Map shows parts of Liverpool City Region with three local elections on May 2

Voters in parts of the Liverpool City Region will be asked to cast their ballot in three separate local elections when polling day arrives on May 2.

More than 2,500 council seats will be up for grabs across England and Wales and several new mayoral elections will be held in the last big electoral test for the political parties ahead of the General Election. There are council elections for more than 100 local authorities planned for May 2, and also elections for nearly a dozen mayors and over 30 police and crime commissioners around the country.

And you can use our interactive map to see the elections that are planned for your area in a month's time.

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Check the elections in your area on May 2 with this interactive map

In parts of the Liverpool City Region, voters will have to make their choice in three different local elections. Residents can select a local ward councillor, a metro mayor and a regional police and crime commissioner during their visits to the polling station.

Voters in Halton, Sefton and Knowsley have the triple choice when they go into the polling booth on May 2. There are no council elections for Liverpool city council or for Wirral council this time around, so voters in those areas only have to make two selections.

Steve Rotheram will be bidding to secure his third term as Metro Mayor for the Liverpool City Region but unlike his counterparts in London, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire, his role does not include oversight of Merseyside Police. There will be a separate election for the Merseyside police and crime commissioner role currently held by Emily Spurrell.

Voters in parts of the West Midlands and the North East also have the prospect of casting three ballots on Local Election day.

In Greater London there are no local council elections and the capital also does not have a regional police and crime commissioner, as policing is overseen by the London mayor. However, voters in London still have three decisions to make at the ballot box.

They will be asked to select a London Assembly member for their local constituency, and also to pick a London-wide Assembly member from a list of parties or independent candidates. The third choice is to select their candidate for London mayor, with Labour's Sadiq Khan bidding to win a third term in office.

Elections will be held in every area of England and Wales on May 2, but no elections are scheduled for Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Wales the only elections will be for the police and crime commissioner in each local police force area.

Police and crime commissioners will be elected in all other parts of England and Wales, with the exception of areas where responsibility for overseeing the police is held by the regional metro mayor, such as in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and London.

There are a record number of regional mayors up for election this year, including three posts that are being contested for the first time.

Some big names in politics are hoping to be re-elected. As well as Steve Rotheram in the Liverpool City Region, Sadiq Khan in London and Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester are all running for a third term as mayor. For the Conservatives, Andy Street is running for a third term as mayor of the West Midlands, as is Ben Houchen for the Tees Valley. Labour's Tracy Brabin is hoping to be re-elected for a second term as mayor in West Yorkshire.

Three areas will be choosing a directly-elected mayor for the first time. Voters in Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland will be choosing a new regional mayor for North East England.

In Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, voters will elect the first ever East Midlands mayor though the role will cover only these two counties, as the rest of the region, Lincolnshire, Leicester, Northamptonshire and Rutland, has declined to join the new combined authority.

And voters in York and North Yorkshire will also choose their first directly-elected regional mayor, who will also take on the role of the police and crime commissioner for the region. In the East Midlands and the North East, there are separate elections for a PCC as the roles will not be merged there.

This means voters in some areas of the North East will also have to vote in three elections - once for mayor, once for a local councillor and once for a police and crime commissioner. That will be the case in Hartlepool, Sunderland, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and Newcastle

As well as Greater Manchester, the police and crime commissioner role has been merged with the position of Metro Mayor in West Yorkshire and London. The same will happen in South Yorkshire as long as the proposal is given formal approval by Parliament in time for the election.

However, in the West Midlands, the role of PCC will be kept in place after the Labour PCC Simon Foster won a legal challenge against the government and halted Home Office plans to abolish his post and hand powers over policing to the West Midlands mayor, the role currently held by Conservative Andy Street.

All voters will need to show a form of photographic identification at their polling station to cast a ballot. This could be a passport, driving licence or blue badge. Anyone without an acceptable form of ID can apply to their local council for a special certificate.

Local elections usually show what voters think about neighbourhood issues, such as bin collections, parks and pavements, or access to libraries and hospitals. But they can also reflect opinions on the main political parties and their handling of big issues which this year is likely to mean the cost of living, the NHS and the environment.

Many of the seats up for grabs were last contested in 2021, a year in which the Conservatives did particularly well in local elections. Of those councils holding polls on May 2, the Tories currently control fewer than Labour, which means there could be only a few instances of an authority changing hands.

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