We are just a few weeks away from a huge set of local elections that will have major ramifications for Merseyside and everyone who lives here.
On Thursday, May 4, thousands of people across our region will head to polling stations to decide who they want to represent them and govern their local areas.
Local elections are a vital part of the democratic process and offer a chance for people to have their say on the local issues they care about. They could also offer a key view of how things are shaping up for the General Election on the horizon.
READ MORE: 'Lovely' couple devastated after 'stolen' Audi crashes into their house
In our region, both Liverpool and Wirral will be holding all out elections, with every single council seat up for grabs and with Liverpool residents voting on a new set of ward boundaries too. There will also be votes in Sefton and Knowsley but not in St Helens.
Here we round up everything you need to know about the elections taking place across Merseyside next month.
Liverpool
Elections are always significant whenever polling day comes around in Liverpool. When voters go to the ballot box next month, the stakes are potentially more significant than ever before.
Not content with being the first round of all-out elections in the city, the electorate faces the choice of 85 new councillors across 64 newly drawn wards across all four corners of Liverpool. It is also the first election since government commissioners officially arrived to oversee the troubled council back in the summer of 2021.
Polls scheduled for last year - which would have led to a third of members being elected - were scrapped in favour of an all out ballot, at the behest of Whitehall following Mr Caller’s findings into historic poor conduct within the Cunard Building. To add to the fun, Liverpool is also doing away with the role of city mayor this time around, with current incumbent Joanne Anderson set to leave the council as her position is abolished.
Despite its recent troubles, Labour will be hoping to retain its grip on the city council, with new group leader Cllr Liam Robinson hoping to become the city's new leader come May. At the party’s manifesto launch in March, Cllr Robinson said he wanted the vote to represent a “fresh start” with the city and hoped Labour could win the “trust and faith” of the electorate.
Labour is the only party standing in each of the 64 new wards. That hasn’t stopped the leader of the largest opposition group, the Liberal Democrats, aiming to seize the reins of power in May. Cllr Richard Kemp has laid out his group “six to fix” priorities it would seek to address from day one should its 57 candidates prove triumphant on polling day.
One group hoping to cause an upset and hold the balance of power is the Liverpool Community Independents. The group was formed amid the controversial council budget in 2022 when a number of former Labour members split from the ruling group in opposition to their financial proposals.
The newly group, which is standing nine candidates, is led in the interim by Cllr Alan Gibbons after group boss Anna Rothery was suspended over her role in a parking ticket investigation involving a number of councillors. Cllr Rothery took to social media this week to indicate she would not be standing for election this time around.
Elsewhere and another group of independent candidates, standing under the banner of Liberate Liverpool, will be hoping to cause some upsets. The group is led by hotelier and property developer Lawrence Kenwright.
The Green Party group, led by St Michael’s ward member Cllr Tom Crone, faces a battle with three of their four sitting councillors stepping away from their roles this year, but will be seeking success in new wards like Festival Gardens. The Liberal Party, led by Steve Radford, is seeking to maintain its hold on the Tuebrook and Stoneycroft areas and to challenge in areas like Old Swan and West Derby.
While polling day is on May 4, counting of the votes will begin the next day at Wavertree Tennis Centre. Verification of the expected thousands of ballots will be conducted overnight before the tallying begins in two blocks on the Friday given the doubling of the wards across the newly drawn city map.
You can find all the Liverpool candidates here
More information about Liverpool's elections can be found here
Wirral
Voters in Wirral will be electing three representatives in their areas for the first time as campaigning heats up across the borough.
Next month's election will be the first time all 66 members of the council are standing at the same time. Previously elections were held every three out of four years electing one councillor in each ward at a time.
However, after a recommendation by the UK government that it would improve how the council makes decisions, the changes mean those elected this year will remain in post until 2027.
While Labour are still the largest party on the Wirral with 26 councillors, they haven’t held a majority since 2019. This means that at committees, where council decisions are made, they have to rely on votes from other parties to get things through.
The Conservatives are the largest opposition party with 22 councillors while the Greens and Liberal Democrats have nine and six members respectively. The Tories lost Heswall member Paul Connolly in November after he was removed for failing to turn up to meetings.
In its bid to strengthen its grip on the council, Labour is targeting seats including Pensby and Thingwall, Bromborough, and Greasby, Frankby and Irby, but the party could face a strong challenge from the Green Party in Seacombe and Bebington.
However, Labour has already lost a seat in Rock Ferry after only putting forward two candidates there and faces challenges from two former Labour councillors. Karl Greaney is running as an independent in Leasowe and Moreton East while Yvonne Nolan is running in Rock Ferry.
