Photograph by secretlondon123
People across England have begun to cast their ballots in the council elections, with votes being cast in 27 English county councils and seven unitary authorities in England and Anglesey in Wales. There is also a parliamentary by-election in South Shields, and mayoral contests in Doncaster and North Tyneside.
The polls opened at 07:00 BST with more than 2,300 seats being voted upon around the country. The polls close at 22:00 BST.
The parliamentary seat up for grabs is being defended by Labour after David Miliband resigned form politics in March and vacated his seat.
The seats up for election are:
County Councils
All of the seats on these councils are up for election:
Cambridgeshire
Cumbria
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
East Sussex
Essex
Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Hertfordshire
Kent
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Norfolk
North Yorkshire
Northamptonshire
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Somerset
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Surrey
Warwickshire
West Sussex
Worcestershire
Unitary Authorities
All the seats for these authorities are up for election, except in Bristol which is elected by thirds:
Bristol
Cornwall
Durham
Isle of Wight
Northumberland
Shropshire
Wiltshire
Mayoral Elections
Doncaster
North Tyneside
Wales
Isle of Anglesey
Others
The Isles of Scilly unitary authority
