A total of 311 candidates will be contesting the borough’s 63 seats in May reports David Floyd

The candidates for May’s election to Barnet Council were announced on Friday with 311 hopefuls battling to win 63 seats across the borough’s 24 wards.

Labour, which currently leads the council, is standing a full slate of 63 candidates, as are the Conservatives, the Greens and Reform UK.

The Liberal Democrats have 45 candidates, while there will be eight representatives of Rejoin EU up standing, along with five independents and one candidate from the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.

Perhaps surprisingly, the left-wing Your Party, whose most prominent member nationally is former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, is not running any candidates in the borough.

May’s vote might at one point have been likely to be straight two-way fight between Labour and the Conservatives, who were the only parties to win seats last time around in 2022.

However, the unpopularity of the Labour government at a national level alongside the growing popularity of both Reform UK and the Greens mean the contest is now hard to predict.

The deadline to register to vote is 20th April and information on how to register is available here.

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