UK holds local elections

LONDON

British voters cast their votes in local elections on Thursday to determine councillors in some regions.

The elections in 248 out of 343 councils in the U.K. and 11 councils in Northern Ireland will determine new councillors for a total of 8,425 seats for the next term.

Currently, more than half of the local councils are controlled by the ruling Conservative Party and 67 by Labour Party.

Thursday’s elections are important as they will show British voters' preferences after more than three years of Brexit negotiations which have resulted in a stalemate.

The U.K. was set to leave the EU on March 31 but the Brexit date has been extended twice so far.

The voting will end at 10 p.m. local time (0900GMT).