Voters are heading to the polls in local elections taking place across most of England as Rishi Sunak faces his first electoral test as prime minister.
Mr Sunak predicted a “hard night” for his party at the ballot box, but said that the Conservatives were now moving away from “box set drama” politics.
The local elections are also likely to be the final set of polls before the next general election, with the results expected to give an indication of whether Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer could be on course for Downing Street.
Mr Sunak’s pre-polling day comments came at an Onward think tank event on Wednesday evening.
He said that his administration had worked to improve the economy and move away from the “box set drama” of what went before his premiership, in what appeared to be a reference to predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
