Local elections in England live: polling station in Southampton closes following death of candidate | Politics

Aletha Adu

Voters have heard the pledges and promises of four Conservative prime ministers since the last time this set of authorities were up for election in May 2019. Theresa May faced enormous pressure to quit after a bad set of results and she resigned in June that year.

Keir Starmer will be hoping to reap the rewards of Labour’s 18-point lead over the Conservatives. The Tories, who launched their local election campaign with little fanfare, have been in heavy expectation-management mode, predicting losses of more than 1,000 seats.

Commentators predict that Tory losses of even 500 seats would mean trouble for Rishi Sunak’s authority. But Labour also has a lot to prove, with more than 8,000 council seats across 230 authorities in England up for election on Thursday.

Here are the key seats and timings to look out for.

Campaigners claim there have been “countless examples” of would-be voters being turned away from polling stations in the first elections where photo identification is mandatory.

The Electoral Reform Society, which has strongly opposed the introduction, urged ministers to rethink the new law as voters went to the polls in the local elections in England on Thursday, PA Media reports. But the Association of Electoral Administrators said the polls were “running as smoothly as usual”.

Jess Garland, the Electoral Reform Society’s director of policy and research, said: “We’re already seeing countless examples of people being denied their right to vote due to these new laws.

“From people caught out by having the wrong type of photo ID to others turned away for not looking enough like their photo.

“One voter turned away is one voter too many. The government must take lessons from the problems we’re seeing today at polling stations across the country and face up to the fact that these new rules damage our elections more than they protect them.”

In the early afternoon, the Association of Electoral Administrators said that no major problems had been reported, though it would probably not hear about individual voters being turned away.

Its chief executive, Peter Stanyon, said: “Polling day appears to be running as smoothly as usual, which is testament to the months of planning and hard work from returning officers and electoral administrators running today’s elections. We hope the rest of the day continues along the same lines.”

But Layla Moran, the Lib Dem MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, said she had been told of issues in her constituency. “We’ve had reports by our tellers of people being turned away at polling stations for lack of correct ID,” she said. “Across the country I’m worried this will be significant numbers and far more than the exactly 0 people found guilty of fraud last year.”

Here are some of the latest images coming through from news agency photographers:

The government has said there is no “quick fix” to meet the prime minister’s promise to stop the boats.

PA Media reports:

The prime minister’s official spokesman said it would require a “combination of a number of different approaches from the government” to “solve this long-standing problem”.

Those measures included “the partnership with Rwanda” and the illegal migration bill.

The spokesman said: “While we are confident that some of the elements already introduced – stepping up the partnership with the French government to increase intercepts in the Channel – is having an impact, we know that this will be an incremental approach.”

It was “too early to draw conclusions at this stage” about the impact of the government’s announcements “given we know the impact the weather can have on weekly, even daily, crossings”.

“It will be the culmination of the introduction of all the different policies we are introducing which will have the long-lasting impact the public wants.”

Jessica Murray

Despite warnings that the introduction of new voter ID requirements might lead to disruption at polling stations across England on Thursday, by lunchtime there were few reports of problems.

In Leicester, the city council said things were “so far, running smoothly”.

“The majority of people turning up to vote appear to be aware of the new rules and have brought the right forms of photo ID,” a spokesperson said.

You can read more of Jessica Murray’s report here:

What constitutes a good or bad result for the main parties?

Andrew Sparrow

Prof Rob Ford, an elections specialist, has written an article for the Guardian trying to assess what would be a good result and a bad result for the political parties in the local election. It is here, and well worth reading.

There are plenty more assessment around, but two in particular are also worth reading.

Sir John Curtice, the BBC’s main election specialist and the person who calculates the projected national share (PNS – see 9.26am) which by Friday night will generally be taken as the key “result”, published his verdict in the Times. Here is his summary.

According to the BBC’s “projected national share”, Labour’s best local election performance since 2010 was in 2012. The party, then led by Ed Miliband, was credited with 38 per cent of the vote, seven points ahead of the Conservatives. Sir Keir Starmer’s minimal target is to beat that benchmark.

However, that would not be enough to emulate the performances of Tony Blair before the 1997 general election or of David Cameron before his success in 2010. Labour enjoyed leads of 15 points or more between 1994 and 1996. The same was true of Cameron in 2008 and 2009. Doing quite as well as that might be thought a tall order. But registering at least a double-digit lead should not. Certainly, if Labour’s lead is anything much less than that we will be left wondering whether the party really have as yet sealed a deal with the voters.

And Prof Colin Rawlings and Prof Michael Thrasher, who produce the rival national equivalent share (NEV) calculation, have provided their benchmarks to Sky News. Here is an extract.

