Bev Craig took Greater Manchester on 30 July with 66.3% after the first second-round count in the mayoralty's history, run under a voting system Parliament restored in April. A second pollster confirms Labour's lead over Reform UK. Scottish Labour opens nominations today, and the crypto donation ban still runs on a minister's word rather than a statute.
Britain is rewriting how its elections and councils work faster than the results of any single contest can settle what that means.
Bev Craig led the first count by 26 points and still could not win outright. Second preferences carried her to 66.3% against Reform UK's Sian Astley.
IrelandBev Craig won Greater Manchester's mayoralty on 30 July. She beat Reform's Sian Astley in the first count sent to a second round under the restored Supplementary Vote.
Craig's support rose from 47.1% to 66.3% on transfers. Turnout fell to 25.1%, testing whether transfer-based wins carry the same legitimacy at low turnout.
The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April and quietly reversed the Elections Act 2022 for every mayoral and PCC contest called after 18 June.
The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 got Royal Assent on 29 April. It brought back the Supplementary Vote for English mayoral and police commissioner elections from 18 June.
The Act reverses the Elections Act 2022's switch to First Past the Post. Second preferences now settle any race where no candidate wins outright.
More in Common gave Labour 28% to Reform UK's 24% in fieldwork from 24 to 27 July, its first Labour lead since March 2025.
United StatesMore in Common polled 2,061 adults between 24 and 27 July. It found Labour on 28% against Reform UK's 24%, Labour's first lead since March 2025.
Deltapoll found a similar shift weeks earlier. YouGov's tracker still shows the two parties tied at 22% each, so pollsters have not converged.
Nominations opened on 3 August to replace Anas Sarwar, who quit Holyrood on 22 July for a life peerage and a trade brief in Burnham's government.
Scottish Labour opened nominations on 3 August to replace Anas Sarwar, who quit as leader on 22 July for a life peerage and a UK ministerial post.
Nominations close 17 August. Monica Lennon has said she will stand; if the contest is contested, members vote from 28 August with a result on 19 September.
The National Crime Agency referred itself to the police watchdog over the leak of Reform figures' bank data. The watchdog sent the complaints straight back for the agency to handle internally.
The National Crime Agency referred itself to the police watchdog over a leak of Reform figures' bank data. The leak included an £80,000 loan and a £1m donation tied to George Cottrell.
The watchdog sent the complaints back to the agency's own Professional Standards Unit. That is a local, internal investigation, not an outside inquiry.
West Sussex and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will not learn their fate until October, while the May 2027 elections to their successor authorities stay exactly where they were.
United Arab EmiratesCouncil officers in West Sussex and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough must recruit staff for new shadow authorities. They do not yet know their own boundaries, after ministers pushed the decision to October.
Five counties, most recently Harlow on 22 July, still have judicial reviews pending against the reorganisation. A successful challenge could still redraw boundaries the government confirmed for 14 other counties in July.
Thirty-four names appear on the statutory nomination paper for the 13 August by-election, four of them from parties standing to Nigel Farage's right.
Clacton's nomination paper for the 13 August by-election lists 34 candidates. Four separate parties stand to the right of Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, The Greens and Restore Britain all sat this contest out. Any vote-splitting risk now falls entirely on Reform's own flank.
Conor Murphy said on 31 July that power-sharing is faltering and blamed the DUP. Gavin Robinson rejected it and said his party would not be goaded.
Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy said on 31 July that Stormont's power-sharing arrangement is 'in a precarious place'. He blamed the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) for lacking the will to make it work.
DUP leader Gavin Robinson rejected that characterisation. He said his party remains committed to the institutions the two parties jointly run.
Sideways. Nothing here forces a national contest before 2029, but two dated triggers could sharpen the picture: the 13 August Clacton count, which tests whether a four-way split on Reform's own flank costs Farage real margin, and October's boundary ruling for West Sussex and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, which could hand a second reorganisation grievance to councils already in court over the first fourteen.
