Alan Marsh

Elections are taking place across the UK today.Voters in England, Wales, and Scotland will pick who they want to run services that affect everyday life in their local area. People in Northern Ireland will choose their government.The results are likely to reflect how people feel about Boris Johnson, the "partygate" scandal, how Covid has been handled and the rising cost of living.EnglandLocal councils are responsible for everything from bins, bus routes and potholes, to providing mental health services, deciding on planning applications and managing schemes to tackle climate change.In England, more than 4,000 councillors in 146 councils are up for election in major cities including Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and all 32 London boroughs.South Yorkshire will also be voting for a regional mayor and 1,000 parish councils will be electing about 10,000 councillors.Because of the huge number of seats being contested across England - some of them for the first time since 2018 - the results are likely to paint the clearest picture of the national mood.Northern IrelandThe election for Northern Ireland's government is largely a contest between the parties in two blocs - unionists, who favour remaining part of the United Kingdom, and nationalists, who favour a united Ireland.Since 2003, the Democratic Unionist Party has been the largest party in the national assembly, followed by nationalists Sinn Féin.The two parties, along with other unionist and nationalist parties, and an increasingly popular third bloc of non-aligned parties, have governed under a mandatory power-sharing agreement that ended decades of fighting.Recent polls suggest Sinn Féin could take the lead for the first time. If Sinn Féin becomes the largest party, the DUP has not said whether it would agree to share power.That means it's possible that even after the election, the Assembly could remain without a devolved government for at least six months.WalesAll seats in 22 local councils will be contested across Wales, where people can vote from the age of 16.The political make-up has been mixed since the last election in 2017 and the majority of councils are currently run by coalitions - an agreement between at least two parties to share power.Eyes will be on whether Labour can maintain its hold over Cardiff and the cities along the M4 corridor, and how the Conservatives perform in the north-east of the country, where they made gains last time.ScotlandVoting is open to anyone over the age of 16 in Scotland, in all 32 local authorities.The last election in 2017 saw the Conservatives make big gains from Labour, however, they failed to gain overall control and most councils have been run by coalitions ever since.The largest cities - Glasgow and Edinburgh - are always ones to watch, but this year's results are also likely to reflect how Scots feel more generally about such issues as recent council tax changes and post-pandemic recovery. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.