Vote for whoever you want at this week’s local elections. That’s how democracy works.
If the polls are anything to go by, plenty of people are preparing to use their vote as a protest against Labour and Keir Starmer.
According to some predictions, Labour could lose as many as 1,900 councillors on a catastrophic night for the party.
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Reform UK are set to be the biggest winners from this Labour dissatisfaction. Nigel Farage’s party could gain more than 2,000 councillors across England, changing the map of local politics in England.
Farage and Reform have been keen to frame these local elections as a referendum on the prime minister. Even their billboards have the words ‘Get Starmer Out’ on them.
But let’s get one thing straight before polling stations open across England: whatever box you tick, it won’t remove Labour from government on a national level.
Anyone thinking of voting Reform on Thursday’s local elections should remember this – this is not a vote for Farage to become prime minister. It is not a vote to ‘get Starmer out.’ It is a vote about who sits on your local council and runs your local area.
That means decisions about bins, planning, local services, social care, roads. Things that actually affect your day-to-day life far more immediately than whatever is being argued over at Prime Minister’s Questions.
It’s not exactly glamorous stuff. But it matters.
Because while a protest vote might feel satisfying in the moment, the outcome is very real. Councillors get elected. Councils get run. Decisions get made.
And if you hand control of your local authority to a party with little experience of running councils – and, in some cases, no clear plan for doing so – you’re not “shaking up the system”. You’re living with the consequences of that experiment.
You only need to look back at councils in Kent, Worcestershire and Cornwall to see the potential consequences of electing inexperienced parties.
Sometimes they bring fresh ideas. Most of the time they bring chaos.
None of this is to tell you who to vote for. By all means, vote with your conscience, vote with your instincts, vote for change if that’s what you want.
But it is worth remembering what you’re actually voting for.
These local elections won’t decide who runs the country. They won’t undo the result of a general election. And they won’t force a change of government.
What they will do is shape who runs your local area – and how well (or badly) they do it.
Because come Friday morning, it won’t be Westminster you’re dealing with.
It’ll be your council.