Local elections 2021 live: Polls close after millions cast votes across England, Scotland and Wales

Voting in the 2021 Welsh Parliament election has closed with people having to wait until Friday to find out which party is in pole position to form the next government.

Polls opened at 7am on Thursday and closed at 10pm in the first election since the legislature was renamed from the National Assembly of Wales, and the first to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote.

The results will be seen as a reflection of how the Welsh public have rated first minister Mark Drakeford and his government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

With Mr Drakeford calling for a radical redrawing of the UK and Adam Price’s Plaid Cymru wanting independence, the make-up of the next Welsh government could also determine the future of Wales’s place in the union.

Following the closing of the polls, Mr Drakeford said: “The votes of the people of Wales have been cast.

“On behalf of Welsh Labour, I thank everyone who has voted for us, and all those who have participated in these elections – particularly the 16 and 17-year-olds who have exercised their new right to vote for the first time.

“In the coming days, the political make-up of the next Senedd will become clear. We await those results.

“My party and I enter the next few days in the same spirit we have approached this campaign – ready to serve, ready to lead a jobs-first recovery, and ready to move Wales forward.”

Welsh Conservatives Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies said: “It’s been an unconventional campaign, but one that’s been fought in good spirit by political parties. Thank you to the many officials across the country who’ve allowed this election to take place in a safe and efficient manner.

“The results of today’s election could take a while to become clear, but our message remains the same, protecting jobs and kick-starting Wales’s economy has to be the priority.”

Changes to ensure social distancing at count venues means the counting process is not taking place soon after polls close as in previous elections, with it instead expected to begin across Wales from 9am on Friday with results starting to come in from the afternoon.

Plan have been made by returning officers to adjourn the process until Saturday morning if it is believed staff will not be able to finish counting ballots by Friday evening.

It means the final make-up of the next Senedd may not be confirmed until the weekend if results in some constituencies are close and recounts are called.

No party has ever won an outright majority in Wales, meaning the party which has won the most seats will be expected to enter into talks with other parties or independent members in order to form the next Welsh Government.

Members of the new Senedd will meet next week to elect a new presiding officer.

The Conservatives played down expectations as polls closed.

A Tory source said it was “looking tough in Hartlepool” as “Labour have flooded the area with activists”.

Conservative staff had been encouraged to use spare time on Thursday evening to make calls for the candidate Jill Mortimer.

The source said there was a “mixed picture in elections across the country” and suggested Labour had “done really well on their expectation management”.

Meanwhile, housing and communities secretary Robert Jenrick sought to cool talk of a ‘hat-trick’ of victories at the Hartlepool by-election and mayoral contests in Tees Valley and the West Midlands.

Recent polling gave the Conservatives comfortable leads in all three contests.

Labour leader Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayver have thanked party members and activists for their work in the local elections.

Will the local council elections in England have any bearing on the national picture come general election day in 2024?

This has been one of the ongoing debates in Westminster and beyond ahead of today’s ‘super Thursday’ bumper series of elections, with Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson facing their first local tests as party leaders.

The answer depends on who you talk or listen to: some commentators say the locals are a good barometer of the national mood, while others say it is far too early to start analysing the potential outcome of elections three years away.

One of the big stories to come out of the last general election in 2019 was the collapse of Labour’s so-called ‘red wall’, a series of seats the party lost across the Midlands and Northern England.

Some analysts have suggested Labour’s poor showing in ‘red wall’ seats was due to its usual supporters lending their votes to the Tories to “get Brexit done”. Others say the result was the first phase in a realignment of politics as the UK left the EU and the Brexit Party’s support fell away as a result.

There are a number of council seats up for grabs in ‘red wall’ areas, and the outcome of each could give the first clues as to whether Conservative gains made in 2019 could be more permanent or whether Labour is beginning to claw back ground.

YouGov research suggests that Labour could lose anywhere between 35 and 88 seats at local council elections, while the Tories could gain at least 69. Here are five races to keep an eye on:

At the 2019 general election, the Tories gained both Bury North and Bury South from Labour.

