In previous years, the first local elections after a new government and prime minister took office would closely scrutinize the PM’s performance. However, this year, the results will be harder to interpret due to the majority of councils up for election being Conservative in Conservative areas. Only a few major cities will be voting, although some university cities and towns will participate.

Instead, the results will likely serve as a judgment on the performance of the new Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch. The last time these council seats were contested, in most cases, was in 2021 when the Conservatives under Boris Johnson were popular in the polls thanks to “the vaccine boost” and before the partygate scandal damaged their popularity.

A recent poll with a large sample size suggested that the Tories would have fewer councillors elected on 1 May than Reform. Nigel Farage’s party won two council seats in 2021, but none of those are up for election this year.

Neither of the two incumbent Labour combined authority mayors, in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and in West of England, is standing again. This year’s election in the two seats will be a first-past-the-post election; in 2021 supplementary vote was used.