and Rachel Hall (earlier)

Tories face test on cost of living and Partygate as people vote across the UK – as it happened

YouGov Wandsworth Boris Johnson Sam Coates Westminster
People outside a polling station in Westminster, London.
People outside a polling station in Westminster, London. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

Closing summary

That’s it for us today, with the polls now almost closed. For all the latest results as they happen, please head over to our new dedicated UK politics liveblog from 10pm, which will take you through all the action as it happens into tomorrow.

Updated

If you’re in Greater Manchester or Lancashire, here’s a good rundown of the times your nearest councils are expected to declare a result from polling company Opros.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has condemned a terror attack that left three people dead in the Israeli city of Elad.

Eyewitnesses told police that two men attacked passersby with axes or sharp knives on Thursday night.

Three men in their 40s are known to have died and several other people were wounded. A search for the perpetrators is underway.

Writing on Twitter, Truss said she was “appalled by another terror attack in Israel”. The attack is one of a number to have occurred recently in Israel and the West Bank.

We’ve had this #dogsatpollingstations picture in of rescue dog Loki at a station in Ramsbottom, Bury this afternoon.

Owner Alex tells us Loki will be watching with anticipation as results come in tonight.

Dog Loki seen outside a polling station

Updated

The Mirror’s Rachel Wearmouth reports that Labour is asking its activists in London to head to Wandsworth and Croydon to campaign before polls close at 10pm.

Wandsworth is among the councils mentioned in the last post as being ones to watch. The Conservatives currently hold 33 of its 60 seats, but Labour has been hoping to make gains in the borough.

In Croydon, Labour currently control the council, holding 40 of its 70 seats.

Updated

Which of the key races will be first to announce a result?

Polls in Thursday’s local election will close at 10pm, with the first results expected to come in about or after midnight. Here are some of the key places we’re expecting to hear results from early in the night.

Bolton, where a result is expected sometime after 2am, has been run by a minority Conservative administration since 2019, but is now likely to tip into no overall control. The borough should give a good early indicator as to whether Labour is making any comeback in the north of England.

Also expected to announce after 2am is Wirral, where there is currently no overall control. The race is expected to be very close, with Labour hoping to make strides towards a majority but the Greens and Tories potentially making gains.

Early on Friday will be key results from Wandsworth, Derby, Southampton and Barnet.

Read Jessica Elgot’s full rundown of all the results to look out for here.

Updated

Durham’s former police chief has condemned attempts to get the force to investigate Keir Starmer over allegations of Covid rule-breaking as “hypocritical” and “dangerous”.

Michael Barton, chief constable of Durham until 2019, said there was no evidence the Labour leader flouted the law and that the pressure on police to investigate was politically motivated.

Labour has said a takeaway delivered to a constituency office in Durham last year during the Hartlepool by-election was necessary for campaign staff, but reports have questioned the volume of food and alcohol supplied as well as Labour’s claim there were no alternative options for dinner.

The Guardian’s Vikram Dodd and Jessica Elgot have the full story.

This is now Christy Cooney taking over the blog from Andrew. Do send any pics, tips, or thoughts to christy.cooney.casual@theguardian.com.

Updated

This is from the former Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger, who has another example of a polling station being located near a food bank. Perhaps some Camden official has discreetly being trying to make a point.

That’s all from me for today. My colleague Christy Cooney is taking over now.

This blog will carry on until polling closes at 10pm.

At that point we will immediately launch a new results blog, which will be full of great reporting even though it won’t have any results in it until about midnight or later, when the first ones are declared. My colleague Helen Livingstone will be in charge overnight, and I will be in from 6am to pick it up.

Updated

Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, has addded an update to his earlier diatribe about the failings of the government. (See 3.27pm.)

Here is a #dogsatpollingstations update on behalf of a loyal reader.

Boris Johnson spoke to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in another of his regular calls this afternoon. Here is a readout of the conversation from No 10:

[Johnson] welcomed the opportunity to address the Ukrainian parliament earlier this week, noting how important Ukraine’s democratic values are as a counterweight to Russia’s failing autocracy.

President Zelenskiy said the parliament’s welcome had been heartfelt, demonstrating the importance of the UK’s support for Ukraine.

The leaders discussed developments on the battlefield and the Ukrainian armed forces’ requirements, including the provision of longer-range weaponry to prevent the bombardment of civilians.

