What to expect
Counting has begun in elections for 248 English councils and for six mayors. Results are expected to start coming in from shortly after midnight and will continue for most of Friday.
There are no elections in Scotland, Wales or London. Many of the areas that are electing are district councils in rural or suburban areas, second-tier councils with responsibilities including rubbish collection and housing. But in the north-west many metropolitan councils are up; they have responsibility for a full range of local authority matters, including education and social services. The same is true of a few unitary councils, either for major towns or for counties with a single-tier structure.
The Conservatives, who did well in 2015 when polling coincided with a general election, are braced for heavy losses. Neither the Brexit party nor the new remainer party Change UK, made up of Labour and Tory defectors, are fielding candidates.
A few councils are entirely new this time: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole is a new authority formed to cover built-up coastal Dorset, with a new unitary authority covering the rest of the traditional county. There have also been mergers in parts of Suffolk and Somerset.
