Twenty-nine English Councils To Delay Elections, Minister Confirms

Jennifer McKiernan,Political reporterand

Alex Forsyth,Political correspondent

PA Media

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed says the move will save ‘tens of millions’ of pounds

The minister responsible for council elections has confirmed that 29 English councils planning elections for May will now have these postponed.

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed told the House of Commons he had approved delays until 2027, with a final application still under consideration due to it being submitted on Thursday morning.

Opposition MPs have criticised the decision, saying delays would potentially disenfranchise millions of voters, but Reed stressed the “vast majority” of elections would still be going ahead.

A major shake-up of local government is underway, which will abolish some authorities, and postponing ballots is intended to help deliver that reorganisation.

The rejig of local government will replace the two-tier system of district and county councils that exists in many parts of England with new ‘unitary’ councils responsible for delivering all councils services in their area.

The government has said some councils were concerned about their capacity to run the polls alongside the overhaul of town halls, as well as the cost to taxpayers of holding elections for councils that are due to be abolished.

There were originally 136 local elections across England that were scheduled for May. Of these, 63 were eligible to request a postponement due to local government reorganisation, and up to 30 of those have now been delayed.

In a statement to the Commons, Reed said he had listened “carefully” to 350 representations about whether the elections should go ahead and confirmed legislation to allow postponement for 29 would now be brought forward.

“I have received one further representation this morning and I will consider, then report back to the House on my decision,” Reed said.

“In all other areas, council elections will go ahead as planned, many having offered no evidence that it would delay reorganisation in their areas.

“This means, of the 136 local elections across England that were scheduled for May, the vast majority will go ahead as planned.”

The delays were needed so the issue of duplication across local government could be tackled, he said, accusing the Conservatives of having “sat back and ignored this problem” for the last 14 years.

Reed said the aim was to save “tens of millions of pounds” of taxpayer money that was currently being wasted by some citizens having to shell out for “two sets of councillors, two sets of chief executives, and two sets of financial directors”.

“We must move at pace to remove the confusion and waste of doubled-up bureaucracy,” he said.

“No-one would ever design a system where one council collects your rubbish but another gets rid of it.”

Most wanting a delay are Labour-led, but three are Conservative-led and one is Liberal Democrat. Some of the councils that have asked for a delay are run by more than one party, or independents.

The decision to postpone elections has been criticised by opposition parties.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey claimed Labour was “running scared of the electorate” and “denying millions of people a voice at May’s local elections”.

He called for a change in the law so MPs can vote on any future election delays and hold the government to account.

Speaking in the Commons, Reed’s Conservative counterpart James Cleverly said elections are the cornerstone of democracy, attacking Labour for “moving seamlessly from arrogance to incompetence and now cowardice”.

Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick, who defected from the Conservatives last week, claimed delaying local council elections for a second year is “almost certainly illegal”.

In his previous role as communities secretary, Jenrick had also delayed local elections in areas undergoing reorganisation, including in Cumbria, Somerset and North Yorkshire in 2021.

Responding, Reed claimed Jenrick had failed “to act on eliminating waste” by not removing the two-tier council system, and quoted a statement Jenrick gave in 2021: “Elections in such circumstances risk confusing voters and would be hard to justify where members could be elected to serve shortened terms.”

Asked about the legal action Reform is bringing against the decision, with a hearing scheduled for 19 February, Reed said it would be “entirely inappropriate” for him to comment on legal proceedings.

The Electoral Commission, which oversees elections in the UK, has said delays to council elections in England risk “damaging public confidence” and it did not think “capacity constraints are a legitimate reason for delaying long-planned elections”.

Holding elections this year means some of the councils up for election this year will be folded into new unitary councils in 2027 or 2028, so councillors may only be in office for a year. Others may end up serving extended terms of up to seven years.

Here is the full list of councils which have asked to postpone their elections.