Twenty-two Labour councils set to delay local elections

Labour is poised to postpone elections in 22 areas as Reform UK continues to ride high in the polls.

An investigation by The Telegraph has revealed that the party has decided to delay this May’s elections in five areas and is considering doing so in a further 17. Only four Labour authorities have ruled out delays.

By contrast, only two Conservative councils and one Liberal Democrat council favour a delay, and seven Tory areas and eight Lib Dem districts have ruled them out.

Steve Reed, the Communities Secretary, said last month that he would give 63 areas the opportunity to postpone polls due in May until 2027 to allow them to concentrate on local government reorganisation.

While most local authorities are set to reject the delay, Labour councils in Hyndburn, Chorley, Preston and Blackburn with Darwen told The Telegraph they had requested one.

These are all areas where polls show that Nigel Farage’s party is expected to do well. In Hyndburn, a recent poll found Reform was on 39 per cent, while Labour was in third place on 16 per cent.

Mr Farage said elections were being cancelled to save Labour from embarrassment in May. “This is the kind of outrageous behaviour you expect from a banana republic,” he said. “Labour is damaging our democracy.”

Four of Labour’s delays are in northern England, where a recent poll found Reform was on 29 per cent and Labour on 25 per cent.

A constituency poll found that in Preston, Reform stands at 30 per cent compared to Labour’s 24 per cent. In Blackburn, Labour is in fourth place, behind an independent, the Greens and Reform.

The Labour leadership in Exeter is also suggesting a delay, saying it would save money and allow officers to concentrate on the reorganisation. A formal decision will be taken in the next few days.

In 17 Labour areas, the councils have not ruled out delays and say they will make a decision by the government’s deadline of Jan 15. In one, Nuneaton and Bedworth, where Labour runs a minority administration, the party wants to delay the elections but the Conservatives do not.

Among the Tory councils asked by the Telegraph whether they would like to delay, just two have said they want to – East Sussex and West Sussex. Seven have rejected a delay already, while two more have yet to make a decision or did not reply to the survey.

Only one Liberal Democrat council, Cheltenham, has said it wants a delay. Eight have said they do not want one, and one has yet to make a decision.

Among councils with no overall control, none have said they want a delay. Seven have rejected one, while eight either said they had not made a decision or did not reply to the survey.

A Conservative spokesman said: “Labour are denying democracy and running scared of voters because they know they are in for a pasting at the ballot box. Local democracy should not be cancelled for a second year in a row, with councillors facing seven-year terms, and residents banned from voting yet again.”

A spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said: “The Government’s actions mean that 10 million people could see their democratic right to an election this May, and choice over who governs them locally, ripped away. We’re calling on the Government to reverse course and take these proposals off the table.”

Elections will be delayed as part of sweeping plans to reorganise local government. Ministers want to scrap district councils and merge them into the county councils to create new unitary authorities providing all services.

There are 204 councils across 21 areas undergoing reorganisation, and 63 of these are scheduled to hold elections in May 2026.

The changes could see elections scrapped in May 2026 before they are held for the new unitary councils in May 2027. These elected councillors would run the new authorities in shadow form until they become fully operational in 2028.

Meanwhile, the old county and district councils would continue in place until their abolition in 2028. County councillors were last elected in 2021, meaning they would end up serving a seven-year term instead of the usual four.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “This is pointless speculation about a process that is still far from complete.

“So far, we’ve only had responses from less than half of the councils due to hold elections this year. These areas are in the best position to judge the impact of postponements on their area, and this government will listen to them.

“There is a clear precedent for postponing local elections where local government reorganisation is in progress, as happened between 2019 and 2021.”

[Source: Daily Telegraph]