Afternoon summary
- Voters have been taking part in local and mayoral elections in England, Scotland and Wales. Polls close at 10pm and results will start coming in from the early hours tomorrow. We will be covering them in full on a separate live blog.
Thanks for the comments.
The Scottish Tories have reinforced their complaints that the Scottish government has broken election rules by promoting new spending to win votes, provoking counter-accusations of hypocrisy from the Scottish National party.
The day after formally complaining about a Scottish government £8.35m spending pledge for Glasgow which was released 48 hours before the council elections, the Scottish Tories claimed there were at least three instances in the past nine days of other funding awards to local communities and boasts about government action.
Those included nearly £1m to help 29 crofters in the Highlands build or improve their homes; £1m in EU funding for a seafood agency which works closely with coastal creel fishermen; and a “progress report” on infrastructure spending, promoted on Twitter by Nicola Sturgeon’s chief of staff.
Ross Thomson, the Tories’ general election candidate for Aberdeen South, said Nicola Sturgeon should explain why these “cash for votes” announcements were made so close to the council elections. He said:
There are clear rules on how government should behave in the run-up to an election. It looks to many voters that the only rule the SNP has followed is how best to use taxpayers’ cash to win votes. It stinks to high heaven – and we need to see some clarity from the first minister now.
An SNP spokesman retorted that Thomson was raising these issues to promote his claims Aberdeen was underfunded by the Scottish government; it had actually put £254m into the region and £125m for the Aberdeen city deal. The spokesman said:
Ross Thomson isn’t fooling anyone with this bizarre outburst. We have called on the UK government to match that extra funding, and they have refused so perhaps Mr Thomson should turn some attention to his own party’s neglect of Aberdeen - a city they are happy to take from but rarely keen to support.
This is not the first time Donald Tusk, the EU president, has urged Theresa May to adopt a calm tone in the Brexit talks. He was in London at the start of last month for talks with the prime minister and after they were over his team briefed reporters that he and May had agreed to “seek to lower tensions that may arise” during the process.
That agreement clearly didn’t last long. Whatever one’s views of May’s speech yesterday, it is hard to see it as an exercise in lowering tensions.
The Russian Embassy in London, which runs a feisty and provocative Twitter account, has also responded to Theresa May’s speech yesterday. The Russians are deploying mockery.
Praise God it's not Russia this time pic.twitter.com/irebYz8aKE
— Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) May 4, 2017
Jeremy Corbyn declared himself “Monsieur Zen” as he called on swing voters to get behind Labour rather than think tactically, the Press Association reports.
The Labour leader claimed he “never gets angry” although is left feeling “slightly irritated” by lectures about the Lib Dems given their record in government.
Corbyn made the remarks as he campaigned in Oxford, where he visited a play park in Rose Hill.
He gently pushed the swings for Freddie and Isabella, the children of his party’s Oxford East parliamentary candidate - MEP Anneliese Dodds.
“We never had swings when I was a kid,” Corbyn joked before standing back to allow Freddie’s father to give him a bigger push.
Corbyn later met activists elsewhere in the city and was handed red roses.
Asked by one supporter what to say to people thinking of voting tactically at next month’s general election, Corbyn replied: “The Lib Dems went into coalition with the Conservatives in 2010, voted in the Health and Social Care Act, voted for the cuts in the Department for Work and Pensions budget, voted in student fee increases.
“So I really get - I never do abuse, I never get angry, I’m Monsieur Zen on these matters - but it does make me slightly irritated when I get lectures about the Lib Dems.
“We know what they did when they had a chance to do something different.”
EU council president Donald Tusk urges May to tone down anti-EU rhetoric
Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, has urged Theresa May to tone down her anti-Brussels rhetoric. He said the Brexit talks would become “impossible” if the UK and the EU got embroiled in a row before they even started. Speaking in Brussels, he said:
These negotiations are difficult enough as they are.
If we start arguing before they even begin they will become impossible.
The stakes are too high to let our emotions get out of hand because at stake are the daily lives and interests of millions of people on both sides of the channel.
We must keep in mind that in order to succeed we need today discretion, moderation, mutual respect and a maximum of goodwill.
European parliament president rejects May's claim that EU trying to influence election
Speaking at the opening of the house of European history museum in Brussels, the president of the European parliament, Antonio Tajani, rejected the prime minister’s claim that EU figures are meddling in the UK election. He said:
No one is trying to influence the outcome the election campaign in the United Kingdom ...
