Early General Election barometer

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]n early General Election barometer comes with the local elections taking place today just five weeks before the big day itself.

15,403 candidates are contesting 4,851 seats – with 107 contenders running unopposed.

All of Wales and Scotland’s councils are up for grabs alongside 34 in England which include 27 counties.

There are also mayoral elections in Doncaster and North Tyneside and the six newly developed ‘super-regions’ of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City region, Tees Valley, West Midlands and West of England.

Provisional figures from the eight areas holding mayoral elections show 7,205,134 are free to vote on Thursday.

Today was also scheduled to see the Manchester Gorton parliamentary by-election triggered by the death of Labour MP Gerald Kaufman. This though has now been delayed until the General Election.