“A better Britain is in our grasp”: Starmer rallies troops for polling day push

Happy polling day! Yes, the big day has finally arrived and people around England are voting in this year’s local elections, with 8,000 seats in 230 councils up for grabs. Presumably all loyal LabourList readers will have already got a dawn drop under their belt by the time this hits their inboxes, and from glitching doorstep apps to selfies on the #LabourDoorstep to WARP sheets to cups of tea in the committee room, today is going to be a busy day for members of our fair party. Good luck to everyone out campaigning from the team here at LabourList: we achieve more by the strength of our common endeavour than we do alone, and there’s a lot to be achieved today.

There might be a lot of uncertainties today (a big one among them being how new voter ID requirements will impact turnout and voting), but Keir Starmer’s ability to stick to party’s local election campaign themes (NHS, cost of living, crime) is not one of them.

Bringing them out one last time, Starmer has said: “The prospect of a better Britain is in our grasp. Where hard-working people are rewarded, waiting lists are cut, our streets are safe again and the cost of living pain is eased.” The Labour leader continued: “That’s the country people are crying out for. It’s the one I am determined Labour will deliver, and I will stop at nothing to ensure this country once again works for those people who make up its backbone.”

Results will start coming in this evening, and LabourList has a full breakdown of timings– along with some more in-depth reporting from a couple of key councils to watch, including Swindon, Medway, and the Wirral. In the Wirral, a new system means Labour is in “unknown territory”, despite what the party thinks are some “very, very positive noises” from disillusioned Tory voters.

Of course, the rest of the world hasn’t stood completely still so we can go door knocking. In his polling day remarks, Starmer also made reference to Labour’s commitment to “a proper windfall tax on oil and gas giants”, comments that are particularly well-timed given one of this morning’s other big pieces of news: Shell has released its quarterly profits, which come in at a tidy £7.7bn for January-March of this year.

Think tank IPPR condemned Shell for handing billions to shareholders that could have been spent on the green transition. For context, it’s also estimated that scrapping tuition fees – the subject of much controversy and debate this week over U-turn signalling noises from Starmer – would cost around £6bn a year. Common Wealth think tank’s

Mathew Lawrence said the windfall tax plan was “absolutely right”, though said further action on rewriting business rules or public ownership was needed to shift investment into renewables. Labour’s pledge to invest the windfall tax proceeds in freezing council tax is smart politics and smart timing, however.

As results come in tomorrow, you’ll get not one but two LabourList emails letting you know how things are unfolding, one earlier than usual and one on Friday evening. In the meantime: polls close at 10pm, so time to get campaigning (even if you probably won’t be able to match up to the doorstep efforts of Labour Party chair and canvassing fiend Anneliese Dodds).