It is better to have an interlocutor who is not constantly looking for votes because they have had the election, in order to work towards a good solution ... If you have an election campaign, the rhetoric gets sharper and more robust. I don’t think there is any question of influencing the campaign.
Jeremy Corbyn has been campaigning in Oxford. Here he is in a playground with the children of Anneliese Dodds, the Labour MEP standing for parliament in Oxford East.
If you’re interested in knowing when we will get the local election results, my colleague Rowena Mason has all the details here.
The first proper results aren’t due until about 2am. My colleague Claire Phipps will be launching a results blog at around 12am and she will be covering the results as they come in through the night. I’ll be back early in the morning and will carry on all through Friday, when the bulk of the results will come in.
This is from BBC Scotland’s Nick Eardley.
Great story. Polling station set up in a car in Moray because main venue wasn't open this morning pic.twitter.com/whyLl7o1zO
— Nick Eardley (@nickeardleybbc) May 4, 2017
In political circles the Conservative party’s excessive reliance on the slogan “strong and stable government” has become something of a joke. My colleague John Crace, the Guardian’s sketchwriter, is developing a full-time career mocking it.
But, according to YouGov polling, it has yet to cut through with the public at large. Only 15% of people mentioned it when asked to recall an election slogan.
Here’s an extract from the YouGov poll write-up.
Westminster commentators have for some time now been complaining about the Prime Minister’s robotic delivery on the campaign trail, particularly the constant use of the slogan “strong and stable”. The poll reveals that so far 15% of Brits have heard the phrase.
The message has yet to cut through to everyday people, however, as the majority of people who have head the slogan are the most politically engaged Brits. Among people with pay a high level of attention to politics, 39% have heard the slogan. This figure falls to just 11% of people with a medium level of political attention (the majority of Brits come under this category) and just 1% of Brits with a low level of political attention. It looks like the slogan won’t be going anywhere for a while.
And here are the figures.
The Local Government Information Unit, a local government thinktank, has sent out a short briefing summarising what’s at stake in today’s elections. This is what it is saying:
Mayors
In Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region and Tees Valley, Labour candidates are clear frontrunners to win the elections for Metro Mayor. Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram have made the move from parliament to Greater Manchester and Liverpool respectively, and are likely to emerge victorious. Meanwhile, Cllr Sue Jeffrey is seeking to build on her record as leader of Redcar and Cleveland borough council.
Watch out in Greater Manchester, though, as Cllr Sean Anstee, Conservative leader of Trafford borough council, may well surprise people with the support he can muster on May 4th. Anstee is local through and through, as well as a determined campaigner. Though Greater Manchester is a Labour heartland mayoral elections do have a habit of throwing up unexpected results.
It will be more of a close run thing in other city-regions, however. Personalities may count for a lot in these elections, and Andy Street, the former boss of John Lewis, is likely to do well in the West Midlands with his high public profile. Although the political balance across the region is in Labour’s favour (with 301 council seats to the Conservative’s 139) this may not be reflected when the large population chooses a single candidate.
Counties
With all counties up for election this will be a key test of the state of the parties and the first serious test of how remain and Brexit areas will vote. Last time the counties elected, Labour took control of Derbyshire. Can Labour keep hold of this traditionally red council only recently won back from a brief Conservative reign? Lancashire is currently a minority Labour administration. Could we see a Conservative revival here? Durham is Labour’s unitary county bastion yet some media commentators are predicting the council going to no overall control. This would require a huge shift and a coalition of independent, Liberal Democrat and possibly Tory opposition parties but if Labour loses Durham it will be the story of the election.
The Liberal Democrats can expect to make up ground. Already holding power (NOC) in Cornwall, could we see Tim Farron celebrating a Liberal revival in Devon and Somerset? The Liberal Democrats could also inflict a major upset in Conservative heartlands. Surrey county council has a strong Conservative majority but recent high-profile issues around a council tax referendum have led to speculation that a combination of Liberal Democrats and residents groups could send this remain-supporting Tory-heartland into no overall control. Cumbria is currently run by a Lib-Lab coalition. Will Brexit-supporting Cumbria stymy Lib Dem resurgence here and in neighbouring Northumberland or will they follow Cumbrian MP Tim Farron’s lead and become a Lib Dem minority?
The national focus away from Labour will focus on the health of Ukip. Can they remain the second party in Kent, or will Labour regain losses from 2013? The Conservatives will hope that a strong showing in Norfolk will mean they take back a county which has hung finely in the balance, and has seen until last year a Labour leader supported by a rainbow coalition, including Ukip. Essex will also be one to watch. The ruling Conservative group will hope to see gains from the six Ukip seats - but certainly hope that this number doesn’t increase.
And Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, has put out his statement about today’s Scottish elections. She said:
This is the sixth time that voters have gone to the polls since the last council elections. So much has changed, but the need for local champions standing up for their communities has never been greater.
Labour councillors are now the last thing standing between communities and Tory and SNP cuts.
More Tories in our town halls just means more cuts to our schools and local services. SNP councillors will be entirely focused on an unwanted and divisive second independence referendum.
Only a vote for Labour rejects the extreme nationalism that Scotland is caught between. Only Labour has a plan to take Scotland forward by investing in our future.
The broadcasters are not allowed to report political messages on election day, but some political figures are still releasing statements.
On a visit to a polling station at Allithwaite, in his constituency of Westmoreland and Lonsdale, where all 84 Cumbria county council seats up for election, the Lib Dem leader Tim Farron urged people not to vote Conservative. He said:
Remember, Theresa May has been telling European leaders that she’s already won the election which, you know, may be news to the electorate, but that’s nevertheless what she is saying and it’s certainly what she thinks.
And even if you are the sort of person who might have normally voted Conservative, today and indeed in five weeks’ time, is an opportunity to make sure that Britain actually remains a functioning democracy, because if there is a Conservative landslide today in the local elections and a few weeks’ time in the General Election, that is really bad for Britain.
Council elections are normally workmanlike events. But Theresa May’s decision to stage a snap general election and Brexit have supercharged politics, and that will have significant consequences for the stability and make-up of Scotland’s 32 local councils.
Scotland’s 1,227 councillors are elected in 354 multi-member wards using the single-transferrable vote PR system, one designed to promote accurate representation of each party’s popular support. It leads naturally to coalitions: as of yesterday, 14 Scottish authorities were run by coalitions and seven run by minority administrations, where dominant Labour or SNP groups had to strike deals with other parties to win votes. The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities lists them all.
After the 2012 council elections, the SNP went into a since collapsed coalition with the Tories in Dumfries and Galloway, and also in East Ayrshire – a pact which survived the Brexit and Scottish independence conflicts.
But with the Tories now Nicola Sturgeon’s primary enemy, she has explicitly ruled out any new SNP-Tory coalitions after today, regardless of her party’s local preferences or needs. That is partly a sign the SNP is confident its strong position in the polls will translate into being the largest party in a majority of councils and able to choose its partners.
That puts Scottish Labour under heavy pressure to consider its position; its alliance with the Tories in the Scottish independence referendum was very damaging in urban constituencies. But it has been in four coalitions involving Tory councillors, including in Aberdeen.
Being soft on deals with the Tories could be politically-damaging with some voters and will be attacked by the SNP. Scottish Labour’s executive committee meets on Saturday to consider a more nuanced stance: it is expected to rule out deals with parties which will cut services, but will not explicitly ban any pacts with Tories if local party leaders want one.
With the polls suggesting it will be hit very hard today, Labour may have little choice than joining coalitions with the Tories if it wants to shape local decisions and have a foot on the rungs of power.
The Labour party may have selected a record number of female candidates (41%) to fight June’s general election, but not in Shipley, where the Women’s Equality party is trying to unseat the divisive Tory incumbent, Philip Davies.
Female Labour party members in the West Yorkshire seat are threatening to vote for Walker after Labour decided to field the same man who lost last time to the divisive Tory incumbent, Philip Davies.
The split in the local party opened up on Wednesday when Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) chose Steve Clapcote, a lecturer at Leeds University, to fight Davies, who beat him by 9,624 votes in 2015, winning 50% of the ballot.
A number of members have written to the local constituency Labour party (CLP) suggesting Labour form a progressive alliance to stop Davies. They want the party to join the Greens and step back to help Sophie Waker, the leader of the Women’s Equality party (WEP), who announced ten days ago that she would be contesting the seat.
Sara Mogford, who has been a member since the 2015 general election, said she was disappointed that Labour had ruled out a progressive alliance to oust Davies, who won 50% of the vote last time around.
“Exceptional times call for exceptional measures,” said the 44-year-old, who runs her own marketing and web design company.
Mogford said she had written to the local party to urge them to reconsider, and would resign her party membership if she did end up voting for Walker.
Katya Kitchingman, a lifetime Labour voter in Shipley, called for “a bit of local party disobedience” to rally behind Walker, hoping that Clapcote could do the “magnanimous thing” and step back. “That would be lovely, wouldn’t it?” asked the higher education lecturer.
