Government abandons plans to delay 30 local council elections in May – UK politics live

Kemi Badenoch has posted a statement on social media saying the local elections U-turn shows Keir Starmer is running a “zombie government” that cannot stick to decisions. She says:

This is a zombie government. U-turn after U-turn after U-turn.

No plan or programme to deliver anything. Even the simple stuff that should be business as usual gets messed up.

She also blames Angela Rayner.

The incompetence of Angela Rayner (the supposed leader-in-waiting) who started this when she was running that department has now been exposed.

(This is unfair given that Rayner left the cabinet long before her department took the decision to postpone these elections. But Rayner was in charge when the local government reorganisation started. Today’s announcement contains an implicit admission that reorganisation is costing more than originally planned. See 3.01pm.)

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has welcomed the local elections U-turn. He says it shows why the government should back the Lib Dem proposal to remove the ability of the government to postpone elections using secondary legislation.

He says:

The Liberal Democrats have fought tooth and nail to stop this stitch-up and the government has been forced into a humiliating U-turn. Labour are terrified of Reform and we are the only party willing to stand up to Farage and beat him, as we do week after week in council byelections.

We cannot allow the government to cancel elections on a whim ever again. That is why the Liberal Democrats have brought forward an amendment to change the law, stripping the government of this power and ensuring that the public’s voice is protected by statute, not left to the whims of ministers. Starmer should back these plans immediately.

James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, says Steve Reed’s credibility has now “completely gone” following this U-turn.

I’ve always said these elections should go ahead.

Steve Reed’s credibility is now completely gone. This botched cancellation & U-turn will have cost local government £millions, I don’t think this funding will cover those costs.

Labour is a joke

Here is the list of 30 councils where the government was going to postpone the elections planned for May, but where they will now go ahead.

They are listed according to the party affiliation of the council leader. In most cases, the council will be under majority control, but in some cases a leader affiliated to one party will be heading a minority administration, or will be in coalition with other parties.

Labour – 21

Adur District Council

Basildon Borough Council

Blackburn with Darwen Council

Cannock Chase District Council

Chorley Borough Council

City of Lincoln Council

Crawley Borough Council

Exeter City Council

Hyndburn Borough Council

Ipswich Borough Council

Norwich City Council

Peterborough City Council

Preston City Council

Redditch Borough Council

Rugby Borough Council

Stevenage Borough Council

Tamworth Borough Council

Thurrock Council

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council

West Lancashire Borough Council

Worthing Borough Council

Liberal Democrat – 2

Cheltenham Borough Council

Pendle Borough Council

Conservatives – 5

East Sussex County Council

Harlow District Council

Norfolk County Council

Suffolk County Council

West Sussex County Council

Independent – 1

Burnley Borough Council

Green – 1

Hastings Borough Council

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has released the text of a letter that Steve Reed, the housing secretary, has sent to council leaders about the decision to go ahead with local elections that were going to be postponed.

Reed says the government will allocate £63m to help the councils in England fund the re-organisaton programme. (Areas where county councils operate alongside district councils will see that two-tier system abolished, and unitary councils taking over instead.)

Reed says:

I recognise that many of the local councils undergoing reorganisation voiced genuine concerns about the pressure they are under as we seek to deliver the most ambitious reforms of local government in a generation.

I am therefore announcing today that we will provide up to £63m in additional capacity funding to the 21 local areas undergoing reorganisation across the whole programme, building on the £7.6m provided for developing proposals last year. I will shortly set out further detail about how that funding will be allocated.

My officials will be in touch with those affected councils to understand if any further practical support will be required.

Reed justified his original decision to cancel some elections on the grounds that those councils were all saying holding elections would make reorganisation more difficult.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has issued this statement about the decision not to postpone local elections in 30 areas. A spokesperson said:

Following legal advice, the government has withdrawn its original decision to postpone 30 local elections in May.

Providing certainty to councils about their local elections is now the most crucial thing and all local elections will now go ahead in May 2026.

Whether or not the elections were being cancelled or just postponed is arguable. Future elections were always going to go ahead in these areas, when council reorganisation (the replacement of a two-tier council structure with unitary councils) was complete. So in that sense the elections were just being postponed. But by that point the old councils will no longer be in existence, so elections to those bodies were going to be cancelled.

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has just posted on social media the letter sent out by the government confirming it has dropped its plans to delay elections in 30 council areas.

Farage says:

We took this Labour government to court and won.

In collusion with the Tories, Keir Starmer tried to stop 4.6 million people voting on May 7th.

Only Reform UK fights for democracy

The Times is reporting that the government “has abandoned its attempt to delay elections to 30 councils across the country, after being warned by lawyers that the move would be illegal”.

Reform UK said it was going to challenge this decision via judicial review, and the first mainn court hearing in the case was due later this week.

The government has not commented on the Times story yet. I’ll post their response as soon as I get it.

The Internet Watch Foundation has welcomed the government’s commitment to tighten rules relating to social media and teenagers. (See 9.32am and 11.55am.)
Hannah Swirsky, its head of policy, said:

New tech can be a dangerous frontier. It is crucial legislation can keep pace with the evolving threats …

We are very pleased to see the government taking further steps. Now, we urge them to provide clear guidelines on how companies must build platforms which are safe by design, and where children are a central consideration rather than an afterthought.