Liverpool City Region's local elections in 2026

People living in four of the six council areas of the Liverpool City Region will be able to vote in local elections later this year.

Council elections will take place on 7 May.

All the seats on St Helens Council and Sefton Council will be up for grabs in what is called an "all out" election.

A third of the seats in Knowsley and Halton will be contested. There are no council elections in Liverpool or Wirral this year.

• A simple guide to the May elections

The elections are to vote for councillors on borough or city councils which are responsible for local services including care for older people and people with disabilities, children in care, rubbish collection and recycling, some aspects of housing, some aspects of education, and road maintenance.

They also may provide things like libraries and leisure centres, and they set council tax.

Councillors are elected to represent small areas of each place, called "wards".

These elections will affect local decision making.

The parties and candidates hold different positions on policy issues and priorities, just like they do at national level in Westminster. In fact, local decisions can often affect people's everyday lives more tangibly than decisions made in Parliament.

Depending on the political make up of a council after 7 May, and especially if one particular party has a majority, the election result will influence the direction of the council and the approach it takes when deciding how public money is spent.

Halton - is currently controlled by Labour. Of the 54 councillors, it is comprised of the following:

• Labour - 49
• Liberal Democrats - 3
• Independent - 1
• Reform - 1

Knowsley - is controlled by Labour. There are a total of 45 councillors made up of the following:

• Labour - 30
• Green - 8
• Independents - 4
• Liberal Democrats - 3

Sefton - is controlled by Labour. It has 66 councillors comprised of:

• Labour - 51
• Liberal Democrats - 9
• Conservative - 3
• Independents - 1
• Green Party - 1
• Reform UK - 1

St Helens - is under Labour control. There are 48 councillors which are made up as follows:

• Labour - 28
• Green Party - 4
• Independents - 3
• Liberal Democrats - 3
• Reform UK - 3
• Conservatives - 2
• Newton-le-Willows Independents - 2
• Ungrouped independents - 2
• Vacancy – 1

A system called first-past-the-post is used to elect local councillors.

On your ballot paper, you'll see a list of names and political parties. These are your candidates. You'll be asked to mark 'X' next to your choice.

The candidate with the most votes becomes your representative on the council.

Some areas have two or more people representing them but the system works the same. You might be asked to make two or more choices. The candidates with the most votes are the winners.

The deadline to register to vote in May's council elections is 20 April.

Applications for a postal vote or a postal-proxy vote have to be received by 17:00 BST on the following day.

The deadline to submit your application to vote by proxy is 17:00 on Tuesday 28 April.

You can follow the online link to register.

If you want to vote in person, your local polling station will be open from 07:00 to 22:00.

As long as you are in the queue by 22:00 you will be able to exercise your democratic right.

You can find your local polling station here.

Voters in England need to show photo ID to vote at a polling station.

Passports, driving licences and other official forms of ID are acceptable - you can check here for the full list.

If you do not have an accepted form of photo ID, you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate to vote at a polling station before the deadline at 17:00 on 28 April.

Voter Authority Certificates do not have an expiration date.

You do not need photo ID to vote by post.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.