Conservatives

1000+ losses: A bad night with a third of all seats defended lost. Tory MPs in marginal ‘red wall’ and southern seats will be worried

750 losses: A clear swing to Labour but rather less than opinion polls imply

500 losses: The party will try to write this off as “mid-term blues” and argue the gap with Labour can be caught before the general election

Fewer than 300 losses: Council seats regained from Independents as Labour and Lib Dems fail to prosper

Labour

700 gains+: This would be the best local election performance for at least a decade, putting the party on the path to becoming the largest party at Westminster in a general election, even if short of an outright majority

450 gains: Results little better than a year ago

250 gains: Disappointing in the context of the polls, suggesting limited success in winning back the ‘red wall’

Fewer than 150 gains: Effectively a step backwards for Sir Keir Starmer and his party

That is all from me for today. My colleague Tobi Thomas is taking over now.

We will be running a results blog from 10pm, and I will be back early tomorrow morning to carry it through Friday, when most results will be coming in.

Readers have been asking a range of questions about the new photo ID requirement, and voting rules in general. I’ll answer some of them here.

Will voter ID be required in Scottish and Welsh elections? And is the system here to stay?

Andrew, will voter IDs be required in forthcoming elections in Wales and Scotland? Is this ‘system’ here to stay?

The photo ID voting law applies for all UK parliamentary elections, all local elections and referendums in England, and all police and crime commissioner elections in England and Wales. Voters in Northern Ireland have had to provide photo ID to vote in local and assembly elections since 2007.

So, in Scotland and Wales, you will need photo ID to vote for an MP, but not for an MSP, an MS or a councillor.

As for whether the system will stay, Labour opposed it when it was going through parliament, but has not committed to repeal the law. Readers have criticised the party for this, but it is not obvious what impact the photo ID system will have and Labour wants to see what the research says afterwards. Also, voters support the principle of photo ID checks for voting by a margin of two to one (although they may feel differently after today). A more obvious option for Labour would be to extend the category of ID allowed, to include polling cards and types of photo ID available to young people that are currently excluded.

Can tellers tell people they need photo ID before they enter a polling station?

I did a stint as a teller at a polling station once and was instructed not to accost voters on the way into the polling station, but to wait until they had cast their vote. I was told this was a legal requirement to avoid the appearance of trying to influence voters. If this is true, it seems that these tellers turning voters away are breaking the law.

Parties often have tellers outside polling stations so they can keep a record of who has voted, so if a party knows by mid-afternoon a likely supporter has not turned up, they can chase them up.

At this election, some councils are also using some of their staff as “greeters” outside polling stations to remind people they need photo ID to vote. Because people turned away before they get inside will not be included in the official figures for people who do not have ID, there are concerns this will skew the data. See 11.10am.

According to the Electoral Commission, tellers cannot ask to see someone’s photo ID. But they can remind people of the need for photo ID before they go in.

Can people vote with an out-of-date photo ID?

Yes, you can vote if your photo ID is out of date, as long as it is an acceptable form of ID (link to full list below) and as long as you still look like the person in the photo.

Can people vote in clothing with a political slogan on it?

One of my Twitter contacts just posted that election officials told a friend of hers that they wouldn’t be able to vote in a GE wearing the “don’t vote Tory” T-shirt they were wearing today. They were (finally) allowed to vote today but this seems very weird. Any thoughts?

Apparently there is nothing in law to stop you voting wearing clothing with a political slogan. But campaigning outside or inside polling stations is not allowed, and you would be expected to leave quickly.

The UK government has formally notified Scotland’s highest civil court that it will contest the Scottish government’s legal bid to overturn its veto of controversial gender legislation passed at Holyrood, PA Media reports.

Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, used a section 35 order to block the Scottish parliament’s gender recognition reform bill, a decision which the Scottish government is attempting to overturn in the courts.

A UK government spokesperson said:

The UK government will robustly defend the secretary of state’s decision to prevent the Scottish government’s gender recognition reform bill from becoming law.

We are clear that the proposed legislation would have an adverse effect on reserved matters, including on the operation of the law as it applies to Great Britain-wide equalities protections.

Scots ‘losing faith in this failing SNP government’, says Labour’s Anas Sarwar at FMQs

Libby Brooks

“Is it any wonder every single day more and more people are losing faith in this failing SNP government?” asked the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, of Humza Yousaf at this week’s FMQs session, after new polling showed his party making further gains on the nationalists. (See 10.11am.)

Yousaf was challenged today by the Scottish Tory leader, Douglas Ross, on proposals to protect coastal areas which have seen a huge backlash from fishing communities, and by Sarwar on failures across the justice system.

