Local elections face further delays as councils struggle to reorganise in time | England

The government has announced that local elections may be postponed again due to the lack of capacity for the merged councils to reorganise, triggering claims from opposition parties that Labor is “scared of the electorate”.

Sixty-three council areas may choose to postpone elections until 2027 after some were postponed until May 2026 due to the consolidation of two-tier authorities into single unitary councils.

Elections for new mayors in four parts of England are already being postponed; It was announced earlier this month that the newly created mayoralties in Greater Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, Hampshire and the Solent, and Sussex and Brighton will be contested for the first time in 2028 under the plans.

Local government minister Alison McGovern told the House of Commons on Thursday that she and her colleagues had heard from councils who said they did not have the capacity to restructure within the current timeframe.

He said: “The number of councils raising such concerns has increased as final proposals have been submitted in recent weeks.

“Many councils across the country and from all walks of life have expressed concerns about the ability to hold resource-intensive elections for councils proposed for abolition at short notice, as well as their ability to ensure a smooth and safe transition to new councils.

“They expressed concern about the time and energy spent on running elections that will soon cease to exist but have elections a year from now.”

Conservative shadow local government minister Paul Holmes likened the government’s approach to the fictional Christmas figure the Grinch.

He said: “While many people gather around their screens to watch films like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, we sit here discussing how Labor tried to steal the election.”

Holmes continued: “Earlier this month Labor canceled the mayoral election because they were worried they wouldn’t win.

“Now they are doing the same in local elections, stopping the democratic process to serve their own political interests, creating a real nightmare for themselves in the run-up to Christmas.

“This process was a mess from start to finish, it was unwanted, it was not included in their manifesto and it was centrally dictated.”

Shadow local government secretary James Cleverly wrote of X: “Labour promised council elections would go ahead as planned last week. Now they say they won’t. Another broken promise.”

He wisely told the Daily Mail: “Labour is afraid of voters. They thought they could completely overhaul local government and turn the tables in their favour. They were wrong.”

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “This looks like yet another plot by Labor and the Conservative Party to stop people voting in May.

“Kemi Badenoch must stop Conservative council leaders from delaying elections again simply because they are afraid of the Liberal Democrats.”

McGovern also told the House of Commons that Whitehall did not want to dictate local decisions without consultation and that they would “listen to local leaders” about what is right for each area.

“To be clear, if a council says they have no reason to delay their election, there will be no delay.

“If a council raises genuine concerns we will take these matters seriously and may allow a delay in these areas.”

Ministers invited 63 regions to express their views, with a deadline of January 15.