It's polling day and those eligible are preparing to votepublished at 06:09 British Summer Time 1 May
Sam Hancock
Live page editor
Image source, Getty ImagesParts of England will head to the polls today for local elections - plus we’ve got the first Westminster by-election of this Parliament.
At the local level voters will be choosing councillors and mayors, empowering them to make key decisions on how services are run in their area. Meanwhile, voters in the Cheshire constituency of Runcorn and Helsby will be choosing a new MP to send to Westminster.
It all adds up to make today the first major electoral test for political parties since last year’s general election.
Polls open at 07:00 BST and close at 22:00 BST, and the first results are expected to come in overnight.
We’ll be providing live updates throughout, plus we’ll have plenty of analysis and reaction as events unfold later on, so stick with us.
- Before we kick things off, a reminder that you can use our postcode tool to find out whether there's an election near you today, who the candidates are and where you can vote