Parties make final pitches ahead of UK local and devolved elections

Campaigning concluded on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's local and devolved elections across Scotland, Wales and parts of England, the biggest set of votes since the 2024 general election. Polling stations open on Thursday in communities across Scotland and Wales, where voters will choose their devolved governments, and in many but not all parts of England, where more than 5,000 seats on 136 English councils and six mayoralties are contested. Postal ballots have been cast for weeks.

In Wales, Plaid Cymru and Reform UK are competing to become the largest party in the newly expanded Senedd, the Welsh Parliament. Plaid Cymru argues it is the only party that can beat Reform and hopes to attract voters who might not normally support it but are keen to prevent a Reform victory. Reform, for its part, is confident it can emerge as the biggest party in the Senedd.

In Scotland, the Scottish National Party is confident of winning a fifth consecutive devolved election. Like Plaid Cymru, the SNP is pitching itself as the most viable option to beat Nigel Farage's party. Reform is revelling in being competitive in a nation that strongly endorsed Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer argued it was in the UK's national interest not to be directly involved in the US and Israel's war on Iran, describing it as the big judgement call of 2026. Labour also emphasises its attempts to improve the health service and change the law to improve workers' rights. Starmer has pleaded with his party, in public and in private, to stop discussing his future and who might replace him.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch travelled around London by taxi on Wednesday, dropping in on boroughs where the Tories feel optimistic. She has vowed to abolish business rates in England and Wales for thousands of high street shops and pubs, and claims the Conservative plans are thought-through and costed, in a clear jibe at Reform UK. Badenoch, like Starmer, expects these elections to be difficult for her party.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey argued his party is Reform UK's true rival in places like Hull, Stockport, Surrey and Hampshire. Davey leans into his party focusing on local issues such as fixing church roofs or cleaning up sewage from rivers, though the Liberal Democrats no longer dominate as the most obvious alternative to Labour and the Conservatives in many areas, partly because of the rise of Reform UK and the Greens.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage faces questions over a £5m gift from billionaire Christopher Harborne that Farage did not declare. Farage insists he did not have to declare it; his opponents insist he should have done. The matter will now be decided by the parliamentary standards commissioner and the Electoral Commission. Farage hopes his party will perform sufficiently well in England, Wales and Scotland to argue Reform is the principal opposition to Labour across Great Britain, and has described the elections as a referendum on the prime minister's leadership.

Green Party of England and Wales leader Zack Polanski endorsed criticism of the Metropolitan Police's methods in detaining a suspect in the Golders Green attacks in north London last week, facing difficult questions as a result. Polanski eyes gains at Labour's expense in urban England and hopes for a breakthrough in the Senedd, claiming the Greens are now the authentic, truly left-wing alternative to a Labour Party he says has drifted to the right. The Scottish Green Party is separate and, like the SNP, backs Scottish independence.

Independent candidates are also standing, particularly in some local contests in England. Results are expected from the early hours of Friday through Saturday.