Some Conservatives suggested framing the London Mayoral election as a de facto referendum on the ULEZ,[7] which could impact parties' attitudes towards environmental policy.
In late 2023, Labour suggested persistently high interest rates were going to cause a surge in mortgage costs affecting 630,000 homeowners who would re-mortgage between then and the local elections in May.
[9] As the elections neared, there were suggestions that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's leadership would be challenged if the results went poorly for his party, particularly if the Conservatives lost either the West Midlands or Tees Valley mayoralties.
[10] Sunak quickly sought to insist to his own MPs that he would still be the Prime Minister after these elections, even if the results were poor for his party.
[11][12] Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden insisted that the 2024 local elections would be safe from cyberattacks whilst discussing Chinese state-linked hacking.
[15] Also in March 2024, Lewis Baston, a political analyst and author, posted that his analysis showed the Conservative Party was due to lose over 50% of their seats which are not changing boundaries.
[17] Analysts Michael Thrasher and Colin Rallings also said the Conservative Party was expected to lose half its seats at this election if a similar result to 2023 was repeated.
They said their key findings were that they "expected Labour to make significant gains across the country, but that stories will emerge from specific local authorities which could leave every party with pleasing news".
[23] On 20 March 2024, the Liberal Democrats launched their local election campaign in Harpenden, Hertfordshire where Ed Davey turned a giant hourglass which revealed the words "Time's running out Rishi!".
[26] On 22 March 2024, Rishi Sunak launched the Conservative's local election campaign by appearing at a bus depot in Heanor, Derbyshire, alongside East Midlands mayoral candidate Ben Bradley.
[27][28] Due to "human error" 13 of the 35 Conservative candidates were invalidly nominated for Castle Point Borough Council seats, meaning they would not appear on the ballot.
[29] On 28 March 2024, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner launched Labour's campaign for the local elections at an event in Dudley.
[31] The Green Party of England and Wales officially launched its national campaign at an event in Bristol on 4 April 2024.
[48] BBC analysis of the 2024 United Kingdom local election results said that Labour vote share had fallen 21 percentage points in council wards where more than 20% of residents are Muslim and analysis by Number Cruncher Politics found that Labour lost 33 percentage points in majority-Muslim areas.
[59] The Social Democratic Party won their third seat on the Leeds City Council in the Middleton Park ward, defeating the sitting Labour councillor.
Three district councils elect all their councillors on a four-year cycle that includes 2024, with North Hertfordshire changing from the thirds system for the first time.