The prime minister also set out the importance of a robust and independent international judicial process to ensure those responsible for atrocities in Ukraine are held to account, and offered the UK’s continued support on war crimes evidence-gathering.

They agreed to speak again in the next few days.

Updated

Last week my colleagues Rowena Mason and Heather Stewart published a story saying rebel Tory MPs fear Boris Johnson could call a general election within months on the grounds that this might give him his best chance of staying in office.

Catherine Neilan, from Insider, has heard the same speculation, and she has published a good story with new insight into why some Conservative MPs privately think this could happen. She says one factor is that Johnson “has been warned by his political strategist Lynton Crosby that the British economy ‘won’t get any better’ before the current term runs out in 2024”.

Updated

Law Society says Johnson's attack on 'liberal lawyers' over Rwanda plan undermines rule of law

The Law Society has accused Boris Johnson of undermining the rule of law in comments he made yesterday about “liberal laywers” delaying implemention of the plan to effectively deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda. It has put out this statement from I. Stephanie Boyce, its president.

In a TV interview yesterday, when asked why the Rwanda plan had not yet been implemented, Johnson replied:

There are bound to be legal challenges … Yes, of course there going to going to be legal eagles, liberal/left lawyers who will try to make this difficult. We always knew this was going to happen.

By the standard of this government, that was a relatively mild attack on “liberal lawyers”. But the Daily Mail splashed on the remark this morning.

In his speech announcing the Rwanda plan last month, Johnson said that he expected legal challenges to delay its implementation. There are suspicions that ministers would not be surprised if the deportations never actually happen for this very reason, and that the initiative is at least in part about allowing Johnson to go into the next election claiming that the judicial arm of the liberal elite (or remainers, as they were called in 2019) is thwarting the will of the people. James Forsyth, the Spectator political editor, who has a good insight into No 10’s thinking, suggested as much in a recent Spectator column. He wrote:

Its Rwanda plan is designed to show Tory and Leave voters – who regard immigration as one of the three most important issues facing the country – that it is taking the small boats issue seriously. There will almost inevitably be legal challenges to the policy, but there are those in government who think that being defeated in court would merely underline to their supporters their determination to deal with the issue in much the way that the prorogation judgment did with Brexit. As one secretary of state observes: ‘Boris has learned his lessons well from the whole Brexit period.’

Updated

Japan and the UK have agreed in principle a military “reciprocal access agreement”, No 10 said after Boris Johnson’s meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida. Commenting on the agreement, Downing Street said it would allow “Japanese and British forces to work, exercise and operate together, boosting the UK’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific and further safeguarding global peace and security”. It went on:

The UK will be the first European country to have such an agreement with Japan.

The landmark defence partnership, which will see UK and Japanese armed forces deploy together to carry out training, joint exercises and disaster relief activities, will build on our already close collaboration on defence and security technology, such as the future combat air system programme.

Johnson also announced that the Conservative MP Greg Clark, the former business secretary, has been made UK trade envoy to Japan.

Boris Johnson greeting his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, in Downing Street earlier.
Boris Johnson greeting his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, in Downing Street earlier. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Green and Labour party tellers outside a polling station on Silver Road in the Sewell ward in Norwich today.
Green and Labour party tellers outside a polling station on Silver Road in the Sewell ward in Norwich today. Photograph: Martin Pope/Getty Images

Raab says Parole Board needs 'fundamental overhaul' after it approves release of Baby P's mother

The mother of Peter Connelly, the child known as Baby P who died after months of abuse, will be freed from prison after the Parole Board rejected a government challenge against its ruling to release her. The full story is here.

Dominic Raab, the justice secretary, has said the decision shows why the Parole Board needs a “fundamental overhaul”. He wants to give ministers new powers to block releases like this.

Channel 4 has said it could sell its £100m London headquarters and almost double the number of staff working outside the capital under plans to become “northern-based” that it hopes offer an attractive alternative to the government’s privatisation push. My colleague Mark Sweney has the story here.

I’m back, picking up again from Rachel.

The opposition party leaders have been explaining why people should not vote Conservative (see 12.40pm), but none of them have put it quite so bluntly as Dominic Cummings, who only 18 months ago was working for Boris Johnson as his chief adviser. Cummings was also instrumental in devising the uncompromising ‘Get Brexit done’ strategy that won Johnson the 2019 general election.