They are disappointed that Labour had not chosen a woman to fight Davies, a men’s rights campaigner who recently tried and fail to filibuster (“talk out”) a bill on domestic violence, because he said it discriminated against men. On Friday the Equality and Human Rights Commission threw out a complaint by Davies that a writing prize for ethnic minority writers was prejudiced against white people.
Ann Cryer, who was MP for neighbouring Keighley from 1997 until 2010, said: “In the circumstances it would have been wise for the party to have endorsed a woman.”
She warned that Davies would be tough to beat because he is perceived as being a diligent constituency MP. “I have a friend who used to be in the Communist party and she now votes for Philip Davies because he got her a disabled [parking] badge — he wrote many letters for her over several months and refused to give up,” she said, adding that she was trying to persuade this friend to vote Labour instead.
'We are not naive' - European commission dismisses May's speech as electioneering
The European commission’s chief spokesman has played down Theresa May’s claims about Brussels interfering in the general election, in comments that appeared to suggest it has been dismissed by the EU’s executive it as an excitable attempt to win votes.
Speaking to reporters, Margaritis Schinas said:
We are not naive. At the moment there’s an election taking place in the UK. People get excited when we have elections. The election in the UK is mainly about Brexit. We here in Brussels are extremely busy with out policy work. We have too much to do on our plate.
With reference to recent comments from Martin Selmayr, the European commission president chief of staff, who claimed the commission would only allow 30 minutes of thinking time a week for Brexit issues, Schinas added:“This week it’s up.”
Pushed whether the EU denied attempting to interfere in the British election, Schinas repeated that Brussels was not naive about the motivations behind the claim. “It’s normal”, he said. “Things are said”.
Updated
Here is the latest Anywhere but Westminster video from the Guardian’s John Harris and John Domokos. They have been exploring what people feel about the election in the south west, starting at a food bank in Cornwall.
Andy Burnham, Labour’s candidate for mayor of Greater Manchester, has voted.
Paul Nuttall, the Ukip leader, has praised the contribution an immigrant has made to British public life. He has issued this statement about Prince Philip.
Today we should honour the life of service to our Queen and nation by Prince Philip.
For over 60 years he has been a dedicated public servant, and deserves our great thanks. Happy retirement Sir.
In May 2012 Labour celebrated what it called a “stunning” set of local elections results in Wales, winning victories in Cardiff, Swansea and Newport and making a net gain of 232 councillors across the country. All the other main parties ended up with net losses in terms of seats.
But Labour, which runs the devolved government, is fearful that it could be very different this time even in some of its heartland seats.
A shock poll published last week revealed that Labour faces losing a general election in Wales for the first time since 1918 – and the Tories could win a majority here. That would be the first time since the 1850s, before the era of mass democracy. Labour insiders say that Jeremy Corbyn is playing badly on the doorsteps.
No wonder that Welsh Labour’s tactic during the last days of the local election campaign has been to distance itself from the national party and play a defensive game, arguing that only it can protect Wales from Tory cuts.
In places like Cardiff it is under attack from three different opponents – the Tories in the north of the city, the Lib Dems in the centre and Plaid in the west. Some pundits believe Labour may lose not just Cardiff but also Swansea and Newport.
The Tories were doing pretty well in the polls even before the general election was called. They hope to re-gain majorities in places like the Vale of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. Theresa May is seen as a major asset in these areas.
Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood had a snappy election slogan – vote for your community in these local elections and your country at the general. The nationalists hope to win a majority in Gywnedd in the north west and perform well in Ynys Mon (Anglesey) – a key general election target.
The Lib Dems are hopeful of gains in Cardiff, Ceredigion in the west and Powys in mid Wales. The party is fielding fewer than a third of the number of Labour candidates, apparently preferring to focus resources tactically as it rebuilds in Wales.
Ukip had a spectacular result at the 2016 assembly elections, winning seven seats, but has so far failed to do much at local council level. However Wales did vote firmly for Brexit and the party’s popularity in places like the south Wales valleys – a traditional Labour stronghold – may yet cause upset.
Throw the independents in to the mix – they are defending 325 seats and run Wrexham – and the picture in these politically febrile times becomes ever more complex.
HuffPost has published a list of all the Labour candidates for the general election, except for Rochdale, where a candidate has yet to be selected. HuffPost’s Paul Waugh says 41% of them are female, the highest proportion ever.
