Elections 2021: As it happened - the final hours of campaigning

1. Political party leaders have made their final push for votes head of polling day on Thursday
2. It will be the biggest election across England, Scotland and Wales outside of a general election
3. Campaigning in West Yorkshire, Labour leader Keir Starmer said the party was "fighting for every vote"
4. Boris Johnson said Thursday's elections will "be very tough"
5. Voters in Scotland will elect 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament
6. The result of Scotland's election could determine the future of the union
7. Hartlepool will elect a new MP - the result will be seen as a test of Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer's leadership
8. Voters in Wales will elect the 60 members of the Welsh Senedd
9. In England, 143 local councils are up for election
10. And 39 Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales and 13 directly elected mayors in England will also be elected

How do I vote in tomorrow's elections?

BBC

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.

Where are the battlegrounds in Wales?

Labour, which has been in charge in Wales since devolution 22 years ago, has been campaigning hard in seats it lost to the Conservatives at the 2019 general election.

For their part, the Tories have been putting in the hours to try to convert those Westminster gains they made into Senedd victories.

Wrexham, Vale of Clwyd, Clwyd South and Delyn turned from red to blue in 2019, and it is no surprise both parties have focused much of their attention on these seats this time around.

In the south, the Conservatives have hopes of ousting Labour in the Vale of Glamorgan, a seat the Tories have held at Westminster since 2010.

Labour is also keen to win back the Rhondda seat captured by Plaid Cymru at the 2016 poll.

As well as hoping to prevent that seat from returning to the Labour fold, Plaid is targeting the Labour marginal of Llanelli, which has flipped between the two parties since the dawn of devolution in 1999.

Tory-held Aberconwy is also a Plaid Cymru target seat, and the party has also used its campaign to urge voters to chose Plaid in their second vote, with the aim of picking up extra members in the regional seats.

The Liberal Democrats are concentrating on keeping their one remaining seat, Brecon and Radnorshire, with the possibility of picking up a regional list seat as compensation if they fail to do so.

Meanwhile, Abolish the Welsh Assembly, Reform UK, and the Green Party are hoping to make a breakthrough in those regional votes.

UKIP won seven regional seats in 2016, shortly before Wales and the UK voted to leave the EU in a referendum.

It will be hoping to, at the very least, retain a presence in Cardiff Bay.

Welsh campaigning focus on the key seats

BBC

Mark Drakeford, Andrew RT Davies, Adam Price and Jane Dodds.

The leaders of the biggest parties in Wales will be out campaigning in key seats in north, south and mid Wales.

Labour's Mark Drakeford is heading to the Vale of Glamorgan, while the Tories' Andrew RT Davies will be in the north of the country.

Plaid Cymru's Adam Price will focus on Llanelli while the Welsh Lib Dems' Jane Dodds will be in Brecon.

Read more here for today's election events in Wales.

BBC

Labour is defending 29 seats from the Welsh Parliament election in 2016

What's up for grabs in Thursday's elections

BBC

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

Zahawi: Planning underway for vaccine booster jabs

BBC

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has been doing interviews this morning.

He answered lots of questions about the vaccine roll-out programme and said will be an update “later this week” on international travel.

He was asked about reports that over 50s may receive a third booster vaccines before the winter.

He said Professor Chris Whitty and other UK chief medical officers are looking at the "durability and protection of the current vaccines".

"We want to give the scientists as many options available, to deploy a booster", he said.

He added that work was also being carried out to find which additional shot would deliver the greatest protection:

The NHS team is already planning to be ready for deployment from September onwards, but the decision hasn't been made as to whether we go September or later in the year or early next year. That depends on the clinicians and how they feel the protection has lasted for the most vulnerable groups, and of course virus variants that could be of concern that you want to protect against.

Nadhim ZahawiUK vaccines minister

Reynolds: People 'might not be totally convinced yet' about Labour

BBC

The shadow work and pensions secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has been doing the morning round of interviews for Labour.

He was asked on Radio 4's Today programme if polling suggesting Labour could be in trouble in the Hartlepool by-election meant the party was going backwards.

