Chris Game
My previous elections preview tabulated all the local, regional and even parliamentary elections taking place on Thursday 5th May. This preview focuses on just the top two-line entry in that table: the 36 English metropolitan boroughs, 32 of which are electing one third of their councillors, and three their whole councils. In fact, the focus is narrower still – on just eight councils where even these partial elections could for various reasons prove more than averagely interesting.
Chris Game
We all know why the English local elections on 5th May are important, don’t we? They’ll test Labour’s electability under Jeremy Corbyn, and possibly Corbyn’s own survivability. They’ll show whether the Lib Dems’ glacially slow recovery has been boosted by their new leader, Tim Farron – and whether UKIP repeats its General Election performance in votes (lots) or seats (very few). Above all, though, the parties’ national equivalent vote shares will be taken as an early indicator of who might win the 2020 General Election – by the people who last year couldn’t on 6th May tell us who would win outright the following day.
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