Politicians on campaign trail to gee up support for local elections

A total of 4,851 council seats will be up for grabs across England, Wales and Scotland on Thursday.

There are elections in 27 English county councils, seven unitary authorities and one metropolitan borough.

All 32 Scottish and 22 Welsh councils are up for election.

There are also six areas in England voting for newly-created 'combined local authority mayors', most of which are in the north.

See below for a full list of where local elections are being held.

Sajid Javid, Conservative parliamentary candidate for Bromsgrove, was out campaigning today in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Former Labour leader and prospective parliamentary candidate for Doncaster North Ed Miliband was pictured mowing a lawn yesterday as he canvassed with Donacaster Labour councillors standing for re-election.

Leader of the Lib Dems Tim Farron joined the local campaign trail in Oxford today, where he was heckled by a Leave voter.

Since the snap election for 8 June was called last month it has overshadowed the local elections.  

The mayoral elections were billed as opportunities for devolution to provide tangible economic benefits to local communities but research indicates that devolution is not a vote winner with the public.

Blogs written for PF have stressed the importance of the local elections, saying key issues should be the pressure on public services and public service reform.

The mayoral elections for combined authority mayors are taking place in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City region, Tees Valley, West Midlands and the West of England – there is also one directly-elected mayoral contest, in Doncaster.