UK to vote in local elections

Local elections take place in England, Scotland and Wales on Thursday with almost 5,000 council seats up for grabs and six new mayors to be elected across the UK.

They will give an important indication of who is ahead in the general election, which takes place on June 8.

One of the most keenly contested battles is in the West Midlands, where there are two million voters and Conservative and Labour candidates are running neck and neck to become the regional mayor.

The following is the complete list of candidates for the West Midlands mayoral elections:

Graham Stevenson – Communist

Andy Street – Conservative

James Burn – Green Party

Sion Simon – Labour

Beverley Nielsen – Liberal Democrat

Pete Durnell – UKIP

Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Phillips reports from Birmingham.