Dozens of local authorities are set to accept Keir Starmer’s offer to avoid going to the polls this May.
Starmer’s latest delay has been slammed (Image: PA)
As many as 22 Labour councils are set to accept Keir Starmer’s offer of delaying elections in their area this May, depriving millions of Britons their say on who governs them. Five Labour councils have already confirmed they will delay the May vote, with as many as 17 considering doing so.
This comes in addition to two Conservative councils – East and West Sussex – though the Tories are pressing ahead with far more across England and ignoring the delay option. By contrast just four Labour councils have declined the Prime Minister’s offer of a delay, namely Portsmouth, Rushmoor, Southampton and West Lancashire. In December Sir Keir was accused of running scared from voters, after the government moved to delay up to 63 council votes.
Nigel Farage said Starmer was acting like a ‘Banana republic’ (Image: PA)
Labour is currently overseeing sweeping reforms to councils, including the abolition of some discrict councils and merging them with larger unitary authorities. Ministers have argued that holding elections for councils that would be abolished shortly afterwards makes little sense.
However, opposition parties including Reform UK and the Tories have condemned yet another years-worth of election delays. Among the Labour councils having made a decision to delay their next elections are: Hyndburn, Preston, Blackburn with Darwen, Chorley, and Exeter.
Just one Lib Dem council – Cheltenham – has so far moved to delay, with eight of the party’s other local authorities pressing ahead with votes.
Last month Sir Keir’s latest election delay was condemned by the official independent watchdog as illegitimate and concerning.
The Electoral Commission warned: “Voters must have a say on those that represent them at local government. We are disappointed by both the timing and substance of the statement. Scheduled elections should as a rule go ahead as planned, and only be postponed in exceptional circumstances.”
“We are concerned by the possibility of some council elections in May being postponed, and even more by any further postponement to those which already had been deferred from 2025.”
Chief Executive Vijay Rangarajan added: “As a matter of principle, we do not think that capacity constraints are a legitimate reason for delaying long planned elections.”
“Extending existing mandates risks affecting the legitimacy of local decision making and damaging public confidence. There is a clear conflict of interest in asking existing Councils to decide how long it will be before they are answerable to voters.”
the Tories’ Sir James Cleverly accused Labour of running “scared from the voters”.
He blasted: “Labour promised council elections would go ahead as planned as recently as last week. Now they’re saying they won’t. Another broken promise. Voters will now be denied the right to elect their own representatives – and not for the first time under this Labour Government.
“Labour are scared of the voters. They thought they could completely overhaul local government and stack the deck in their favour. They were wrong. Earlier this month, Labour cancelled mayoral elections and now they are at it again with council elections, fiddling the democratic process to serve their own political interests.
“It cannot be right that some elected representatives will now be serving seven year terms. The Electoral Commission warned the Government that elections should not be delayed by more than a year, but that has clearly fallen on deaf ears. Labour pushed these changes through at an unrealistic pace and are now blaming local leaders for not being ready.
“Labour talk a good game about empowering communities but they have shown their true colours with their top-down approach to local government and their disdain for local democracy. Only the Conservatives will ensure residents get a fair deal.”
However Nigel Farage slammed the Tories, and demanded that Kemi Badenoch instruct Conservative council leaders to allow elections to go ahead.
The Reform UK leader blasted: “Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas. Tory County Councils look set to collude with Labour to keep their control until 2027. Only banana republics ban elections, that’s what we have under Starmer.”
