Voters warned 'don't trust nasty Nigel's numpties' in crunch local elections today

Voters have been warned not to trust "nasty Nigel's numpties" to run vital local services as polls open across England today.

Some 1,641 council seats are up for grabs across 23 local authorities in today's local elections, while six mayors will also be elected. It marks the first major electoral test since Labour's landslide general election win last summer.

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK are expected to make major gains - with the Tories braced to lose hundreds of seats as the right-wing outfit and the Liberal Democrats squeeze their vote from both sides.

But a surge in support from Reform could also prove a headache for Labour, preventing Keir Starmer's party from making gains in their traditional heartlands in the North and the Midlands.

A Labour source said: "Don't trust nasty Nigel's numpties to run your council. They couldn't even run a bath."

Reform could also deliver a major blow to Mr Starmer if they pull off an upset in a by-election in Labour-held Runcorn and Helsby. The contest was triggered after shamed ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury's conviction for punching a constituent in a late-night brawl.

Mr Amesbury won the Cheshire seat with 53% of the vote in July but the race is expected to be tight between Labour and Reform.

The Tories are braced for a grim night as they are defending nearly 1,000 seats last contested in 2021 when Boris Johnson was riding high in the polls due to a Covid "vaccine bounce".

Tory peer Lord Hayward, who has been commentating on local elections for more than two decades, recently predicted Reform could win between 400 and 450 councillors, seizing mostly Tory seats in the North and the Midlands. Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch's party could lose up to 525 councillors, mainly to Reform and then to the Liberal Democrats,

The elections expert suggested Labour would win around 280 seats - leaving their tally essentially unchanged. But they may fail to take seats in Midlands and North they should have won without the Reform threat.

The Lib Dems and the Greens are both hoping for a good night, with both parties tending to perform well at a local level. Lord Hayward has predicted that the Greens could elect between 60 and 80 councillors - nearly doubling their current representation.

Sir Ed Davey's party could win around 300 council seats, boosting their numbers by between 70 and 80 councillors.

The Prime Minister said the contests were "the first opportunity the country has to pass their verdict on the Leader of the Opposition" and accused Reform and the Tories of forming a nightmare coalition. Ms Badenoch ruled out a national pact with Mr Farage's party on Sunday, but left the door open to forming pacts at a local level.

In an attack on the Reform leader, Mr Starmer said: "Let's be clear what a vote for his party means. It means a vote to charge for the NHS, it means a pro-Putin foreign policy, and a vote against workers' rights."

The Reform leader previously advocated for an insurance-based model to fund the NHS but he claimed last night he had never suggested charging for the NHS, telling Sky News: "I have never said anything of the kind."

But he was left squirming when confronted with his own comments to the Telegraph in December about the French model, where he said: "There's a lesson there. If you can afford it, you pay. If you can't, you don't."

Pressed again on his ideas on NHS funding, he said: "I do not want it funded through general taxation. It doesn't work. It's not working. We're getting worse bang for the buck than any other country, particularly out of those European neighbours. I want it free at the point of delivery, but it's how we get there."

The PM also claimed Mr Farage had "recruited Liz Truss as his new top adviser", following reports the 49-day PM had been in talks with allies of the Reform leader. Last month, it was reported that Ms Truss had given Reform officials advice on how to overhaul the state.

The Reform leader told Sky: "Well she might have met them in a pub, I've no idea, but has there been a formal meeting? No."

A Labour spokesman said the party was "fighting for every vote" but the PM knew "the elections will be tough". "We've got a great story to tell, as the Prime Minister has said - that's three million extra NHS appointments, three interest rate cuts, wages rising faster than prices, £500 pounds better off as the OBR have said," he said.

"Meanwhile, the Tories have all but given up campaigning there and it's the latest sign of a pact with Reform." Local contests are "always challenging for incumbent governments and these council elections are in Tory heartlands", the spokesman said.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner also played down Labour's prospects, telling reporters: "These elections, predominantly, are the Tories trying to retain seats that are in the shires. Let's not make any bones about that."

A spokesman for Ms Badenoch said: "We're working hard for every vote - she has now visited every single county that has councils up for election."

But he added: "We've got to recognise that we are coming off a historic high in 2021 when we won two thirds of the seats that were up for election, so as the Leader of the Opposition has said, there is going to be a correction."