Updated

It’s been a long day already, so here’s some light relief – a strong contender for best #dogsatpollingstations pic yet?

Unless livestock are more your vibe, of course – here’s something to lift your moood [sic].

Updated

Commenters on Twitter have been referencing the proximity of food banks to polling stations as evidence of the Conservative’s record on supporting local people.

In Wandsworth, a food bank that usually operates in St Andrew’s church has been relocated outside to make space for a polling station for today’s local election.

Clive who used the food bank, is now a volunteer helping out others.
Clive, who used the food bank, is now a volunteer helping others. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

Rachel Hall here taking over the blog – please do send any pics, tips or thoughts to rachel.hall@theguardian.com.

Updated

Polling station signs in Wimbledon, south-west London.
Polling station signs in Wimbledon, south-west London. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

This is from the BBC’s Jayne McCormack in Northern Ireland.

I am handing over to my colleague Rachel Hall for a bit. I will be back later.

A voter leaving a polling station set up in the Heap Bridge social club, in Bury, today.
A voter leaving a polling station set up in the Heap Bridge social club in Bury today.
 Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

DUP claims that the Northern Ireland protocol has directly caused food prices in Northern Ireland to become more expensive than the rest of the UK cannot be substantiated publicly because the party leader was quoting from a private report, it has emerged.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson told the BBC’s leadership debate on Tuesday that a Kantar survey showed the protocol had meant food prices were now “on average 4% more than they are in GB, with dairy products 8% more expensive and chilled convenience foods 19%.”

A spokesperson for research firm Kantar confirmed it did the research but said it was commissioned by Northern Ireland’s Department for the Economy and was “not publicly available”.

Leading economist Esmond Birnie told the Belfast Telegraph it would be impossible to make that causal link between prices and the protocol. He said:

I think at this stage it’s probably almost impossible to quantify how big the protocol’s effect is [on food prices].

I think it’s likely to be substantial, but probably not as big as all of the other factors that are affecting inflation at the moment – the impact of high energy prices, the war in Ukraine.

From a Northern Ireland point of view, a lot of the inflation that we are experiencing, it’s imported from the world level.

Updated

Last night Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, hinted that a bill to allow the government to overhaul the Northern Ireland protocol, floated by ministers, would not be in the Queen’s speech. (See 10.25am.)

But, according to a report in the Times, based on information from “a senior government source”, although the bill will not be in the Queen’s speech next week, it could be announced shortly afterwards if no progress is made in talks with Brussels on amending the protocol.

In his report, Oliver Wright says the bill would give the government the power to protect the Good Friday agreement. Wright says:

The bill would in effect give Johnson the power to override any aspect of the protocol’s operation if, in the view of ministers, it was jeopardising the peace agreement.

However, it is likely to face strong opposition in the House of Lords and lead to accusations that Johnson is reneging on an agreement that he signed in order to agree a deal to leave the EU in 2019.

Wright’s story builds on a report by James Forsyth for the Spectator. Forsyth says the bill will be seen as “a coded threat to the European Union that the UK is prepared to unilaterally tear up parts of the Brexit deal relating to Northern Ireland”.

Forsyth says the bill will definitely be in the Queen’s speech. His article was written before Lewis gave his interview last night, and Wright says the bill will not be in the Queen’s speech, just held in reserve. But in other respects the Forsyth and Wright stories are consistent.

Forsyth also says the government will argue that its new bill is lawful. He explains:

The attorney general, Suella Braverman, has yet to deliver her verdict, but ministers are convinced by the argument that there is no breach of international law because they are moving to protect the pre-existing Good Friday agreement. Johnson can argue that all three strands of that deal are now in trouble. There is no power sharing, no north-south ministerial collaboration, and the protocol disrupts east-west relations. The government argues that the common factor in all this is the protocol, though EU officials respond that the real root of the problem is Brexit.

Updated

Colum Eastwood, leader of the nationalist SDLP, said he was “confident we will do well” as he arrived to vote in in his home city of Derry.

After a leaders’ debate this week, a poll declared Eastwood the clear winner. But voter intention polls (like this one, and this one) suggest the SDLP is not picking up as much support as in 2017, when it received 11.9% of the vote.

The SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood, arrives to cast his vote in the Foyle constituency in Derry, with his wife, Rachael, and children, Rosa, six, and Maya, four.
The SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood, arrives to cast his vote in the Foyle constituency in Derry, with his wife, Rachael, and children, Rosa, six, and Maya, four. Photograph: Dominic McGrath/PA

Updated

Party leaders have been using Twitter today to urge people to vote. Here are some of their messages.

From Boris Johnson, the Conservative leader:

From Keir Starmer, the Labour leader:

From Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader:

From Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader:

From Carla Denyer, the Green party co-leader:

From Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader:

From Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland:

Updated

In his interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, Boris Johnson said inflation could reach 10% this year. Now the Bank of England is predicting inflation will hit about 10%. My colleague Graeme Wearden has the details on his business live blog, which also covers the bank’s decision to raise interest rates to 1%.

Updated

Naomi Long, justice minister in Northern Ireland and leader of the Alliance party, leaves a polling station at St Colmcilles parish hall in East Belfast after voting today.
Naomi Long, justice minister in Northern Ireland and leader of the Alliance party, leaves a polling station at St Colmcilles parish hall in East Belfast after voting today. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA

Updated

It is probably time for a blast of #dogsatpollingstations.

This is from my colleague Libby Brooks.

This is from Mark Pack, the Lib Dem president.

This is from the writer and sometime Labour activist John O’Farrell.

This is from the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope.

Councils are getting in on the act too. This is from Southampton city council.

This is from Liam Thorp from the Liverpool Echo, who has adapted the genre with a #dogsnotatpollingstations pic.

In Harrogate it’s not just dogs ...

And this is from a reader called Carl because, although I don’t normally play requests, why not for once? His dog is called Peggy, and she is outside a polling station in Sheffield Hallam.

A dog at a polling station
A dog at a polling station. Photograph: Guardian reader

Updated

If the size of the press pack waiting at her polling station in Coalisland, County Tyrone, is any indicator, Michelle O’Neill is on track to be Northern Ireland’s next first minister. About 20 photographers and TV camera operators greeted Sinn Féin’s leader in the north when she turned up to vote this morning.

Asked by the Guardian about the significance of Northern Ireland possibly getting its first nationalist first minister, O’Neill made no mention of a border poll for a united Ireland and focused on bread-and-butter issues. She said:

It’s a hugely historic election and people are very in tune to that. What we’re asking for people today is come out ... and to vote for a first minister that will stand up for everybody, that will turn up on day one for everybody, someone that will invest in people in terms of getting them through the cost of living crisis and that will work to fix the health service.

O’Neill declined to be drawn on the timing of Brandon Lewis’s hint that the government was rowing back from a threat to disapply parts of the Northern Ireland protocol in the Queen’s speech next week. (See 10.25am.) “I’m not going to speculate. The protocol is here to stay, it is our best defence against the hardest Brexit that the DUP and the Tories delivered to us.”

Updated

“I think people are determined to see unionism winning in this election,” Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, said as he voted in Northern Ireland this morning.

That is not what the polls say. The DUP has been the largest party in the Northern Ireland assembly after every set of elections since 2003. But now Sinn Féin has been ahead of the DUP in the polls for months, and one poll this week had Donaldson’s party neck and neck with the Alliance party, implying it might even come third.

Speaking to reporters outside the polling station, Donaldson restated his call for the UK government to act over the Northern Ireland protocol.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, leaving the polling station at Dromore Central primary school in Dromore after voting this morning.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, leaving the polling station at Dromore Central primary school in Dromore after voting this morning. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA

Updated

Boris Johnson and the Japanese prime minister watched an RAF flypast together in Horse Guards Parade before their bilateral discussions in No 10, PA Media reports. PA says:

The pair stood on a dais as they witnessed a Voyager and two Typhoon fighter jets soar over St James’s Park and the parade ground.

Fumio Kishida was then invited in Japanese by the captain of the Nijmegen Company, Grenadier Guards, to inspect a guard of honour.

The Japanese leader and Johnson headed to Downing Street afterwards to discuss a new defence deal.

No 10 said the “landmark” reciprocal access agreement would allow the two countries’ forces to deploy together for training, joint exercises and disaster relief.