Former Conservative councillor David Burgess-Joyce will stand as an independent in the seat of Greasby after he was previously blocked from standing there and in Heswall by the Tories.
To secure a majority, Labour will need to win at least eight seats on top of the number of councillors it already has but results could be far from straight forward.
Freedom Alliance, a party standing against lockdowns and vaccine mandates, is also standing candidates in nearly every ward. In 2022, despite gaining 3% more votes, Labour lost two seats overall while the Conservatives won a seat despite dipping 7.1% in the vote.
New voter ID requirements could also play a role if people don’t know they have to have one in order to vote. People will vote to elect their councillors on May 4 but the final results won’t be known until counting starts on May 5.
A list of all the candidates running in the Wirral local elections can be found on the local authority's website alongside information on voting and where to find your nearest polling place.
Knowsley
Residents in Knowsley will also be taking to the polls on May 4 to vote in this year's local elections.
A Labour stronghold once completely dominated by Labour councillors, Knowsley Council's ruling Labour group has lost key seats in recent years.
The Green Party is Knowsley's official opposition, currently holding five seats and the borough also has five independent councillors in the Halewood and Kirkby areas. Liberal democrats hold three seats in the Prescot area.
16 of the council's 45 seats are up for election in May, with half of those areas seeing a two party race between Labour and the Greens.
In Halewood South, independent councillor Barbara Dunne is hoping to retain her seat while Suzanne Harvey is hoping to make add to the independent ranks in Halewood North, standing against current Labour cabinet member Shelley Powell.
Over in Kirkby, which has become dominated by independents in recent years after former firefighter Steve Smith's shock victory in 2021, unseating the former deputy leader. In 2022, Cllr Steve Guy followed in his footsteps unseating deputy leader Louise Harvey to win another independent Kirkby seat.
After Cllr John Morgan, representing Kirbky's Whitefield ward, resigned from the Labour party last year he too joined the independents. Up for re-election this year, he will be hoping to hold on to his seat, standing against Labour's Gary Bennett and Christine Dillon of the Freedom Alliance.
Polling will open at 7am on May 4, with counting due to take place the following day, Friday May 5 at Knowsley Leisure and Culture Park in Huyton.
You can find a list of all candidates standing in Knowsley here
You can find more information about Knowsley's elections here
Sefton
Sefton is a Labour dominated council, and with the ruling Labour group holding 46 of the 66 seats on the council, this is a situation unlikely to change in May.
The Lib Dems currently hold eight seats, making them the official opposition party with Conservatives holding five, all in the more affluent north of the borough.
The influence of independent councillors in Sefton has grown singificantly in recent years, with three groupings currently on the council.
Two councillors formed the Southport Independent Group, breaking away from the Conservatives last year. The Community Independents, made up of three Maghull Councillors, broke away from the Labour Group before the last elections, and there are currently two independents from the Formby Residents Action Group.
All this could change in May with a number of these independent seats up for grabs. One to watch will be Ainsdale, where residents will be electing a new candidate this year as one of the Southport independents, who broke away from the Conservative group last year, Cllr Terry Jones is not contesting his seat. The last time an Ainsdale seat was up for grabs last year it was a close Conservative victory with Labour just 33 votes behind and the Lib Dems following close after.
Both of the Formby independent councillors are contesting their seats in Harington and Ravenmeols, while Sefton's community independents comprised of candidates from Lydiate, Maghull, Aintree and Lunt, are hoping for big gains across several wards in May.
The leader and deputy leader of the community independents group, Cllr Patrick McKinley and Cllr John Sayers are both up for re-election this year, with Joanne McCall targeting cabinet member Cllr Marion Atkinson's seat in Molyneux.
With 22 seats up for grabs across the borough and Labour, the Lib Dems and the Conservatives will all be hoping to make gains in the north. Opposition leader Cllr John Pugh will be fighting to retain his seat in Kew while Labour's deputy Cllr John Fairclough is also up for re-election in Lincare Ward.
The Greens, currently not represented on the council at all, are making a play to gain a Sefton seat, particularly in Church ward, where candidate Neil Doolin upped the party's share of the vote at the last election, albeit with still over 1000 votes behind a comfortable Labour victory.
The Freedom Alliance is also standing five candidates in Sefton.
Elections are due to take place on May 4 with votes due to be counted after polls close on the Thursday and into the Friday.
You can find all the Sefton election candidates here. More information about Sefton's elections can be found here.
READ MORE:
Man killed as 'stolen' Audi S8 hits him and crashes into house
Mum battered, threatened and cut with knife by violent ex
Man, 19, arrested on suspicion of murdering Sam Rimmer
Masked thug pointed 'gun' at terrified barman and told him 'you have till 12 to pay the money'
