Image source, PA Media

Sir Keir Starmer says he will take "full responsibility" for Labour's results at Thursday's elections.

The leader says there is a "mountain to climb" after the party's poor general election results back in 2019 and the next poll is the "first step".

He pledged to "clean up" politics after the "return of Tory sleaze" - pointing to recent allegations around cronyism and lobbying in Westminster.

Conservative minister Liz Truss said voters were focused on other issues.

Read more here.

Normally at elections, we're used to watching the results come in overnight, with pictures of packed leisure centres, lined with people elbow to elbow frantically counting the ballots.

This year things are going to be quite different.

Making the process Covid-secure means the results will take longer than usual.

Different safety measures will be needed in different counting venues - from fitness centres to town halls - so speed will vary across the country.

Some results might emerge overnight on Thursday, including the only Westminster by-election - in Hartlepool.

Welsh Parliament results could be complete by the end of Friday.

Scottish Parliament, English councils and London results could be announced on Saturday as well.

You might have to wait until Monday to hear the results for Police and Crime Commissioners.

Polling stations will be open from 07:00 to 22:00 on election day.

• If you're registered to vote, you should get a polling card in the post telling you where your local polling station is. You don't have to take it with you.
• If you registered for a postal vote, but didn't make it to the post box, don't worry - you can take it to your polling station on the day.
• Polling stations can be anything from schools to leisure centres to churches.
• When you get there, you will be given a ballot paper. This will have a list of the candidates you are able to vote for. For example, if you are voting for a mayor, you will be able to choose from a list of names.
• Take you ballot paper in to a booth and mark your vote in private.
• Read everything carefully. The ballot papers will have instructions.
• There may be more than one election in your area, and you may have more than one vote to cast on the ballot paper.
• In some elections you can choose more than one candidate, or rank them in order of preference.

• If you make a mistake - don’t panic – give the ballot paper to a member of staff in the polling station and they will give you a fresh one.
• When you're done, fold the ballot paper and put it in the ballot box.

Read more in our guide here.

In Scotland and Wales 16 and 17-year-olds are able to vote.

In England the current voting age limit is 18.

The BBC spoke to 16 and 17-year-olds at Allerton High School in Leeds, to ask what issues matter to them ahead of Thursday's local elections...

Tim Donovan
BBC London, Political Editor

In London, Covid hasn’t just disrupted the practicalities of campaigning in the mayoral race.

Virtual hustings. Crowdless rallies. Weedy stunts.

It’s also affected the substance by distorting key campaign issues.

The main responsibilities of the mayor have all been touched by the pandemic.

Transport is hobbling on with the help of short-term government bail-outs to compensate for lost fares.

A key mayoral lever rusted.

And the sting has been taken out of the candidates’ debate on what’s best for the capital’s usually over-burdened network.

Nearly every kind of crime has fallen - blurring the arguments on policing.

And remedies for the acute shortage of affordable housing in the capital may have seemed less pressing when people have been doing less moving (of all kinds) - and rents in the private sector have fallen.

It has, though, been an opportunity for a big over-arching theme to emerge: how to get London back on its feet.

And candidates have vied to be seen as most able to build back dynamically and best able to capture the spirit of the time.

But with resources controlled so tightly by government, it’s difficult to know how much difference voters will believe a mayor can make.

And if - as seems likely - many Londoners are currently preoccupied with resuming their lives during this slow release from lockdown, it feels like there is a distinct lack of enthusiasm all round.

London's mayoral and assembly elections should have taken place in 2020, but they were postponed for a year due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Londoners will elect 25 members of the London Assembly - and a mayor.

The mayor of London has the largest personal mandate of any politician in the UK, with a constituency of 6.2 million voters.

Londoners pay on average £365 a year through a proportion of their council tax.

The mayor cannot make new laws but can raise taxes which, along with grants from central government, fund a £17bn budget.

The mayor's powers include setting bus and tube fares, and deciding targets for the number of affordable homes.

London Assembly Members examine the mayor's decisions.

There are 20 candidates standing for mayor. Our colleagues at BBC London spoke to them, to take their elevator pitch. Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

A total of around 48 million people across England, Scotland and Wales will be able to vote in this week's bumper crop of elections. Here is a rundown of what is up for grabs on Thursday:

• Around 5,000 English local election seats, across 143 councils
• 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament
• 60 seats in the Welsh Senedd
• 39 Police and Crime Commissioners
• 25 seats in the London Assembly
• 13 directly-elected mayors
• 1 MP will be elected in the Hartlepool by- election

Hartlepool by-election: Old certainties no longer applypublished at 08:51 British Summer Time 4 May 2021

08:51 BST 4 May 2021

Richard Moss
Political editor, North East & Cumbria

Image source, Getty Images

It used to be one of politics' golden rules - opposition parties win parliamentary by-elections, governments lose them.

