Perhaps it will be the indifferent bin collection, the closure of the local swimming pool or the number of potholes in your street?

Or will it be the way the Government in Westminster has performed in recent months? If you are a Northern Rock shareholder, someone who is struggling to find a mortgage deal or a pensioner facing soaring energy bills, there might be more pressing issues than the state of the pavements.

The turnout in next week's local elections is very likely to be higher than normal. The problem is that this new democratic fervour is more likely to be fuelled by anger at what is happening in London rather than any decisions taken in Leeds, Sheffield or York.

Labour's opponents will understandably revel in Gordon Brown's discomfort if the party's performance on May 1 is as dreadful as forecast.

However, the cause of local democracy will have been dealt another heavy blow.

With General Elections occurring only every four or five years, there is a degree of inevitability about voters using the more frequent council elections as a form of official nationwide opinion poll on the Government's record.

Yet this undermines the authority of councils if diligent Labour councillors across Yorkshire lose their seats because of national factors – like mortgage costs and the 10p tax rate farce – which are outside their control.

There is now nothing in the system to encourage voters to focus on the way their council is run. Voters feel free to use council elections as a national poll precisely because they do not believe it will make a significant difference to council services, whoever is in control.

Even if a voter does want to cast their ballot on local issues, it is far from straightforward. For example, they might be inclined to vote against the party in power if council tax bills have risen significantly.

Yet councils complain every year that bills are rising because the Government is providing insufficient grants (which form the bulk of town hall funding) rather than their own poor financial planning.