It’s just one week to go until the local elections take place across the Liverpool City Region. The elections are to vote for borough or city councillors.
This impacts who controls and looks after local services, including rubbish collection and recycling, care for the elderly and disabled, housing, education, and road maintenance.
In Halton, 18 seats are up for grabs, which is a third of the borough’s total number of seats.
The Conservative Party, Labour, Green, Reform, Liberal Democrats, and Libertarian, as well as independent parties, are all hoping to win on Thursday, May 7.
MNL have spent the last few weeks speaking to residents across Halton to see what issues they’re considering when deciding who to vote for.
One of the most common themes was the lack of infrastructure across Widnes and Runcorn. Widnes resident Lewis Bennet raised concerns about how the increase in housing estates in the town is not balanced with the number of schools or GP surgeries.
Another issue brought to our attention was the lack of shops on the high street. One lady, who wished to remain anonymous, said Albert Road needed ‘serious improvement’, pointing to the multiple newsagents and charity shops.
The most prevalent topic raised by locals, regardless of which party they intended to vote for, was that change was needed.
For the first time, the Green Party holds candidates in every ward across Halton, with its national membership soaring over the past few months. Local membership has risen from 50 to 300 in just under a year.
Reform UK has also grown in popularity in the town. Halton branch chair and Central and West Bank candidate Jonathan David MacKie said that he began his campaign at the beginning of the year.
The party has been extremely outspoken on both social media and through their campaign leaflets about how they wish to bring change to the town if they are voted in.
This suggests a shift coming to Halton, which has, up until now, been dominated by Labour.
In the Runcorn and Helsby by-election last May, Reform UK defeated Labour by 6 votes. This highlights the growing popularity of Reform across the Halton area.
The growing interest in parties other than Labour could result in a more diverse make-up of councillors.
Anyone who wishes to vote has to take a photo ID to the polling booth.
To see a full list of candidates running in your ward, click here.
To follow along with the elections, check out the rest of MNL’s coverage here.