Old maxims do not seem to count for much now though, and Labour is worried that it could lose in Hartlepool - a seat the party has held since the current constituency was formed in 1974.

That's because another supposed rule of thumb has bitten the dust - the idea that people in places like Hartlepool do not vote Conservative.

The Tories came a competitive second at the 2019 general election, reducing the Labour majority to 3,595 votes.

This came at the same time as they took seven other seats from Labour across the North East of England. The party has not had as many MPs in the region since the 1930s.

It seems, then, it is no longer a badge of shame for people in the North East, or Hartlepool, to talk of voting Tory.

Tour the town and you will find plenty of people prepared to say so.

It is part of the Tees Valley area that has had a Conservative mayor since 2017, and is likely to return one again on 6 May.

Read more from Richard here

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has just been on BBC Radio 5 Live.

He was asked if he would stand down if his party lost control of councils across England and lost the Hartlepool by-election.

Starmer said he would take responsibility for everything the party does under his leadership.

He said Labour was fighting for every vote in the elections:

Later tonight, Scotland's political party leaders face the final TV debate before Thursday's Holyrood election.

The SNP's Nicola Sturgeon, Tory Douglas Ross, Labour's Anas Sarwar, Green Patrick Harvie and Lib Dem Willie Rennie will take part in the BBC event.

The five politicians will be making their final pitch to the electorate before Scotland goes to the polls on 6 May.

What time is the debate?

The programme will be on BBC One Scotland, starting at 19:50. It is being hosted by BBC Scotland Political Editor Glenn Campbell, and will last 70 minutes.

It can also be viewed on the BBC's News Channel and iPlayer. It will be streamed live, with analysis from our colleagues on the BBC Scotland news website.

But what is the debating style of each leader, and what are the key topics which might come up? Read more here

Image source, Getty Images

The parties are focusing their campaigning on key north Wales battlegrounds.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will go to Vale of Clwyd, Delyn and Wrexham, which were Welsh gains the Tories made on Labour in the 2019 general election.

Welsh Conservatives' Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies and Plaid's Liz Saville Roberts are also in the north.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats will be in Ceredigion.

Read more here on today's campaigning in Wales

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss has been giving interviews this morning.

On BBC Breakfast she was asked if recent headlines about the prime minister's Downing Street flat might affect the result of Thursday's elections:

A different country?published at 07:49 British Summer Time 4 May 2021

07:49 BST 4 May 2021

Adam Fleming
Chief political correspondent

It’s been a muted campaign because of Covid.

But now it feels, this week - finally, the elections have stepped up a gear.

The polls suggest that there is a bit of a narrowing of the Conservative lead.

But how useful are national polls when you've got so many different types of contests, influenced by different factors and even different voting systems?

Whether it's for the Welsh Senedd, English local authorities, Police and Crime Commissioners or mayors of big urban areas - let's be honest, at the end of the week, the two things we'll be talking about are the result of the Hartlepool by-election and the results of the Scottish Parliament elections.

Hartlepool will tell us something about the direction Labour is going in, and the Scottish result will tell us something about the direction the union is going in.

And can Boris Johnson consolidate Conservative gains in those ‘red wall’ areas that he took at the general election, or will Labour show a sign of recovery?

In England, the last time these areas voted at a local level, was 2016 and 2017.

In the first, David Cameron was prime minister, and the Brexit referendum hadn’t happened.

In the other Theresa May was in No 10, and the Brexit negotiations hadn't even started.

It feels like a completely different country now.

Every voter in England, Scotland and Wales will have the chance to take part in at least one election on Thursday.

Use our postcode search to find out what's happening in your area.

Here's a quick look at all the elections being held across England, Scotland and Wales on Thursday.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the UK elections.

With just two days to go until polling day, we’ll be here all week to bring you all the latest news and analysis about the elections being held across England, Scotland and Wales.

Maybe you’ve already voted by post, or perhaps you’re reading this and thinking ‘Um…what elections?’

Either way, we’ll be here to help guide you through everything you need to know in the run up to polling day on Thursday - and we’ll bring you the results across the weekend.

Thanks for joining us.