英国新闻听力 英国地方选举 伦敦备受关注（在线收听）

Voters in England and Wales are going to the polls in local elections. They're the first major election tests since Gordon Brown replaced Tony Blair as Prime Minister last year. The most high profile contest is one for mayor of London. Oliver Conway reports.

Polls are being held in 137 of the local authorities in England and all 22 in Wales. All together about 4,000 seats are being contested, roughly 1/5 of the total. Although many of the campaigns have focused on local issues, the results are likely to be seen as an indicator for how the parties may fire in the next general election, which must take place by 2020. In particular, all sides will be watching the battle of becoming Mayor of London. With an annual budget of more than 11 billion pounds of stake, the party that wins London will get a huge symbolic boost nationally.