More than 75 council seats are contested in a wave of local by-elections, according to reporting from both outlets. The contests take place across councils in the UK as separate elections from the main local government elections held on May 7 in England, Scotland and Wales. Many of the by-elections are linked to vacancies that arise around the same time as the scheduled elections, resulting in multiple seats being decided in a short period. The coverage describes a flurry of separate races rather than a single nationwide vote, with each seat contested in its own ward or division. The reporting does not indicate that the by-elections are part of the May 7 election day itself, but instead highlights that the timing creates overlap with that broader election period. Overall, the outlets agree on the scale of the contests—over 75 council seats—and that the by-elections are occurring in conjunction with the wider electoral cycle following May 7.