Across England and Wales, voters will be going to the polls to elect local councillors, police and crime commissioners, directly elected mayors and a Member of Parliament for Blackpool South. Polls are open 7am to 10pm and you can find your polling station at: https://wheredoivote.co.uk
 
Voters will have to prove their identity by showing photo identification at the polling
station, details of valid forms of ID can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/how-to-vote/photo-idyoull-need
 
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “Usdaw is urging our members to vote today and asking them to support their local Labour candidates. Labour is focussed on making Britain stronger and fairer after years of Tory austerity, chaos and their cost of living crisis.
 
“Only Labour offers the change that our members need. We've seen the choices this Government has made. Crashing the economy, causing huge rises in housing costs, while providing tax breaks for the richest and their failure to help working people through the worst cost of living crisis in nearly 50 years.
 
“All of this on top of years of cuts and neglect of the public services we rely on. Every one of these decisions is affected by the politicians we elect. A vote for Labour today is a vote to build a stronger, fairer Britain with Labour elected representatives prioritising security, prosperity and respect for working people.”
 
Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is one of the fastest growing unions in the TUC and the UK's fifth biggest trade union with around 360,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion