On Thursday May 6, people in Liverpool will be asked to take part in a number of crucial elections that could have major implications for how the city is run.
Liverpool and its troubled council have been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately, following the arrest of senior figures - including Mayor Joe Anderson - and a damning government inspection report into council practices.
All of this turbulence points towards a dramatic and unpredictable set of elections.
While Liverpool will choose a new city mayor and help to elect a Liverpool City Region Mayor and Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner - the city will also hold council elections in all 30 wards.
Labour currently have a strong grip on the council and while the party cannot mathematically lose its majority of seats - it could be seriously pegged back by opposition parties hoping to take advantage of the current problems.
We have taken a close look at what we believe could be the fiercest contests and the wards where seats are most likely to change hands in May.
Childwall
The Liberal Democrats will be very confident of taking Labour's seat in Childwall and making it three councillors for the party in the ward.
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For a sign of how Labour are feeling about this particular contest, you only have to look at the fact that sitting Labour Councillor and cabinet member Liz Parsons has decided not to try and defend her seat and instead has high tailed it over to a much safer bet in Norris Green.
Labour newcomer Betsan Evans will take up the mantle but it seems highly likely that Lib Dem candidate Pat Moloney will secure this seat for her party.
In 2019 Lib Dem Alan Tormey took Labour's seat with a 52% of the vote and there is nothing to suggest this number won't go up this time around given everything that has happened in recent months.
The other candidates standing in this seat are James Kenton Craig (Conservative Party), Jonathan Mason (Liberal Party) and Helen Alexandra Parker-Jervis (Green Party).
Cressington
Another south Liverpool seat the Lib Dems will be pretty confident about securing from Labour.
Labour's Sam Gorst edged out the Lib Dems by a very fine 70 votes in 2019, but it seems unlikely the red rose party will hold on this time around.
Planning chair Tricia O'Brien is the one facing the difficult task of keeping hold of Cressington this time around, with Lib Dem Richard Clein probably the favourite to win this one.
Green candidate Jean-Paul Roberts will be hoping to improve on the 11.5 % vote share his party got in Cressington last time around, with Pauline Shuttleworth of the Tories and Alex Smith of TUSC also contesting the seat.
Mossley Hill
Another tough seat for Labour to keep hold of.
Mossley Hill Labour Councillor Emily Spurrell is not aiming to keep hold of her seat as she is the party's candidate to be the next Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner.
So it will fall to new candidate Helen Stephens to try and fend off the efforts of Lib Dem Rob McAllister-Bell, who has been actively campaigning in the area for some time.
Labour won with 43% in Mossley Hill last time out, so this one could be a bit tighter than other south Liverpool seats mentioned, but with Labour's current problems they will not be too confident of keeping hold of it.
The Greens could also have a key part to play in Mossley Hill and candidate Julian Todd will be hoping to build on 2019's impressive 7% swing that took the party to a very healthy 18% of the vote share.
The other candidates standing in this seat are Tory Millie Gore and Liberal candidate David Wood.
Wavertree
A really fascinating contest.
Labour won the seat comfortably in 2019, with 53% of the votes compared to the second place Lib Dems with 20%.
But of course a lot has changed since then and Labour are a seriously damaged party.
Councillor Clare McIntyre will be hoping that voters focus on her local community work rather than the wider problems of the party as she tries to fend off strong challenges from both the Lib Dems and the Greens.
The other possibility is that the anti-Labour vote is split between Lib Dem candidate Rebecca Turner and Green hopeful David Morgan.
Independent Adam Heatherington, Tory Stuart Wood and Liberal candidate David Harrap will all be hoping to make their mark on an interesting battle.
Greenbank
This is the Green Party's best chance of gaining a seat.
The party already has one seat in the ward and will be hoping to win another from Labour councillor James Roberts.
In 2019 the Greens were edged out by Labour by a good 400 votes, so it will be interesting to see the impact that Labour's problems have on that vote share.
Labour's other councillor in Greenbank is Laura Robertson-Collins, who has a solid base in the area - she recently resigned from the council's cabinet, so this could potentially work in Labour's favour on voting day.
That being said, current Green councillor Lawrence Brown is popular in the area and the party are working the area hard with their candidate, Liverpool writer Dan Fieldsend, who has been campaigning on local issues like opposing plans for a restaurant to extend further into Greenbank Park.
The party will also see Liverpool's first taste of the Northern Independent Party (NIP), which is getting plenty of attention for its efforts in the forthcoming Hartlepool Parliamentary by-election.
Independent candidate Harry Glove will be standing with the NIP endorsement in Greenbank, hoping to have an impact on this crucial, marginal seat.
The other candidates standing in Greenbank are Lib Dem Fiona McBride, Lindsey Wood of the Liberal Party and Tory Chris Hall.
Central
As mentioned earlier, this is not a normal election - the last few months of arrests, investigations and revelations have rocked the city and could have a profound impact on results.
That is why previously very safe Labour seats could now be in play - and Central could be one of them.
Labour won the seat last time around, with 60% of a low turnout of just 16%.
It will be interesting to see if more students and young people living in the city centre come out to vote and if this will have an impact.
Labour's candidate Christine Banks has not been helped in her campaign by recent revelations that she provided a court character witness for a A bogus taxi driver jailed for attacking a female passenger and then tried to block this from being reported.
She will be hoping the party retains a strong enough base in the ward to fend off the challenge of Martyn Madely and the Greens who got 22.37%of the vote last time out with an upward swing of nearly 11%.
Other Central candidates include local student Keenan Clough, of the newly reformed Social Democratic Party, Tory Katie Burgess - who is also standing in the Liverpool City Region mayoral election, Lib Dem Helen Dietz and Bethan Williams of the Liberal Party.
Other seats to keep an eye on
While the above are the seats we have focused on, this will be a really unpredictable election because of the current political climate and crisis in the city.
Opposition parties will fancy their chances in seats they previously would have not given too much thought to.
For instance, Labour strongholds like West Derby, Knotty Ash and Old Swan could potentially be in play.
The Liberal Party, who retain a fierce stronghold in Tuebrook and Stoneycroft (and will be very confident of retaining that seat), have been out campaigning in the these three other wards and will be hoping to make inroads.
Back in the south and the Lib Dems will be confident of retaining the Woolton seat through Malcolm Kelly as well as Allerton and Hunts Cross.
Belle Vale could be another seat that becomes less of a Labour stronghold given recent circumstances. The party held a commanding majority of 60% last time around, but there are some Lib Dem voting areas of the ward and it will depend on who comes out to vote.
Everton will be worth looking at too, former councillor Alfie Hincks will expect to hold what is a safe Labour seat, but he will be standing against former Labour group leader and Lord Mayor Frank Prendergast, who is defending his seat as an independent after quitting the party in 2018.