Boris Johnson with the Japanese PM, Fumio Kishida, inspecting a guard of honour in Horse Guards Parade this morning
Boris Johnson with the Japanese PM, Fumio Kishida, inspecting a guard of honour in Horse Guards Parade this morning. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Updated

Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, leaving the polling station at St Catherine's church hall in Pontcanna, Cardiff, with his wife Clare.
Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, leaving the polling station at St Catherine’s church hall in Pontcanna, Cardiff, with his wife Clare. Photograph: Geoff Caddick/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Gains and losses at the local elections – what the experts are forecasting

Last month the Daily Telegraph published the results of a poll suggesting that the Conservatives are on course to lose more than 800 council seats in the local elections. The report was widely dismissed as a Conservative-friendly exercise in expectation management, even though it was based on an analysis by Electoral Calculus, a political consultancy, and the polling firm Find Out Now. The same report claimed Labour was on course to win more than 800 seats.

This week Electoral Calculus revised down the figures for Conservative losses a bit, but it still suggested the party was on course to lose almost 550 seats. It also had Labour on course to win 819 seats.

Yesterday Ben Walker, a data specialist at the New Statesman, published his seat projections, based on an analysis of recent polling. His figures are very different. He expects the Conservatives to lose just over 200 seats, with the Labour gains limited to around 150. He says:

My forecast ... predicts that the Conservatives will lose more than 200 council seats across Great Britain on polling day (Thursday 5 May). They will suffer net losses of 63 in London, 38 across the rest of England, 83 in Scotland and 22 in Wales.

Labour, meanwhile, will make a net gain of 35 council seats in London but a net loss of 16 across the rest of England. That net loss, however, will be more than compensated for by net gains of 87 and 41 in Scotland and Wales respectively.

Forecast results for local elections
Forecast results for local elections. Photograph: New Statesman

Steve Fisher, an Oxford University academic who works on the team producing the election results analysis used by the BBC, published an alternative seat projection yesterday. His figures are closer to Walker’s than to Electoral Calculus’s; he is forecasting 304 Labour gains, and 281 Tory losses.

Forecast for local elections results
Forecast for local elections results. Photograph: Elections Etc

In a blog explaining the figures, Fisher says:

The Conservatives are expected to lose seats in all three countries. They are defending a strong 2017 base in Scotland and Wales, and dropped in the polls since both 2017 and 2018 when the English seats were last fought.

Labour are expected to be the main beneficiaries from Conservative losses. The projections suggest Labour might recover most but not all the losses they suffered in 2017 in Scotland and Wales. In England, Labour are trying this week to build on cumulative gains from 2010, 2014 and 2018. They already control over half the seats up this year. Since Labour are at 40% in the polls, their poll support is no greater than it was in 2018. Instead of gaining seats from winning more voters, Labour are projected to make council seat gains in England primarily from the drop in the Conservative vote. But, as discussed below, last year’s experience shows there are various reasons why that might not happen.

As Prof Sir John Curtice, the country’s leading psephologist (and a colleague of Fisher’s) explained in an interview yesterday, counting seats gained or lost is not necessarily the best way of assessing how parties perform in local elections. Experts pay as much or more attention to the national share of the vote, but this takes longer to calculate.

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, outside the Broomhouse Community Hall polling station this morning.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, outside the Broomhouse Community Hall polling station this morning.
 Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

Bill to overhaul Northern Ireland protocol not likely to be in Queen's speech, minister hints

The government is not expected to include threatened domestic law to disapply parts of the Northern Ireland protocol in the Queen’s speech on 10 May outlining the bills it hopes to introduce in the next year.

The Brexit opportunities minister, Jacob Rees-Mogg, recently promised unilateral changes if the EU did not agree to change the rules on Irish Sea border checks, as did Boris Johnson who said he would “fix” the protocol.

However, last night the Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, hinted there would be no such fix in the Queen’s speech, telling ITV’s Peston: “We’ve not said that.” Lewis went on:

Our focus is on resolving the issue of the protocol. Ideally, we want to do that by agreement with the European Union.

EU sources say there could be room for further compromise on the border checks but talks have slowed because of the situation in Ukraine.

It is thought that the government will retain the right to bring forward some changes at a later date in relation to clause 38 (b) in the EU Withdrawal Act 2020, which underlines parliamentary powers in domestic law.

Updated

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader (right), posing for a picture after casting his vote in London
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader (right), posing for a picture after casting his vote in London. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Updated

Here is a question from below the line.