Buckingham Palace has announced that Prince Philip is retiring from public engagements.
In response, Theresa May said in a statement:
On behalf of the whole country, I want to offer our deepest gratitude and good wishes to His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh following today’s announcement that he will stand down from public duties in the autumn. From his steadfast support for Her Majesty the Queen to his inspirational Duke of Edinburgh Awards and his patronage of hundreds of charities and good causes, his contribution to our United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and the wider world will be of huge benefit to us all for years to come.
And Jeremy Corbyn said in a statement:
I would like to pay tribute to Prince Philip following his decision to retire from public service.
He has dedicated his life to supporting the Queen and our country with a clear sense of public duty.
His Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme has inspired young people for more than 60 years in over 140 nations.
We thank Prince Philip for his service to the country and wish him all the best in his well-earned retirement.
David Miliband, the Labour former foreign secretary who now runs the International Rescue Committee in New York, has given an interview to Spear’s magazine. There was a flurry of speculation about Miliband making a possible comeback when the election was called, but in the interview he knocks that back. Asked if he would describe himself as a retired politician, he said he preferred “an ex-politician”.
Spear’s is a magazine for the wealthy and Miliband said he was speaking to it because he had a message for the rich. In the US 93% of income gains since 2008 have gone to the top 1%, he said.
There are two things that are really important for the beneficiaries of globalisation. One is to be aware that throughout human history, excess leads to revolt — and that’s what you’re seeing at the minute ... The great danger is that the goose of globalisation that’s been laying these golden eggs - because they’ve not been properly distributed - that people end up killing the goose ...
The first point is nothing in excess. The second thing is support for charitable efforts at home and abroad ... The angle I would give to you is the danger is that the global problems seem so big that charity doesn’t just begin at home, it ends at home. And that’s a problem.
Is it fair that political parties can buy wrap-around adverts in local newspapers on election days masquerading as front page stories?
This is the front page of today’s Bury Times, where residents today will vote for the first mayor of Greater Manchester. The four-page advert focuses on Theresa May, rather than the Conservative mayoral candidate, Sean Anstee, who is fighting Labour’s Andy Burnham for the job.
But Bury has two marginal parliamentary seats: the Conservative, David Nuttall, has just a 378 majority in Bury North, while Ivan Lewis had a lead of 4,992 over his Tory rival in Bury South in 2015.
The Conservatives have form in this area: at the last general election the party came under criticism for buying front page adverts in newspapers in marginal seats, with one former weekly editor telling Hold The Front Page it was “inexcusable”.
The dominant question in today’s Scottish council elections is how badly will it go for Labour? It controls or shares power in 18 of the country’s 32 unitary councils, including its bastion of Glasgow, a swathe of largely urban authorities in central and west of Scotland and the capital city Edinburgh.
The polls suggest it could lose power in most if not all of those to the Scottish National party and potentially the Tories, at best clinging on by forging coalition deals with other parties.
Council elections promote coalitions: Scotland’s 1,227 councillors are elected in 354 multi-member wards using the single transferrable vote system, so in many places the major parties tend to stand only enough councillors likely to win based on their likely share of the vote.
In the last local government elections in 2012, a year after Alex Salmond’s remarkable landslide victory gave him an overall majority at Holyrood, Labour largely defied expectations it would lose Glasgow and other prominent councils.
This time the polls are dire: while SNP support slipped in April to as low as 41% in the face of a Tory revival, Labour’s is still in the teens, polling between 13% and 18%. Those polls were for the general election, so voters may behave differently today. But the result will still be a crucial bellwether for 8 June.
Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, has tweeted a picture of herself at the polling station.
That's me done my civic duty. All the best to Labour candidates across the country. Each and every one a local champion for their community🌹 pic.twitter.com/jVWbVBsTAP
— Kezia Dugdale (@kezdugdale) May 4, 2017
We are getting an announcement from Buckingham Palace later. We don’t know what it is, although the Palace has already scotched rumours that it will be about the health of the Queen or Prince Philip.
There are plenty of jokes on Twitter about what the news might be.
+++ BREAKING NEWS +++ Queen Elizabeth II. reinstates absolute monarchy, refuses to leave EU and tells PM Theresa May to go BREXIT herself. pic.twitter.com/tY7VYx6OPq
— Jan Böhmermann (@janboehm) May 4, 2017
Queen to revert to German citizenship to avoid consequences of Brexit?