The council is Labour controlled, but a recent YouGov poll predicted that while the party is likely to remain the largest following today’s elections, it is “too close to call” who will take control of the council.

The parliamentary constituency of Burnley went blue for the Tories for the first time in more than a century back in 2019.

At the council level, Labour remains firmly in control with more than 20 seats. But it will be interesting to see if the Tories can eat into that lead.

At the 2019 general election, the Conservatives snatched Dudley North from Labour while holding Dudley South. Dudley Council is currently no overall control. But according to the YouGov poll referenced above, the Tories are on course to take control of Dudley Council after today’s elections.

The Tories picked up Derby North from Labour at the 2019 general election and according to YouGov, it is “too close to call” who will control the council, although the Conservatives are already the largest party.

While Labour is still the largest party in Cannock Chase, it lost overall control of the council at the 2019 local elections. There are 13 seats up for grabs this year, meaning the Tories could take control after tonight’s contest.

A senior Labour source has told Sky News’s Beth Rigby they are 98% per cent sure the party has lost Hartlepool.

The Tories have been attempting to play down their chances in the by-election, despite a recent poll showing them with a huge 17 point lead

This is the most marginal seat in Scotland and includes the Faslane nuclear submarine base. The seat is currently held by the Labour Party’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie. The seat is a key target for the SNP and one of only seven constituencies that they have never won since the creation of the Scottish parliament. The result is expected on Friday.

This is a highly symbolic seat because it is at the heart of Scotland’s capital. It includes the Scottish parliament. Edinburgh previously voted against independence. The former SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson is attempting to win it back for the party. The Scottish Conservatives won the seat by just 610 votes in 2016. The result is expected on Friday.

The Conservatives have held the seat for the past two decades. At the last election, the Conservatives held the seat by 750 votes – this was the third most marginal constituency. This is a target for the SNP. The result is expected on Friday.

Polling stations across the UK will close in 15 minutes, bringing to an end voting at the ‘super Thursday’ elections.

Reporting restrictions will be lifted then too, meaning we can bring you more analysis on how the results might play out and what they mean for the future of the UK.

Stay tuned for all the actions as it happens.

The British press has worked itself into a frenzy over the Jersey fishing row, with the words “war” and even “Nazis” appearing in headlines, writes Rory Mulholland. But in France the media has given the issue an enormous Gallic shrug.

For those of you not yet fully up to speed, my colleague Conrad Duncan has put together this handy guide detailing all the elections taking place today.

The reason why there are so many votes is that some, such as the London mayoral elections, were delayed last year due to the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The wide range of polls being held on Thursday means that every adult in England, Wales and Scotland will have the chance to cast at least one vote – a rare occurrence outside of a general election.

You can find a brief guide to everything that is happening today below:

Scotland and Wales will both elect members to their respective parliaments: Holyrood and the Senedd.

Results for the Scottish parliament are expected by Saturday evening, while most results in Wales are expected on Friday.

Residents in the capital will have an opportunity today to choose representatives for the city’s Assembly and their regional mayor.

The latter contest will be one of the most closely-watched this week as Sadiq Khan seeks a second term.

As well as London’s mayoral election, there will also be regional mayors elected for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region, Tees Valley, West Midlands, West of England and – for the first time – West Yorkshire.

Five local mayors will also be elected in Bristol, Doncaster, Liverpool, North Tyneside and Salford.

Local elections will be taking place across many parts of England for county councils, district councils, unitary authorities, metropolitan boroughs as well as Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales.

There will also be a key by-election in the north-west seat of Hartlepool after Labour’s Mike Hill stepped down in March.

Row over Jersey fishing rights pits UK against Paris and Brussels in first major trade dispute of Brexit era

London, Paris and Brussels were tonight at loggerheads in the first major trade dispute of the post-Brexit era, after Boris Johnson deployed gunships in the English Channel in response to the threat of a blockade of Jersey by French fishermen.

Our politics editor Andrew Woodcock reports: