Labour is quietly confident of making significant gains in today’s local elections in England, particularly London, in the first electoral test since Theresa May’s ill-fated decision to call a general election last June.

Analysts are predicting that Jeremy Corbyn’s party could be on course to pick up an extra 200 seats with the Conservatives losing around 75.

Contests are being staged across 150 councils with more than 4,300 seats up for grabs; there are no elections at all this year in Scotland.

London will gain most of the attention with Labour looking to pick up seats and even gain control of some traditional Tory heartlands.

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John McDonnell, however, has played down expectations his party could seize the Conservative bastions of Westminster, Wandsworth, and Kensington and Chelsea; the latter being where the Grenfell fire tragedy took place.

“It will be a good night,” declared the Shadow Chancellor, “but we’re being set up by the Tories and the media, so if there’s a single Tory councillor left in this country, we’ll have failed.”

Noting how taking over individual councils was very difficult, he added: “In Wandsworth, there’s a real grassroots campaign going on there but we’ll have to see how that goes on the night.”

While Mr McDonnell suggested voters could now be willing to face higher council tax bills in return for better services, Mr Corbyn claimed it was “almost certainly” the case that Tory austerity had increased the death rate.

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Results will start coming through in the early hours of Friday and continue throughout the day with most in by late afternoon.

Labour HQ is hoping that the local elections will help boost the party’s lagging fortunes; despite all the Tory woes from Brexit to Windrush, a snapshot at the weekend had Mrs May’s party five points clear while another earlier this week put the two main parties neck and neck.

Meanwhile, social media reports suggested residents in areas piloting the UK Government’s controversial ID trials to reduce voter fraud had been barred from voting.

Labour said this showed the “mistaken policy...has no place in our democracy".

One of its MPs, Ellie Reeves, who represents Lewisham West and Penge in London, wrote on Twitter: "Just been to vote. Was informed that two people had already turned up without ID this morning so had been unable to vote.

"Very worrying and backs up all the evidence that the voter ID pilot in Bromley is plain wrong."

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Elsewhere, a man was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm at a polling station in West Tyrone, where there was a Westminster by-election following the resignation of former Sinn Fein MP Barry McElduff.