Mr Reynolds said polls are not always correct and turn out would be important:

"We hope the public will see how we have changed since 2019, that we have a new leader, that we have a new direction but to be frank it has not been the easiest of years to make those wider messages. "That's just how it is. No use complaining about that. I can certainly tell you as well as my own constituency I have been to Wales, I have been to the South East, I have been to other parts of the North and it's a lot warmer for Labour than it was in 2019, there's more of a willingness to engage with us. "People might not be totally convinced yet but they want to have that conversation in a way, to be honest, they just didn't want to talk to us at times in 2019."

Jonathan ReynoldShadow work and pensions secretary

Scotland's party leaders final pitch for votes

BBC

The leaders of Scotland's biggest political parties made their final pitch to the nation last night in a BBC TV debate.

They debated a range of devolved issues, the coronavirus pandemic and the merits of another independence referendum.

The SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon ruled out a non-lawful referendum, while the leader of the Scottish Conservatives Douglas Ross faced questions over how Scots could secure another vote if they want one.

Here are our top five takeaways from the debate.

Davey: A weird campaign but party cutting through

BBC

The Lib Dem leader, Sir Ed Davey, has also been on BBC Breakfast this morning.

He said it has been a "weird campaign" due to the pandemic and limitations on doorstep campaigning earlier in the year, but his party is cutting through because they are "community politicians who get things done".

People have really reconnected with their community during the pandemic, he said, and the environment is a priority.

Sir Ed said the easing of restrictions on doorstep campaigning had helped his party get their message across:

"Now we're back on the doorsteps having not been able to campaign for so long people are engaging in local issues and it is those local issues that are coming across. "Yes there are some real negatives for the Conservatives because of the sleaze and what has been happening around Boris Johnson but when people focus on the local issues, they are turning to Liberal Democrats as community politicians who get things done."

Sir Ed DaveyLeader of the Liberal Democrats

What elections?

Here's our at a glance guide to at all the elections being held across England, Scotland and Wales on Thursday.

BBC

Bartley: Greens want to build a well-being economy

BBC

The co-leader of the Green Party, Jonathan Bartley, has been on BBC Breakfast this morning.

He said his party's message is very simple - if you want green, vote Green.

The pandemic has made the environment a key concern for voters, he said, and not just in terms of dealing with the climate and ecological emergency but improving local communities.

Mr Bartley said the Greens have policies that stretch across every sector of society:

"I think people are recognising that amidst all the horror and hardship of the pandemic we got a glimpse that things could actually be done differently in terms of taking cars off our roads, or cleaner air, or even the government intervening to support people’s wages is something that we have long advocated for, and it is reflected in our call for proper recognition of the work that health workers have done. We're backing nurses' call for a 15% pay rise. I think we're the only party to be backing that. So people are making the links, I think, between a better standard of living and doing things differently - a new economy, a well-being economy."

Jonathan BartleyGreen Party co-leader

Who can I vote for in my area?

BBC

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.

No standard election - no handshakes, no kissing babies

Adam Fleming

Chief political correspondent

We'll get some standard campaigning from the party leaders today, but it's not really been a standard election campaign.

These are such a strange times for all of us, no shaking hands and certainly no kissing any babies.

The coronavirus pandemic has meant a higher number of postal votes, but tomorrow people will go to their polling stations and cast their vote – socially distanced, of course.

To understand what could happen in England, is to look at whether the Conservatives can consolidate their hold on places that they won from Labour at the last general election in 2019, or whether Labour can start to stage a bit of a fight back.

This election has become a bit of a test for Keir Starmer and how his first year as Labour leader has gone.

Will they hold on to Hartlepool in the by-election there?

We'll probably get the result around about four o'clock on Friday morning, and then we'll get results from all those many, many contests, through Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and maybe even Monday

The Liberal Democrats, and the Greens tend to do quite well in local elections, certainly much better than they do at Westminster election so watch out for them as well.

But the big issue that is going to dominate is the result in Scotland.

If there is a majority in favour of another independence referendum, that will start a massive row between Edinburgh and London, about whether to have one.

It’s Boris Johnson who has the power to grant it or not, and the debate could dominate our politics for months, and maybe even years.

Welcome to our elections coverage

BBC

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

It's the final day of campaigning ahead of polling day tomorrow across England, Scotland and Wales.

Party leaders will be out campaigning in their final push for votes.

We’ll bring you all the latest updates, and help guide you through everything you need to know in the run up to Thursday's vote.

Thanks for joining us.