Labour is benefiting from a dip in the popularity of the coalition with an 11-point lead in a recent poll. After a series of bad headlines for the government and a hostile reception to George Osborne's budget, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats have been forced onto the back foot. Nick Clegg's party suffered the recent indignity of slipping into fourth place in one poll - behind Ukip.
However, national polls are rarely a failsafe guide to local elections (cf newly elected George Galloway) and there are several interesting races on 3 May worth watching. Martin Kettle, Michael White and Hélène Mulholland are on hand to run through them all.
Can Boris Johnson beat Ken Livingstone once more to retain the mayoralty in London's Olympic year? Can the SNP continue their string of sensational results in Scotland? And, ultimately, with all of the different voting systems, referendums and constituencies involved, will anyone actually understand whom - or what - they are voting for?
Meanwhile in France, this weekend sees the first round of voting in the presidential election. Angelique Chrisafis is in Paris to report on what opinion polls suggest could be the first win for the Socialist party since the 1980s - and the end of Nicolas Sarkozy.
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