For the Merseyside town of St Helens, the upcoming local election is bringing a clear level of uncertainty.
For only the second time in the council’s history, all 48 seats, across 18 wards, will be contested on 7th May.
This makes the election particularly high stakes for the town and could potentially lead to a significant shift in which party controls the council.
The council is currently run by the Labour Party, who occupy 28 of the 48 seats, with smaller numbers of seats occupied by the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats, Reform UK, the Conservative Party, and independent councillors.
Labour are no strangers to leading St Helens Town Council, having been the majority party in every council election since 2010.
However, after speaking to locals on the streets of St Helens town centre, it is clear that there are levels of disillusion both with the current council, but also potentially with local politics more generally.
When asked, many residents showed little interest in the upcoming election, stating they had not considered who they would vote for, and questioned whether they would vote at all.
Some who had considered which way they would lean, reflected on the decline of the town centre, with a significant number of business closures in recent years.
This was evident when wandering through the town centre, where many of the units across the high street were closed and boarded up, with many ‘for let’ signs displayed.
When asked whether he was happy with what Labour had achieved over the last four years as the council’s majority party, local resident Roy had a simple answer: “No.”
He added: “It’s just the general state of the town, it’s neglected. I know they’re [Labour] spending a fortune doing up the bus station and the markets, but it’s not enough.
“There’s outlying areas that are still being neglected, the state of the roads is disgusting.”
For others, the rising prominence of smaller parties is having an impact on the decision of who to vote for.
Lynne, a St Helens resident, says she remains undecided on who to vote for on 7th May, but could be persuaded by some of up-and-coming parties.
She said: “There’s more parties involved now, it’s not the traditional two-party thing anymore.”
Whilst there seemed to be limited certainty across residents in St Helens about who they would vote for, it was clear that Labour are not viewed as the guaranteed winners of next month’s election.
It remains to be seen what the final week of campaigning will bring, in terms of convincing residents of the Merseyside town to vote in a certain way.
However, it is clear that everything is still to play for.
To find out more about the candidates standing in the St Helens elections, see here.
