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LONDON — Local council and mayoral elections in England and Wales will go ahead, the U.K. government said Friday, as it confirmed it expects its coronavirus vaccination program for first doses to have “reached” all over-50s by May.
Voters will be asked to bring their own pen or pencil on election day — May 6 — and £92 million in government funding will go toward making polling stations “COVID-secure” by providing hand sanitizer and screens. Emergency postal ballots will also be available until 5 p.m. on polling day itself for those who have to self-isolate at short notice, the Cabinet Office said.
The announcement covers local council elections in England and Wales, mayoral elections in several regions — including London — and crime commissioner elections. Scottish and Welsh parliamentary elections are also scheduled to be held in May, but are the responsibility of the Scottish and Welsh governments and not covered by Friday’s announcement.
With the U.K. only just past the peak of a devastating winter wave of coronavirus infections, there had been doubts over the viability of the May elections. But the announcement appears to confirm that the first jab of a vaccine will have reached all nine of the U.K. government’s priority groups, including all over-50s, by then. So far, the government had only committed publicly to achieving this “by the spring.”
“The UK’s vaccination programme is planned to have reached all nine priority cohorts by May, meaning that the Government can commit to go ahead with these polls with confidence — and maintain the choice for voters between voting in person or remotely,” the Cabinet Office said in a press release.
The U.K. minister for the constitution and devolution, Chloe Smith, said: “As the Government rolls out the vaccine to the most vulnerable, we will be able to leave lockdown and open our country up safely again. We will work with political parties to ensure that these important elections are free and fair.”
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