UK

Local councillors are usually obscure figures, passionate local activists hoping to improve their areas or ambitious party loyalists wanting to climb the electoral ladder. But among the thousands of councillors standing across the country on Thursday, a few names stand out. From Olympians to ousted ex-MPs, The Independent looks at how the main parties are hoping star power will help their candidates over the line in one of the most unpredictable sets of local elections in British history. Stiliyan PetrovStiliyan Petrov, the son of an ex-Aston Villa and Bulgaria captain of the same name, is standing for Reform UK in the May local elections.The premier league player’s son More

England’s local elections on 1 May represent a key test for all the major parties.In what could be a new era of multi-party politics, Labour and Reform are almost neck-and-neck in the latest national opinion polls, with the Tories lagging behind.And it is the latter who face the most difficult challenge. The last time this particular set of council elections was held was at the height of Boris Johnson’s “vaccine bounce”. Since then, Partygate and a series of other scandals have reversed the party’s fortunes, leaving it out of power in Westminster for the first time since 2010. But Labour could also struggle in certain seats. Despite its momentous rise to power at the general election last summer, the party has made a series of controversial decisions since then, including scrapping winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners and sweeping welfare and international aid cuts, that could trigger a backlash from voters. Meanwhile, Nigel Farage’s Reform will discover whether its momentum in the opinion polls continues or has started to stall. As well as council elections, there are also a number of mayoral positions up for grabs, and a parliamentary by-election. Here are the key seats to look out for in the early hours of Friday morning and beyond – and why they matter. Greater Lincolnshire A recent YouGov poll suggested that the Reform candidate, former Tory MP Dame Andrea Jenkyns, is well ahead in this contest.One of two new mayoral positions being contested for the first time, it is seen as likely to be a two-horse race between the Tories and Reform. While Mr Farage’s party has picked an ex-Tory, the Conservatives have stayed local, with the leader of North Lincolnshire council Rob Waltham. Andrea Jenkyns with Nigel Farage at a press conference in London’s Mayfair on Thursday More

The UK is “constantly looking at our own resilience” to prepare for possible blackouts, a cabinet minister has said in the wake of large power outages which affected Spain and Portugal this week. Environment secretary Steve Reed added that the UK must wait to see what caused the blackouts before learning lessons to help strengthen the UK’s energy network.Widespread power cuts brought Spain and Portugal to a standstill on Monday as traffic lights switched off and people were left unable to access cash machines.Steve Reed said the UK is ‘constantly looking at our own resilience’ More

PMQs: Keir Starmer congratulates Mark Carney for Canada election victorySir Tony Blair’s former political secretary has warned that “Labour are toast”, as the party prepares to lose seats to Reform UK at the polls tomorrow.John McTernan has said there’s “nothing that can be done” in the next 24 hours that can drastically change Labour’s fate in local elections on Thursday.He told Times Radio: “You look at all the focus groups, if you go to any of them, what do people associate the Labour Party with? Taking winter fuel payments away from pensioners.“Why are they attacking pensioners? Why are they now attacking the disabled? That’s what people are saying. It’s on the doorstep in Runcorn. It’s on the doorstep everywhere.”The comments come after Sir Tony U-turned on his attack on the government’s net zero policies.Polls are predicting sweeping victories for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, as voters across 23 local authorities decide on some 1,641 council seats, while six mayoralties are also being contested. Alongside local elections, the first by-election of this parliament, for Runcorn & Helsby, will see Farage’s party trying to overturn Labour’s victory last summer. Rupert Lowe’s solicitors deliver legal papers to Reform UK on eve of electionNigel Farage and Reform UK have had an unwelcome eve of election gift from their former MP Rupert Lowe after his solicitors announced they had delivered legal papers on the party.The Great Yarmouth MP was ousted from the party in March over alleged bullying allegations and a claim had threatened chairman Zia Yusuf.But Mr Lowe has announced that he is suing Mr Farage, Mr Yusuf and party chief whip Lee Anderson for defamation over the incident.Independent MP Rupert Lowe (Jordan Pettitt/PA) More

Sir Tony Blair has performed a dramatic U-turn following his attack on the government’s net zero policies as the row threatened to derail Labour policies.The former prime minister had warned that energy secretary Ed Miliband’s eco policies and their push towards renewable energy were wrong because voters know the financial and lifestyle sacrifices needed to meet government pledges will have virtually no impact on climate change.His criticism in a foreword of a report for his Tony Blair Institute (TBI) fuelled fury over high energy costs exacerbating the cost of living crisis and damaging economic growth by piling on costs of businesses and manufacturers.But in a reversal on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the TBI insisted that Sir Tony supports the current government’s policies.The spokeswoman said: “The TBI report is clear: we must prioritise technologies which capture carbon, place a bigger emphasis on protecting and enhancing nature, and develop new nuclear power, smart grids, and a new system of financing existing renewable solutions in developing economies. The UK government is already pursuing these, and their approach is the right one.”She added: “The report is clear we support the government’s 2050 net zero targets, to give certainty to the investors and innovators who can develop these new solutions and make them deployable.”Sir Tony Blair said any strategy that limits fossil fuels in the short term is ‘doomed to fail’ (PA) More

When Mark Carney’s name is mentioned to Mark Francois, chairman of the ultra Brexiteer European Research Group, a smile creeps across his face.The newly elected Canadian prime minister has won an extraordinary victory in Canada for the Liberal Party, overturning a previous two digit lead for the Conservative Party.But Brexiteers consider his intervention in the 2016 EU referendum to be almost as decisive in their favour, even though he spoke against the Leave campaign.Mr Francois noted: “Ultimately, I would say it was almost as helpful as Barack Obama’s. The British people simply refused to be bullied by ‘Project Fear’, of which Mark Carney was clearly a part.”While the remark may be seen as a joke, it underlines a mixed legacy for the former governor of the Bank of England.Mark Carney has won Canada’s federal election More

Sir Keir Starmer faced questions from MPs in Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), a day before people head to the polls to vote in the local elections and the by-election in the Cheshire constituency of Runcorn and Helsby.It also follows the Labour government announcing a crackdown on fly-tipping, with councils crushing vehicles belonging to perpetrators.In addition to being grilled by leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey as normal, Sir Keir is due to be asked questions from Nottingham MP Nadia Whittome, and the youngest-serving MP Sam Carling.It comes after the environment secretary defended Sir Tony Blair’s comments on the government’s net-zero approach as a “valid and important contribution” – after the ex-PM criticised any strategy that limits fossil fuels in the short term.He later clarified to The Times that he believes the government’s approach is the “right one”.The row has broken as Thursday’s local elections loom, with polling suggesting Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could be set to win hundreds of seats.Voters across 23 local authorities will decide on some 1,641 council seats, while six mayoralties are also being contested. More

Police should investigate Kneecap after a member of the band called for Tory MPs to be killed, the daughter of murdered MP Sir David Amess has said. Katie Amess has called for the Metropolitan Police to probe the group after a member called for Conservative MPs to be killed and another appeared to shout “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”. Ms Amess said: “If the police had followed through and looked into threats against my dad the night before the murder, my dad would still be here.Kneecap’s Eden Sessions performance has been cancelled (Brian Lawless/PA) More