As a colleague has already pointed out in the comments, it is illegal to publish information about how people have voted while the polls are still open.

The law (section 66A of the 1983 Representation of the People Act) is intended to stop people publishing exit polls before all voting has finished. But the legislation is worded in such a way as to cover, say, a reporter interviewing people at polling stations, and publishing a “vox pop” article about how voting is going. In theory it also covers comments BTL about how people have voted.

The act says it is summary offence, punishable by a maximum of six months imprisonment or a level 5 fine, to publish before the poll is closed:

  • Any statement relating to the way in which voters have voted at the election where that statement is (or might reasonably be taken to be) based on information given by voters after they have voted, or
  • Any forecast as to the result of the election which is (or might reasonably be taken to be) based on information so given.

Updated

Keir Starmer arrived at a polling station in Kentish Town, north London, to cast his vote in the local elections for Camden council, PA Media reports. PA says:

The Labour leader, who lives in Kentish Town, which is part of the borough of Camden, held hands with his wife as he walked into the polling station – a community hall in Willingham Close – just after 9.30am. He said “Good morning” to the photographers and staff at the door.

Keir Starmer and his wife, Victoria, arriving to vote this morning
Keir Starmer and his wife, Victoria, arriving to vote this morning. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

Updated

Shell profits soar to $9.1bn amid calls for windfall tax

Shell has reported a record quarterly profit of $9.1bn (£7.3bn) for the first three months of the year, piling more pressure on the government to implement a windfall tax to fund measures to tackle soaring household energy bills. My colleague Alex Lawson has the story here.

Poll suggests key Tory council Wandsworth could fall to Labour for first time in more than 40 years as voting begins

Good morning. Voters have already started going to the polls across the UK in elections that could determine whether or not the Conservative party decides to stick with Boris Johnson as its leader, that will almost certaintly see Sinn Féin, the republican party committed to a united Ireland, become the largest party in the Northern Ireland assembly for the first time, triggering a crisis in unionism, and that will provide that will provide the best indication to date as to whether Labour is on course to win the next general election.

Last night YouGov published some new polling looking at what might happen in 16 key councils in England. In his analysis, YouGov’s Patrick English wrote:

Our models suggest that while Labour will make gains up and down England, they will find their pace of growth to be much slower in some areas of the country than others.

Overall, the story is fairly consistent – we expect swings of varying sizes from the Conservatives to Labour in all areas, and also some notable improvements for the Greens and independent/smaller party candidates. However, the Conservative vote seems to be holding up better in some areas of England than others, and this will impact the pattern of results on the night.

Sam Coates from Sky presents the results in a different format, region by region, which illustrates more vividly how Labour is on course to do well in London and the south, but struggle more in the north.

Still, for Labour to win Wandsworth, which the YouGov poll suggests is possible, would be significant. The south-west London council has been in Conservative hands since 1978 and it was sometimes described as Margaret Thatcher’s favourite local authority. In a particularly bad set of local elections for the Tories in 1990, the party successfully spun a line to the media that, because Wandsworth had stayed blue, it had not all been a disaster. For almost 20 years the council was then run by Eddie Lister, who went on to serve as Boris Johnson’s chief of staff. The YouGov poll also suggests the Tories could lose Westminster, the council covering Downing Street, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace, which has been Conservative since it was set up in 1964. That would be an even bigger gain for Labour – although, in an excellent ward-by-ward analysis of the contest at On London, Dave Hill concludes a Tory defeat is unlikely.

My colleague Archie Bland has a good preview of what to look out for in the elections in his First Edition briefing.

Boris Johnson has already voted. He turned up at a polling station in Westminster with Dilyn, providing today’s first example of #dogsatpollingstations.

Boris Johnson voting in Westminster today, with his dog Dilyn.
Boris Johnson voting in Westminster today, with his dog Dilyn. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

Often on election day #dogsatpollingstations is as good as it gets in terms of news, because broadcasters don’t show political interviews while the polls are open, and there are legal limits to what the media can report in terms of how the voting is going. But I’m sure we’ll find something to fill the blog.

The polls are open until 10pm, when we will be launching a new blog to cover the results coming in overnight. Many councils do not count until Friday, which is also when counting starts in Northern Ireland.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com.

Updated

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