This week voters in more than 100 local authorities in England and Wales are heading to the polls. And Labour are predicted to win big. Helen Pidd travelled to Accrington in Hyndburn, where the local authority has an equal number of Labour and Conservative councillors, to see what people there thought about the local elections.

What she found was a more complicated picture than predictions of a Labour landslide suggest. She found the Conservative council leader in a surprisingly confident mood – and the local Labour politicians unwilling to speak to her. She also met voters in the town who told her of their discontent with Labour over its approach to the conflict in Gaza and that it was the Green party who would be picking up their votes.

The Guardian’s deputy political editor, Jessica Elgot, explains what the national picture looks like and the big wins and losses the political parties would be looking out for. She explains what the results of the local elections can tell us in a general election year.

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