Polls to open across the country for local elections

Voters will head to the polls on Thursday in a series of local elections seen as the final test of public opinion before Rishi Sunak goes to the country later this year.

Forecasts suggest the Tories could lose up to half of the council seats they are defending, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt saying the party expects to suffer “significant losses”.

Most of the seats up for re-election were last contested in 2021, at the