Chris Mason: Elections this week a smorgasbord of competitiveness

Chris Mason: Elections this week a smorgasbord of competitivenessJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleChris MasonPolitical editorIan Forsyth via Getty ImagesThere are now just days left before a vital set of elections around Britain on Thursday, which will determine who spends billions of pounds of taxpayers' money and will shape the mood and career prospects of political leaders in town halls, in Holyrood, in the Senedd and in Westminster.Depending on where you are reading this, your doormat may have been carpeted with colourful leaflets for weeks and your TV and social media feeds chocca with political promises. You may already have voted - postal votes have been arriving with people and been posted back for some time now. Or perhaps you are in Northern Ireland or the parts of England without elections this year and this is all stuff happening elsewhere.Wherever you are, these elections matter and tell us something about the British political tussle of the mid-2020s.In recent years, the palette of popular political parties has widened.For decades, Labour and the Conservatives were the primary colours of British politics. Not the only parties, for sure, but - most of the time at least - standing tall compared with their Westminster rivals. Now, almost wherever you look, politics feels like it is changing.As well as Labour and the Conservatives, in the English local contests there are the Liberal Democrats, there is Reform UK, there is the Green Party of England and Wales and there are often competitive independents too. In the devolved elections, in Wales there is Plaid Cymru, which would one day like to see an independent Wales, and in Scotland, there are the Scottish Green Party and the Scottish National Party, both of whom would like to see Scotland become independent.Most of these parties have been around for a long time, Reform UK less so. But what has changed is they all appear more competitive in more places than they used to be. And this has coin...