— Steven Fielding (@PolProfSteve) May 4, 2017
She's come to the conclusion that parliamentary democracy is a failed experiment. https://t.co/mAldyy0bLE
— Sam Freedman (@Samfr) May 4, 2017
Apparently protocol dictates that the Queen must address all her staff before we can formally declare war on Belgium.
— Stig Abell (@StigAbell) May 4, 2017
Nicola Sturgeon has declared herself Queen in the North, will build massive ice wall, making England pay for it #BuckinghamPalace
— Michael Mazengarb (@MichaelM_ACT) May 4, 2017
#buckinghampalace announcement: Massive staffing cut backs after Queen has been found fit for work and had benefits stopped.
— Richard Matthew (@notthedeadone) May 4, 2017
Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, has tweeted a polling station picture.
Great start to the day - polling station duty with the excellent Max Mitchell in Inverleith ward. Now, off to city centre for my own ballot! pic.twitter.com/fZxYkppeix
— Ruth Davidson (@RuthDavidsonMSP) May 4, 2017
Updated
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister and the SNP leader, and her husband Peter Murrell, the SNP’s chief executive, have cast their votes in the Scottish local elections at a polling booth in Glasgow.
Good morning. I’m taking over from Claire.
Just to clarify a point made earlier: under the Representation of the People Act it is an offence to publish information about how someone has voted before the polls close, and that does cover comments below the line. So we are potentially in trouble if you post a comment BTL saying “I voted for X” because we are publishing.
So, please don’t. And I’m afraid comments like that will have to be removed by the moderators.
Andrew Sparrow is here now and will take you through the rest of polling day and into results time. I’ll be back later to cover the overnight news.
To receive the Snap, our email briefing, bright and early on Friday (and every weekday) morning with all the latest election news, do sign up here.
Hello Tenthred (and others who have asked, or have wondered).
We don’t encourage readers to tell us how you voted, because that could be seen as “influencing” you to reveal it. That’s fine; we don’t need to know. (And do note Andrew’s post above; comments about your vote below the line will need to be removed by moderators.)
But it’s not against the rules if you choose to reveal your own vote elsewhere – by shouting or on Twitter or by wearing a billboard on your local high street. You can’t reveal someone else’s, though.
And please don’t take photographs (including voting selfies) inside the polling stations.
The BBC has a pretty good guide to the rules here. This is a key part:
Under Section 66 of the Representation of the People’s Act it is a criminal offence to communicate information about the way someone has voted or is about to vote, and specifically to “directly or indirectly induce a voter to display his ballot paper after he has marked it so as to make known to any person the name of the candidate for whom he has or has not voted”.
Also, reassuringly:
Polling station staff cannot refuse a voter simply because they are drunk.
Updated
Of the six new mayoral posts up for grabs today (there are also two up for re-election), the most keenly watched will probably be the West Midlands mayoralty.
Campaigners say the race is “too close to call” between Labour’s Siôn Simon and Andy Street, the former boss of John Lewis turned Tory candidate.
A Birmingham Mail poll had Simon on 36.5%, a whisker ahead of Street on 34.8%. Ukip’s Pete Durnell runs third, but not close enough – should opinion polling hold up – to pose a challenge to the frontrunners.
Simon has distanced himself from Jeremy Corbyn, telling the Guardian last month:
I just don’t get into that conversation, because it is not what this election is about. At the same time he got elected as leader of the party, I got elected as the party’s candidate for the West Midlands with 72% of the vote, so a lot of people who voted for him, voted for me. And a lot of people who didn’t vote for him, voted for me.
The new role covers 2.5 million people across Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell. Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton – an area traditionally seen as a Labour heartland.
The view from the Greater Manchester mayoral election
Much of the media coverage around the inaugural mayoral elections in English city regions on Thursday has focused on how few voters know these polls are taking place – with even fewer giving a stuff that they will soon be able to choose their own Sadiq Khan/Boris Johnson/Bill de Blasio (delete according to your own political prejudices).
But in Greater Manchester, where the mayor will arguably have more power than his or her London counterpart, interest in the campaign is being boosted by a problem which existed mostly in the shadows when Andy Burnham, the hot favourite, last won an election. That was just two years ago, when the one-time health secretary was re-elected as the Labour MP for Leigh in Wigan with a 14,096 majority – before he tried and failed to become Labour leader and suddenly discovered a zeal for devolution and local politics.
