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What you need to know about the 7 May elections in England, Scotland and Wales

May elections in England, Scotland and Wales The biggest set of elections since the 2024

Political parties make final pitches ahead of key elections

Scotland and Wales will choose who should run their national governments, while seats on dozens of councils and mayors are up for election in England. The polls will be open between

Major test for Labour as polls open in English, Scottish and Welsh elections

Scotland and Wales should become clear by about 4pm on Friday, with more local election results announced in the late afternoon and early evening. Counting for mayoral elections will only begin on Friday, with Hackney

What photo ID will you need to vote in the May elections?

elections in Scotland and Wales. When the photo ID rules were expanded to cover the rest of the UK in May 2023, the government said it would stop votes being stolen, although that is quite

Mapped: the elections that could deliver ‘unprecedented’ losses for Labour

Wales and Scotland, the map is showing the most recent winner for each of the devolved parliaments constituencies, but both parliaments also operate with regional list systems that top-up votes. This election Surrey county

Who could challenge Keir Starmer for the UK PM’s job? Meet the candidates

Scotland and Wales. While Labour lost nearly 1,500 local council seats, Reform UK surged from fewer than 100 to around 1,450 seats under Farage. Support for Labour evaporated, even in several

Watchdog weighs investigation into Farage’s undisclosed £5m donation

2024, Farage became an MP for the first time. He has since stated he now expects to become prime minister at the next general election. The Conservatives wrote to the watchdog on Wednesday arguing that

New laws expected to be in the King's Speech

may introduce some bills which intend to target the cost of living crisis **Welfare cuts** -The government is expected to make a fresh attempt to reduce the amount spent on welfare, after it was forced

ChatGPT and other AI bots made huge errors before Scottish election, study finds

May’s Holyrood election by putting 75 questions to five free AI tools including [ChatGPT](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/chatgpt), Google Gemini and Replika about three real-life constituencies to see how accurate and evidence-based their

How Labour’s ‘terrible’ night unfolded as Reform surges and Greens and Lib Dems hail wins

Wales, [Scotland](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/scotland) and many parts of England, there would be no consideration of such a course. “To all the Labour members and volunteers who have supported local campaigns across the country: thank

What next for Starmer? Five scenarios in Labour leadership crisis

Scotland and Wales. Back in Parliament, Burnham could mobilise the necessary support to trigger a leadership contest and take that electoral evidence into the campaign. In a head-to-head with Sir Keir

Lib Dems can counter extremes of Reform and Greens, Davey says

elections as proof his party is best positioned to confront what he described as the “extreme populist change” offered by Reform UK and the Greens. As Labour assessed a disastrous set of results

Winners, losers and a PM on the brink - what to expect in next week's elections

Wales", says one source, and while internal Labour data in Scotland suggests the picture is not as bleak as the public polls suggest, it would take a miracle for them to get close

Birmingham is awash with local election candidates – but will result be a ‘coalition of chaos’?

May, with elections taking place across Scotland, Wales and English councils that are likely to lead to gains for the Green party and Reform. In Birmingham, Labour’s 14-year dominance could also collapse after

Welsh Labour faces ‘existential’ change as party braces for May election defeat

May election defeat Welsh [Labour](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/labour) is the democratic world’s most successful election-winning machine, coming first in Wales in every general election since 1922 and every devolved election since 1999. Come

Reform UK spending on Facebook ads surged before May elections

May elections, in a sign of the growing financial muscle of Nigel Farage’s party. There were several days in the fortnight before the party’s breakthrough electoral performance when Reform spent more than

‘Why are we even doing this?’ The week that left Britain’s PM looking like an interim leader

elections across England, Scotland and Wales, one of Starmer’s lesser-known MPs did her best to light the spark on a contest. If this was one of the more unpredictable weeks in recent

In the UK, Muslim votes are treated as a problem to be managed

Wales finishing a strong second. In Scotland, the SNP remained the largest party but lost seats, while the Greens had their best-ever result and Reform UK won its first MSPs. Voters in different parts

Friday briefing: ​As Israel’s coalition collapses, can its prime minister hang on to power?

Wales and Scotland must [exclude transgender men and women](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/21/single-sex-toilets-exclude-transgender-people-england-wales-scotland-code-of-practice), according to a new code of practice from the equalities watchdog. 5. ***Ukraine*** | Ukrainian drones [hit the Syzran oil refinery](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/22/ukraine-war-briefing-oil-plant-strikes-all-going-to-plan-says-zelenskyy)

Partygate v Mandelson: Keir Starmer faces attack from his own playbook

2024, things began to unravel for his Labour government, in part because of the budgetary problems they encountered. In an effort to save money, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced a deeply unpopular [cut to winter