POLL

       Local elections are held on May 1 this year (Image: Getty)

       Political leaders are making their final pleas for votes ahead of Thursday’s local elections.

       Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has declared this week's ballots are not about issues like immigration, but about who is going to fix the roads or collect the bins.

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       But Nigel Farage has pointed towards the small boats crisis, stalling economy and housing shortages in a wide-ranging campaign.

       Reform is leading in the latest opinion polls, with 26%, followed by Labour on 23%, Conservatives on 20%, the Lib Dems on 15% and Greens on 9%.

       So what issues matter the most to you? Let us know in our poll and join the debate in the comments section below. Can't see the poll? Click here.

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       Voters in Runcorn and Helsby will go to the polls following the resignation of former MP Mike Amesbury, who won a clear majority for Labour in the general election but then received a 10-week suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to punching a constituent last year.

       At the same time, voters will go to the polls in 23 council areas across England and vote in six mayoral contests across devolved regions in elections that are forecast to see Reform make gains at the expense of the Conservatives and Labour.

       Speaking to broadcasters on Monday, the Prime Minister acknowledged that the elections would be "a challenge", saying: "It's going to be tough.

       "Most governments after a general election face a tough set of local elections at the first opportunity afterwards, and of course, we've had to take tough but right decisions."

       But he insisted that "record investment put into the NHS" and the rise in the minimum wage meant Labour had "a positive story to tell".

       He also accused Reform of wanting to charge people to use the NHS, voting against workers' rights and having a "pro-Putin foreign policy".

       He said: "We've got a positive case to tell. It'll be tight, I know that, every vote will count and we are fighting for every vote."

       Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, whose party currently holds around half the seats up for election on Thursday, has also acknowledged that the local elections present her with a challenge.

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       Appearing on ITV's Good Morning Britain on Monday, she said the Tories needed to "fight for every single vote" and "remind people about our record and how well we have done at local government level".

       She said: "This is not a referendum on national issues, but local ones.

       "I've been travelling all around the country, and one of the councillors I was with, we were on a doorstep, and he showed a leaflet of Reform saying 'we're going to stop the boats'. That's not what people are voting on on Thursday.

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       "We have said that we are going to tackle immigration, but this week's elections are about who's going to fix the roads, pick up the bins."

       Speaking to LBC later, she said Mr Farage had "lost 20% of his MPs" - a reference to the suspension of Rupert Lowe from the party, reducing its parliamentary ranks to four.

       "If you can't manage a group of four, how's he going to manage a group 400?" she said.