Political parties are battling it out as constituents head to the polls next week to vote in the crunch local elections.
Voters across the country are set to cast their ballots on May 7 as thousands of council seats come up for grabs, as well as the chance to vote for some local mayors, and the Scottish and Welsh governments.
Labour is expected to face a wipeout at the elections, a result widely expected to see leadership challenges raised to topple Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership.
The party - which is defending 2,557 seats in these elections - is expected to haemorrhage votes to both Reform on the right and the Greens on the left.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives are also expecting big losses in the local elections, with Nigel Farage’s party expected to take over many formerly Tory authorities.
Local elections campaigns work differently from national general elections, with local party associations outlining their policies for the area rather than there being national manifestos.
But what are each of the parties actually pledging? Here, The Independent looks at what they are promising voters:
Labour
Labour is braced for devastating losses at the local elections, with polling expert Lord Robert Hayward predicting the party is set to lose 1,850 of their seats.
It comes off the back of an overwhelming majority, with over half of the seats being contested currently belonging to Labour.
Launching the party’s campaign, Sir Keir Starmer promised “Labour values”, with an emphasis on his government’s measures to tackle the cost of living.
Sir Keir stressed that his party understood that “whatever is going on in the world, whatever is going on in politics, and there’s a lot in both, most people are concerned most of all about the cost of living”.
The government have encouraged voters to back their Labour candidates to allow a Labour majority council to work with a Labour government. But this strategy may not boost enthusiasm given the low confidence in Sir Keir government currently.
Common themes seen across a number of local Labour manifestos include thousands of new social and affordable homes and safety measures such as pledging more community wardens and CCTV.
In some areas, the party has included green measures such as planting more trees and introducing low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), while an increase in opportunities for young people such as more youth clubs or opportunities for school leavers is common.
In Wales, the party has promised to invest £4bn in a "Hospitals of the Future Fund" to build new hospitals in Wrexham, Cardiff and west Wales, and pledged not to raise rates if income tax.
Meanwhile, in Scotland the party has also pledged to not raise income tax for five years and build 125,000 new homes.
Reform UK
Reform UK is expected to sweep up a number of former Labour and Tory seats next week, after they won control of a number of councils in last year’s elections.
The party’s slogan for the elections is directed squarely at the unpopular prime minister, telling the electorate: “Vote Reform. Get Starmer out.”
Asked why the slogan focuses on Sir Keir, as opposed to a Reform policy, Mr Farage said the upcoming elections “are in some of Labour’s strongest areas in the country, and the offering that he gave the country back in 2024, frankly, has been ignored completely”.
The central party is very vocal on immigration, while several local parties have raised fixing potholes and keeping council tax rises as low as possible as part of their pledges to voters.
Others have also raised boosting community safety, better bin collections and bringing the party’s money-saving DOGE scheme to the council to slash costs.
In Wales, Reform have pledged to end its status as a “Nation of Sanctuary”, and vowed to change the law to scrap the use of “migrant hotels”.
Reform has also pledged to “end net-zero dogma” in its Senedd manifesto, as well as proposing a ban on new onshore wind farms and solar farms.
In Scotland, the party outlined its ‘guiding principles’, which include not spending more than the government’s tax revenue.
Green Party
Zack Polanski’s Green Party is expecting to make large gains in May’s election, capitalising on the momentum gained by their historic victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election earlier this year.
The party has driven home their pledges on housing, while also winning voters over on international affairs with their pro-Palestine, anti-war stance.
Mr Polanski used his speech at the party’s local election campaign launch to call for “robust sanctions” on Israel, and “an end to the genocide”.
In Hackney, a key target area for the party, mayoral candidate Zoë Garbett told The Independent that Gaza, housing, disability support and immigration were coming up repeatedly on the doorstep.
In Tower Hamlets, the party has pledged to twin the area with a Palestinian town, and also introduce protections for migrants such as ensuring information is not shared with immigration enforcement agencies.
Calling itself the “party of renters”, key Green pledges call for greater protections and the introduction of rent controls.
In Wales, the Greens have proposed a one-year rent freeze while a system of rent controls is developed, which they say will spare renters a “hike at a time when all their other bills and costs are only going up”.
It says that although rent controls may take longer to introduce in England, that elected Greens will “continue to lead the way in the campaign against Labour and the landlord lobby”.
Conservatives
Launching the party’s campaign, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch insisted the party was “fighting to win everywhere”, but the Tories are also expected to face a devastating defeat at the ballot box next week.
The party has pledged to “get Britain working again” and positioned themselves as the only party in British politics with “a plan to make life better” including through promised changes to welfare and business rates.
Mrs Badenoch has highlighted policies such as a promised cut to the benefits bill, and her party’s “cheap power plan”, which involves rolling back green energy rules and relying more on oil and gas.
The party has also pledged to abolish business rates bills of less than £110,000 in a bid to provide relief for pubs, restaurants and high street shops.
Local Conservative Party groups have a common focus on crime prevention, with some pledging extra enforcement officers and greater use of CCTV.
Plans also include defending green spaces, cleaner streets and improving transport.
In Wales, the party has pledged to cut the basic rate of income tax by 1p and scrap stamp duty.
The party’s manifesto in Scotland is titled “Get Scotland working”, and focuses on cutting income tax to to 19p in the £1 and policies such as guaranteeing 48 hour GP appointments.
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are set to make gains of around 150 seats in the upcoming elections, according to polling expert Lord Hayward.
Launching the party’s campaign in Surrey, leader Ed Davey said he was focused on cutting energy bills, improving local health services and cleaning up polluted rivers.
“Getting people the GP and dentist appointments they need, standing up to the water companies pouring filthy sewage in our rivers, bringing back life to our high streets and helping people with the cost of living,” he said.
“We don’t do division. We do potholes, police officers, GP appointments, clean rivers. If you vote Liberal Democrat on May 7th, you’ll get a local champion who will be fixing things for your community.”
Common themes across local party association manifestos include backing national campaigns on social care, as well as cleaner streets and air.
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