Burnham didn’t expect homelessness to be the key issue in his campaign when he launched his mayoral bid last year. Back then he was making slightly cringeworthy statements about “putting the swagger back into Manchester’s music scene” and suggesting it was tough growing up in the north because people “took the mickey” if you wanted to be a lawyer or an MP. He still has a tendency to suggest that everyone in Greater Manchester is drinking Bovril and trying to be Oasis: earlier this month he responded to the Tory idea of giving special “barista visas” to young European latte makers by tweeting: “God forbid the idea of waiting longer in the morning for their posh coffee.”
All the candidates were relieved when their election wasn’t postponed by a month, to coincide with the general election, even if it would mean a higher turnout. Burnham in particular does not want his campaign to be overshadowed by the mess his party is in nationally: his 12-page manifesto makes no reference to Jeremy Corbyn at all.
My colleague Rowena Mason has plotted the night’s key timings, for those of you who need to pace yourselves today.
The first big moment, she calculates, will come around 3am-4am, when Welsh councils begin to declare.
Around the same time, we should hear results from Conservative-held councils including Gloucestershire, Essex, Dorset, Lincolnshire, Somerset and Hampshire. We should probably not expect any upsets here.
The first mayoral result is likely to be the west of England, at around 5am – a genuine three-way marginal between the Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems.
Synchronise your timetable here:
We have our first confirmed sighting of an open polling station:
Doesn't it look great? I love polling day 😊💚👌 pic.twitter.com/xTsNTxeHpe
— Sarah Beattie-Smith (@SBeattieSmith) May 4, 2017
If you’re wondering why the BBC – and other broadcasters, for that matter – are steering clear of all things political (including the prime minister rattling her sabre at the EU), it’s because they are required not to report any campaigning while polling stations are open:
.@BBCNews Here are full BBC election guidelines including today's normal polling day rules: https://t.co/c79ilqyrxy
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) May 4, 2017
The Guardian and other print/web media aren’t bound by the same restrictions. We’ll have all the day’s political action – local, mayoral, national, even (whisper it) European – here.
Polls open
It’s 7am and the polls are open. From now until 10pm, voters across Scotland and Wales, in 34 English local authorities, and in the eight mayoral zones can cast their ballots. Off you go.
The Snap: your election briefing
Good morning and welcome to all you need to know as polls open for local and mayoral elections, and hasty conclusions are drawn by politicians and people on social media everywhere about what it all means.
I’m Claire Phipps with your morning briefing and the early politics action; Andrew Sparrow will be along later.
What’s happening?
It’s the polling day test run: local elections to 88 councils – the full set in Scotland and Wales; 34 in England; Northern Ireland is spared this round – plus eight mayoral elections in England, six of them brand new offices.
This will put a bit of a dampener on campaigning for next month’s main event – until the result start spilling in, that is.
Here’s our guide to who’s voting where and what results to expect when. Committed electo-philes should stick with our live coverage all through the night; others (I mean, you’re very welcome here, but it doesn’t really count if you grab a nap, so shape up before 8 June, please) can catch up with our early Friday morning roundup. Sign up here to have it served straight to your inbox.
You might think that the distraction of the polls would mean things will be calmer on the political front. Are you new to 2017? Scooting along behind Theresa May’s declaration of (let’s hope) metaphorical war on Brussels over what she called the EU’s “acts … deliberately timed to affect the result of the general election”, comes news that a boosted Conservative government after 8 June could seek a Commons vote on airstrikes in Syria. Plus there are reports that Spain has fresh plans for a post-Brexit Gibraltar.
All of which makes Nigel Farage’s explicit backing for Marine Le Pen in Sunday’s French presidential election the least startling news of the morning. Catch up with our report on last night’s debate between Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron – to which the two contenders did at least turn up.
Here, ITV says it will steam on with its leaders’ debate minus the two people who reckon they’ll be leading the country after the election. Both May and Jeremy Corbyn have said they won’t be there on 18 May; Nicola Sturgeon, Tim Farron, Caroline Lucas, Paul Nuttall and Leanne Wood will likely make up the guest list. Politico reports today that the BBC will host its own leader-lite leaders’ debate on 31 May, but will allow the PM and her opposite number to send a “senior figure” in their stead. Taking bets on Boris Johnson v Diane Abbott now.
After yesterday’s “not just like The Thick Of It, but literally a storyline from The Thick Of It” outing by David Davis and Philip Hammond, they might need to be kept out of the limelight until they’ve relearned the strong and stable handbook.
I'm not convinced the Conservatives thought this poster launch through. pic.twitter.com/lkHmuhovui
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) May 3, 2017
Get up to speed on today’s votes – and what they mean:
- Northern powerhouse or cardboard city – can a new mayor fix Manchester?
