Herefordshire voters are being told there is currently no need to register to vote as there are no elections in the county next week.

Herefordshire Council tweeted: "We are experiencing a high volume of calls from residents regarding postal votes & poll cards."

Next Thursday’s local elections are for all Welsh and Scottish unitary councils, as well as London boroughs, most Metropolitan boroughs, and a number of other English unitary and district councils.

The nearest of these are in Cheltenham, where half of seats are being contested in the borough, currently under Liberal Democrat control, and in Worcester, where 13 out of 35 seats in the Conservative-controlled city are up for grabs.

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Elections cover all county council seats in Wales, with 16 and 17-year-olds eligible to vote in a local election for the first time next week.

In neighbouring Powys, currently under no overall control, the Independents under the leadership of Rosemarie Harris govern with the Welsh Conservatives.

Councillors have already been determined in seven of the 60 wards which are uncontested, including Hay-on-Wye, where the Welsh Liberal Democrats' Gareth Radcliffe, currently vice-chair of the council, is returned unopposed.

In Herefordshire’s other neighbouring Welsh county, Monmouthshire, where the Conservatives are defending a seven-seat majority, all 39 wards are being contested.

The local elections are being seen as a test of voters’ views on the Conservative Party and leader Boris Johnson, particularly in light of recent revelations of Covid lockdown breaches.

A new Survation poll today gives Labour a 13-point lead over the Tories in England.

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