As meetings of Your Party supporters take place around the country one of the immediate tasks we face is to get ready for the elections that will be held on 7th May next year – now just over six months away.

Having said that, working out exactly where there will be elections in 2026 is not as straightforward as it sounds!  Yes, there will be contests for the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Senedd in May.  But whereas every autumn for over a decade now, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has produced a directory of the council elections to be held the following spring as a planning resource for local campaigners, this time, however, no such certainty is possible.

That’s because Keir Starmer’s New Labour Mark II government is imposing ‘reorganisation’ plans on local government – to make it easier, they hope, to carry out their austerity agenda to cut and privatise local public services – and some councils affected may have their scheduled elections cancelled.

So this year we are publishing what is a (very) Provisional Directory of the May 2026 Local Elections, available at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Provisional-2026-elections-directory.pdf  

There may eventually be more elections than we have included here as definitely taking place, probably many more.  But what there certainly will be is a significant enough electoral opportunity for Your Party supporters, trade unionists, anti-war protestors and working class community campaigners to organise to give their verdict on the Starmer government and put forward at the ballot box the socialist alternative that we need. ■