First major ballot box test for Labour as polls open in English local elections

All eyes on Reform as 24 councils, six mayoralties and a parliamentary byelection are contested

Polling has opened across England in a series of local, mayoral and parliamentary races that will be the first major electoral test of Keir Starmer's Labour government.

The elections cover 24 councils across England, as well as six mayoralties and a byelection in the formerly Labour-held seat of Runcorn and Helsby in Cheshire.