It's been three years since the 2,600 council seats up for grabs this week were in play - and Sir Keir Starmer couldn't be in a more different place as he goes into polling day.  Back in 2021, facing an ascending Boris Johnson, Sir Keir lost the Hartlepool by-election, hundreds of councillors and a clutch of councils.

It was, Sir Keir tells me on his final election rally in the Essex town of Harlow - where Labour wants to take the council off the Tories this week and win the constituency back at the general election - a "low point.