Who else across the UK is going to the polls on May 6?

SCOTLAND is not the only of the four nations of the UK that is going to the polls on May 6.

In fact, outside of a general election or referendum, more people will be casting votes that day than ever before, largely due to the postponement as a result of the coronavirus pandemic of large numbers of English local government elections from last May.

May 6 will see elections to county, district and parish councils, and for Police and Crime Commissioners, as well as combined authority mayoral and local mayoral elections, with many postponed from last year. The polls will also elect the Mayor of London and members of the London Assembly, elections which again were postponed from May 2020.

Don’t forget also that our Celtic cousins will be electing members of the Senedd Cymru, the Welsh parliament.

READ MORE: May’s Scottish Parliament elections results expected days after polls close

This will therefore be the largest single test of public opinion across the island of Great Britain since the 2019 General Election (Northern Ireland will not be taking part as their Assembly elections are not until May 2022). Some 48 million voters will be eligible to cast their votes in the various elections in Scotland, England and Wales, and turnout is expected to be higher than usual. Around 28m of those voters are for English local authorities alone.

In other words, forget the opinion polls, this is the real election deal.

WILL THE VOTERS BE SAFE?

THE Electoral Commission, the independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK, has been working hard for over a year to ensure that the elections across Scotland, England and Wales will be a safe as possible.

The commission said: “It is an important democratic principle that elections should proceed as scheduled whenever possible. The electoral community has been preparing for Covid-safe elections since last March, when the 2020 elections were postponed. Together, we have taken steps to help everyone involved take part safely and confidently.

“Safety measures, such as face coverings, hand sanitiser and social distancing, will be in place to make polling stations safe places to vote and to work, and we are sharing information with voters so they understand the voting options available to them.

“We are supporting administrators in their complex and important work to prepare for and deliver the polls, and we will continue to update our guidance for parties, campaigners and electoral administrators as needed in order to reflect the latest public health advice and any legislative changes.”

Expect numerous public safety announcements before May 6 and much wider use of postal and proxy votes has already been indicated.

WHAT EXACTLY IS AT STAKE?

IT may have escaped many people’s attention with Nicola Sturgeon, Boris Johnson (occasionally), Jason Leitch and Chris Whitty filling our screens to tell us all about the pandemic, but the majority of public services outside of the NHS and police are provided by local authorities.

The public, if not the politicians, realise the importance of councils in tackling the pandemic. In a survey of 3000 people, conducted by the University of Essex, 59% said coronavirus was the most important issue in the forthcoming local elections.

Cuts to council budgets are also impacting more so in England than in Scotland and there is evidence that anti-austerity campaigners are doing well in the run-up to May 6.

In England there will be 143 councils up for grabs, with some 5000 seats in all. The London Assembly has 25 seats to be contested with Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan facing challenges from Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey, Sian

Berry of the Greens and LibeDem Luisa Porritt. Laurence Fox, the actor, is standing for his Reclaim Party on an anti-lockdown ticket. Khan is so far ahead in the polls he is a shoo-in.

Some 39 police and crime commissioners will be elected across England and Wales, with 10 directly elected mayors also to be elected, including in Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Bristol.

The key contests are in the North of England where the Conservatives will be looking to maintain their progress in breaching Labour’s so-called red wall. They will campaign on the back of delivering Brexit.

Expect the electorate to be asked to swallow the hype that Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal is taking England to a new nirvana.

ARE THERE PARLIAMENTARY BY-ELECTIONS TOO?

THERE is a by-election in Airdrie and Shotts, caused by the resignation of SNP MP Neil Gray, to run after the Holyrood elections. The SNP should hold the seat.

On a UK scale, the Hartlepool by-election is much more important as it will show whether Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour can hold a seat vacated by MP Mike Hill, resigning ahead of an employment tribunal over accusations of sexual harassment.

WHAT COULD HAPPEN IN WALES?

NOW that is very interesting and we will be looking at the Welsh parliamentary elections next week.

WHAT SORT OF A TEST IS THIS FOR BORIS JOHNSON AND HIS GOVERNMENT?

WITH his majority of 80, and the continuing adulation of most of his lapdogs that make up the majority of the Conservatives in parliament, Johnson will be in the rare position for a prime minister of being able to completely ignore the results of elections which would normally be a measurement of a government’s popularity.

He can blithely ignore which mayors, London Assembly members, police commissioners and councillors are elected. Scotland, however, may prove a rather bigger issue.