- Different worlds, 300 metres apart: how two areas sum up Tees Valley.
- ‘What election?’: West Midlands mayoral race struggles to overcome apathy.
- Labour party looks to local elections as foretaste of fortunes in June.
- SNP hope to finish the job and wipe Labour out of Glasgow.
Plus, elsewhere:
- EU immigration ‘likely to continue for some years’ after Brexit, says thinktank.
- Brexit talks leadership vacuum ‘leaves 45% chance of no deal’.
- Brexit may cost MPs and peers the power to pass laws, says former judge.
- Hospital waiting lists ‘will rise above 5 million’ as targets slide.
- Tories attack Labour over inheritance tax and spending plans.
Poll position
Panelbase follows recent general election poll trends that show a narrowing of the still-wide gap between the Conservatives and Labour. Excluding the don’t knows, this one puts the Tories on 47% (-2) and Labour on 30% (+3). Lib Dems are likely to be miffed on an unchanged 10%; Ukip similarly is stuck on 5%. The Greens dipped one point to 2%.
Diary
Quieter on the campaign front – at least until the results start coming in:
- At 7am, polling stations open for all councils in Scotland and Wales, 34 councils in England, and eight English mayors.
- From 8am we’ll see Scottish party leaders Nicola Sturgeon, Kezia Dugdale, Ruth Davidson and Patrick Harvie voting – separately and, let’s assume, differently.
- Polls close at 10pm; we’ll have all the results on our overnight live blog, so don’t go anywhere.
Talking point
The PM is keen to talk about … not much – apart from being strong on the EU and stable on other, unspecified things – but the Conservative manifesto is likely to have more on her old pet project: grammar schools. Our long read today looks at what a revival of the old demarcations might mean. With May’s own party already torn over whether the 11-plus is a pass or a fail, yesterday’s rebel Tory uprising over the new school funding formula is another reminder that she is on stronger, more stable ground when she doesn’t deal with details.
Read these
Writing in the Huffington Post, Labour’s Yvette Cooper says the PM’s lashing of the EU was wrongheaded:
The idea that the EU could try or succeed to influence our election result is a joke. No one here would fall for it, and frankly anything the EU tried would be counterproductive anyway. If anything, the behaviour of EU officials in the last week or so is a political gift to the prime minister in the middle of an election campaign. And Theresa May has seized on it to pursue the short-term interests of the Tory party rather than the long-term interests of the country. Both sides should get a grip and calm down. There is too much at stake for anyone to play games.
In the Guardian, Simon Jenkins says Corbyn should travel the Bernie Sanders route:
Corbyn should forget about what he would do in power or what it says in his manifesto. Go for broke. Invite a vote for moral outrage, nuclear disarmament and an end to neo-imperial wars. Attack chief executive salaries, crazy energy subsidies and vanity infrastructure projects. Promote universal incomes, prison reform and drug legalisation. We can all draw up our list – sensible or not – but radical ideas seldom get mentioned at elections for fear of frightening the centrist horses. We just get statistics on police and nurses and schools.
My impression is that Corbyn is passionate and sincere about things he believes in. It is the Blairite retreads in his own party that censor his passion. I don’t care what Labour would do ‘if in power’, because even if it got there it would be unlikely to do it. But I would like to know what drives its leader, what he cares about, what would be his response to events. I would like him to think the unthinkable.
And, intriguingly, the Sun offers eurosceptic MEP Daniel Hannan’s column on why Jean-Claude Juncker is a stumbling block to Brexit in French, German, Spanish and Dutch. Unie dans la diversité, vraiment.
Revelation of the day
Forget TV leaders debates: the real test of who deserves your vote is to watch as candidates unenthusiastically mutter along to Stevie Wonder’s Signed, Sealed, Delivered. Six would-be West Midlands mayors did just this for Sky News for no reason that I can ascertain, in what must surely be the most bathetic take on James Corden’s carpool karaoke. Conservative candidate Andy Street could not be convinced to squeak out even a little warble; Ukip’s Pete Durnell made the bravest attempt; Lib Dem Beverley Nielsen rattled her version out as a stump speech; and Siôn Simon – Labour candidate and Corbyn avoider – sang a Welsh folk song instead. He’s his own man, see.
The day in a tweet
... & how about this, incredibly, Juncker chief of staff, present at the dinner actually retweeted this, that EU people want PM to 'win big' pic.twitter.com/MOftomlq7I
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) May 3, 2017
And another thing
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