1 p.m.: Durham is proper Labour heartland territory. Until 2021, the party had controlled the county for a century. After mopping up every seat here in the general election, this was seen as Labour’s best chance of regaining control of a council. But Farage has been campaigning hard here personally and hopes to make real inroads. The Conservatives are likely to lose their slender majority in Lancashire in the coming hour.
2.30 p.m.: Hull and East Yorkshire is a new mayoralty where four parties are vying for the title — Lib Dems, Labour, Tories and Reform’s Luke Campbell, who was ahead of the pack in YouGov’s poll. The 37-year-old Olympic boxing gold medalist could be one to watch.
3 p.m.: Council candidates in Labour-held Doncaster will start to hear their fate before the really tricky times begin for the Tories.Buckinghamshire is about as blue as it gets, so if that slips into no overall control then the grimmest of Tory predictions could come true. A slim silver lining for the Tories could come if former MP Paul Bristow takes the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoralty from Labour.
4 p.m.: The Lib Dems reckon on a good night they could take control of Shropshire, but they’ll also be looking for gains in Gloucestershire and to do well in Oxfordshire. It’s from this point that losses from numerous Tory-held councils could start picking up.
5 p.m.: Reform will hope to do particularly well on Lincolnshire council — one of the most Brexit-backing counties, and home to the Commons seat of deputy leader Richard Tice.
6 p.m.: Cornwall, Wiltshire, Cambridgeshire and Devon are top places where the Lib Dems hope to make gains in what could be a golden hour for Ed Davey’s gang.
7 p.m.: Kent should be one of the final councils to declare. A loss of control in the once-true-blue Garden of England would be another humiliating result for Badenoch, considering the Tories’ currently have 49 councillors more than the second-placed Lib Dems.
This guide originally appeared in POLITICO London Playbook.