Sadiq Khan took his dog to the polling station, but Blue Cross, a pet welfare charity, is advising people to think twice about doing so, because some polling stations don’t let dogs in. “There’s a real risk that your beloved pet could be stolen if you leave them tied up alone outside, so take someone with you who can stay with your pet while you vote, or leave your pet at home,” it says.
In London Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor, and Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate, and Khan’s main rival, have both already voted.
Daniel Boffey’s report on the Hall campaign in the Guardian today is well worth a read.
Kwasi Kwarteng calls Liz Truss ‘kind of Trumpian’ over firing by tweet
Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor of the exchequer for 43 of Liz Truss’s 49 days as British prime minister, has said Truss “essentially” sacked him “on Twitter”, a dismissal he called “kind of Trumpian” in its swiftness and brutality as Britain fell into crisis, Martin Pengelly reports.
Good morning. It’s local elections day and, although in terms of the number of seats being contested this is a smallish local elections round (around 2,600 council seats are up for grabs – last year it was more than 8,000), in other respects this is a major event in the local elections cycle, for four reasons.
First, everyone in England and Wales gets the chance to vote for at least something. In all of Wales, and in some parts of England, if you want to vote, you can only vote for a police and crime commissioner. But that’s still a vote.
Second, there are 10 metro mayor posts up for election. Two of these are brand new posts (East Midlands, and York and North Yorkshire), and one is half-new, an extension of an old post (North East, replacing North of Tyne). The extension of metro mayors is the biggest development in local government in Britain in the past decade, and this is the biggest round of mayoral elections yet.
Third, we’ve got a byelection too – in Blackpool South. Byelections can be a better guide to general election results than local elections, and this will be a good test of how well Labour is doing, and how much damage Reform UK can do to the Tory vote.
And, fourth (and most obviously), these are the last big elections before the general elections.
Here is Eleni Courea’s overnight preview.
Not much actual politics normally happens on election days, and sometimes this blog gets reduced to not much more than #dogsatpollingstations. But, thankfully, the SNP are providing us with some proper news. There are no local elections in Scotland, but there is an election about to take place there for SNP leader and first minister, and John Swinney is expected to announce he is standing at a news conference this morning. Libby Brooks has the details.
This announcement will shift the spotlight to Kate Forbes, who was runner up in the leadership contest last year and who has yet to announce whether or not she is standing. As Connor Gillies from Sky News reports, her decision may hinge on what Swinney has to say.
Kate Forbes will not be at John Swinney’s Edinburgh announcement today as speculation grows over the pair doing a deal, @SkyNews understands.
Told Ms Forbes feels big expectations to run from supporters who crave change, but decision hangs on the Swinney pitch at 10.30am.
Forbes will want to make an assessment as to how strong Swinney is as a candidate, whether he is committed to change (“continuity won’t cut it” was her line in last year’s contest) and whether there would be a good role for her in a Swinney administration.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Kemi Badenoch, the business and trade secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
10.30am: Penny Mordaunt, leader of the Commons, makes a Commons statement on next week’s Commons business.
10.30am: John Swinney holds a press conference in Edinburgh.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Noon: Humza Yousaf takes first minister’s questions at Holyrood.
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