As Parliament is dissolved today the General Election campaign officially begins. But where one campaign begins, another comes to an end.  Polls open tomorrow for some local election seats and six new metro mayors.

Many commentators are predicting a low turnout for Thursday, with voters deciding these elections are not important enough to warrant a trip to the polling station.  But are voters missing a trick?  The local and mayoral elections offer an opportunity to influence important local issues and help shape the region’s future identity and prosperity in a way that voters never have been able to do before.  This is particularly relevant to the newly created powers of the metro mayors which firmly seek to return power from a centralised Westminster to the locality. Furthermore, with local councils responsible for vital local services, voters are beginning to understand the increasingly important role they play in our democratic system – particularly as (Conservative driven) financial cuts starts to bite.

In Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham there is one common thread for the leading mayoral candidates.  ‘An anti-politics, Westminster isn’t working for us’ agenda. Andy Burnham has declared to Greater Manchester’s electorate that he wants to be Mayor because he cares passionately about the region and wants to make a positive difference to people’s lives.  Something he has, seemingly, realised he couldn’t do after spending over a decade in Westminster holding some of the highest political posts in the land.  In Liverpool, Steve Rotheram’s election material proudly declares ‘Steve Rotheram, One of Us’.  Several years in Westminster with ‘them’ has convinced him that he too can only make a difference by returning home to become Metro Mayor.  And it’s not exclusive to the Labour Party either,  if you look at Andy Street, the Conservative candidate in the West Midlands, his pitch is one of independence, a local businessman with the know-how to bring politicians, councils and businesses together to get things done in the West Midlands.

Tomorrow’s local elections are not simply about street lights and bin collections – as vital as these services are. As more and more powers are devolved to the regions, it is the council chamber and not the green seats of Westminster that can have the more tangible impact on people’s day to day lives.

So, with apathy having long pervaded local elections and turnout usually expected to be only one third of registered voters compared to two thirds for a general election, the newly created metro mayor seats have the potential to turn that around. Tomorrow will see campaigners hitting the streets in a last effort to get out the vote, let’s just hope that the message of the importance of these elections, and the potential power they can wield, has not been lost on voters.

Here at Iceni Engagement we will be reviewing the results that matter the most and providing a helpful overview – watch this space.