Parties manage expectations as voting in local elections begins

A woman arrives at a polling station in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Polling stations are open across the country from 7am until 10pm. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters

Polls have opened in the local elections, with both major parties frenetically managing expectations as a Tory mayor warns Boris Johnson he will have to go further in helping people struggling with the cost of living.

The results will be seen as a major test for Johnson and Keir Starmer, coming at the ostensible mid-way point of the UK government’s term. A total of 146 English councils, and all those in Scotland and Wales, are up for grabs – as well as seven mayoralties.