2026 local elections: What is at stake in north-west England?

Millions of voters will head to the polls on Thursday 7 May in the biggest set of elections since the 2024 general election.

Until then, you can expect lots of leaflets through your letterbox and maybe even some candidates turning up on your doorstep.

Here in the north-west of England we have elections across Greater Manchester and in parts of Merseyside and Lancashire.

Across the region, a total of 461 seats will be contested across 21 councils.

One third of seats will be up in all of Greater Manchester's 10 local authorities.

In Merseyside, one third of seats will be contested in Halton and Knowsley, but in Sefton and St Helens there will be "all-out" elections in which every seat will be up for grabs.

And in Lancashire, the "will they, won't they?" question over whether elections will take place has been answered in the affirmative.

Contests for one third of seats in Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Chorley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Preston and West Lancashire will go ahead, despite those local authorities possibly not existing within a year following a major reorganisation of local government.

Labour is defending 16 of the 21 councils that are holding local elections while five are currently under no overall control.

Given the state of the polls and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's approval ratings, Labour is "on the defensive", said Professor Jon Tonge from the University of Liverpool's politics department.

Labour is now facing pressure from all sides - not just from their traditional opponents in the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, but also from Reform UK and the Greens.

In places like Blackburn with Darwen, Bury and Hyndburn, Labour will be desperate to remain the largest party.

In Preston, which has been run by Labour for 15 years, it only needs to lose three seats to lose overall control.

The bigger risk to Labour, however, may come in the councils where all of the seats are up for grabs.

"Where you have an all-out election in places like St Helens and Sefton, those are where the biggest changes can take place," Tonge explained.

"Labour is up against it like we haven't seen for a long time in a local election."

It would only take the loss of four seats for Labour to lose overall control of St Helens.

The Liberal Democrats do not control any of our region's councils that are being contested outright, but they do run Stockport as a minority administration.

It will be hoping to win overall control on 7 May.

What of the Tories?

"The Conservatives will be hoping for a revival," said Tonge. "Pendle is perhaps the only possible target for the Conservatives to take overall control, but they would need to perform exceptionally, gaining six of the 10 seats up for election."

Fresh from winning the Gorton and Denton by-election earlier this year, the Green Party will be hoping to increase its number of councillors across the region from 27.

The Greens have been a "significant force in recent years", said Tonge, with places like Trafford and Knowsley potentially fertile ground.

Last year, Reform UK celebrated a famous victory after taking control of Lancashire County Council, going from having only two seats to 54.

Twelve months later, could it replicate that success elsewhere?

"It's much more difficult for Reform this time," said Tonge, "because only a third of seats are up in most areas.

"We saw what they could do in Lancashire, so they could repeat that success. But I think it's a tall order."

Finally, we must not forget the Independents, of which there are plenty.

They already share the running of Pendle and Burnley with other parties, and have a large showing in a number of other authorities.

These elections are important.

While we are not sending representatives to Westminster, the people we elect in May will run some of our most important services.

From how we look after the most vulnerable people in society to the provision of social housing, the collection of our bins and repairing potholes... all of those decisions are made locally.

And when it comes to paying for those services? Local authorities control how much council tax we have to pay.

So a lot is at stake as we head towards polling day on 7 May.

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