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In many of our town halls they're calling 5 May 'Super Thursday'.

Not only will every council be holding elections for district or borough councillors, there will also be the AV referendum and many places will also have parish elections. As if that's not enough, in there's also a new mayor to elect.

No surprise then that many returning officers expect to be counting into the weekend.

With all our councils having just cut jobs and services, these elections are being seen as a chance for people to either express their anger or to give their backing to the coalition's policy of bringing down the deficit fast by making large scale cuts.

Labour is talking about these elections marking the start of a revival in the East. The Greens and UKIP are excitedly talking about becoming the parties for disaffected Liberal Democrat and Conservative voters. The Lib Dems are telling us that they could gain votes from the Conservatives. The Conservatives admit they were at a high threshold last time, which will be difficult to sustain.

In the East most of our councils are run by the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats control Bedford, Cambridge, Northampton and North Norfolk. Labour have Corby, Luton and Stevenage, while Babergh, Colchester, Ipswich, Milton Keynes, Norwich and Tendring are in No Overall Control.

A handful of councils may change hands. But what could be more interesting in these elections is the number of seats which each party wins or loses.

At the moment - across all 45 councils in the East - the Conservatives have 1,224 councillors, the Liberal Democrats 396, Labour 250, the Greens 21 and UKIP 3. There are also 131 Independent councillors.

How different these figures are after 'Super Thursday' will be a useful barometer about political opinion in the East.

It will also give us some idea of what the public really thinks about the cuts and savings which our councils have had to make.. and will have to continue to make.

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