But while the topics are specific to this week, the underlying themes have been constant since Yousaf took over from Nicola Sturgeon at the end of March. Ross pointed out that SNP MSPs had voted against their government yesterday on highly protected marine areas, underlining the increasing willingness of previously disciplined MSPs to speak out.

Sarwar used a critical report on the operation of what was lauded as “gold standard” domestic abuse legislation to hammer home his message that the Scottish government never follows through on its progressive rhetoric.

What wasn’t raised was this morning’s Daily Record front page, where erstwhile SNP comms chief Murray Foote denounced the police investigation into the party’s finances as a “grotesque circus”. While this may be a case of “he would say that, wouldn’t he?”, Foote’s article is well worth a read for those with more than a passing interest in SNP internal affairs.

Peter Walker

There is a much-raised theory that the government’s imposition of mandatory photo ID at elections is an attempt to squeeze the non-Conservative vote, one that perhaps falls down on the fact that older people, who disproportionately vote Tory, are one of the groups least likely to have the necessary documents (although the list of permissible ID is very much skewed to the over-60s).

But it is striking that on social media this morning, the Conservatives are the only main party to not mention the need for people to bring ID with them when they go to the polling stations.

“This morning vote Labour,” ran the 7am poll-opening Labour message, with a box inside the image saying: “Remember to bring photo ID.” A later message shows a Post-it-style note reminding people to go out with, “keys, phone, photo ID”.

The Liberal Democrats’ 7am social media missive only urged people to vote, but subsequent posts told people they did not need to bring their polling card, but would need ID.

In contrast, five hours after voting began, the Conservatives’ main Twitter and Facebook accounts have made no mention of the new system, only inviting people to vote Tory for a range of reasons including fewer potholes, plus an attack on the Lib Dems for not supporting plans to deport asylum seekers.

For years the Liberal Democrats have been associated with election leaflets making often-questionable claims about how “only the Lib Dems can win here”. Often they featured bar charts that would horrify a statistician (because they misrepresented the gap between parties).

As the i’s Paul Waugh points out in a Twitter thread starting here, now some Green parties are in on the act. In some places they have been producing bar charts showing they are the strongest second place contender based on doorstep surveys they have carried out themselves.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils, is urging people to be patient today as they vote because the need to check photo ID could create delays.

Kevin Bentley, the chair of the LGA’s people and places board, said:

Councils are working around the clock to deliver the local elections and the new voter ID requirements, which is the biggest change to in-person voting in 150 years. The practical effort required to deliver this change in such a short timeframe should not be understated.

We would urge members of the public to remember their photo ID when they come to vote and to be patient with hardworking polling staff if there are queues, or the process takes a little longer than usual. Many councils will be deploying additional staff to ensure queues are kept to a minimum and people can vote quickly and easily.

It is vital that the implementation of voter ID is rigorously and transparently evaluated to ensure that lessons are learned ahead of future elections. We will be working with councils to understand how the process worked on the ground.

At PMQs yesterday Keir Starmer attacked Rishi Sunak for abolishing mandatory housebuilding targets for councils, tellings MPs “his decision to scrap housing targets is killing the dream of home ownership for a generation”.

Today the Times has splashed on a story saying at least some Tory MPs agree.

In his report, Steven Swinford quotes what three Tory MPs said in a private WhatsApp group in response to a comment from Greg Hands, the party chair, saying that Labour could lose support as a result of its promise to bring back mandatory targets. Swinford says:

Minutes later Justin Tomlinson, the Tory MP for North Swindon, responded: “Why? People need houses to live in. Rising housing costs (rent/mortgage/deposits) plays badly ahead of polling.”

Mark Jenkinson, the Tory MP for Workington, replied: “Short-termism on housing will cost us dearly.” He said that the government should strengthen contributions by developers to mitigate the impact of housebuilding, adding: “We have to be prepared to make the arguments.”

Simon Clarke, a former housing secretary and the Tory MP for Middlesbrough South, said: “We cannot become the party of nimbyism. It will be hugely damaging to the country and our electoral fortunes.” Several other Tory MPs also raised concerns.

For some years now one of the minor joys of election day has been #dogsatpollingstations on social media. Here are two examples from today.

But perhaps the trend has gone too far. Blue Cross, the animal rescue charity, has sent out a statement this morning saying people should not tie up their dogs outside polling stations because they might get stolen. It says:

According to guidance from the Electoral Commission, dogs can enter polling stations in an ‘accompanying’ role but they are not allowed to be ‘free range’ inside or to disrupt the vote.

Blue Cross would advise dog owners to check with their local councils whether they allow dogs inside ahead of election day, as leaving your dog tied up outside can leave your pet at risk of being stolen.