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Elections to local councils serving millions of people could be delayed for a second year running, as the government’s efforts to reorganise local government hits another speed bump.
The Conservative-held councils of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Surrey, East and West Sussex, and Hampshire had initially seen their elections delayed by a year until May 2026 to allow for the reorganisation process to take place, Sky News understands.
While Surrey and Hampshire are likely to see their elections go ahead, those in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and East and West Sussex could be postponed by another year until 2027, as the process is taking longer than expected.
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As first reported by The Times, ministers are expected to ask the county councils if they want to delay their elections, and if so, the decisions will be confirmed in January.
This comes after Local Government Secretary Steve Reed said in the House of Commons in November that the elections were expected to go ahead, and one of his ministers, Miatta Fahnbulleh, said earlier this month that “local elections will go ahead in 2026”.
This latest delay to elections comes after the government postponed the elections for the new mayoralties of Essex, Hampshire and the Solent, Sussex and Brighton, and Norfolk and Suffolk until 2028.
As part of its pledge to expand devolution, the government is combining some smaller district councils into bigger “strategic authorities” with more sway over their areas.
It follows Labour’s manifesto promise to “deepen” and “widen” devolution, with more areas expected to take on the mayoral combined authority (CA) model like that headed by Sadiq Khan in Greater London.
But this latest delay to elections has triggered fury from opposition parties, with Reform UK accusing the Labour government of “colluding with the Tories” to lock them out of power.
Party leader Nigel Farage said: “Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas. Tory County Councils look set to collude with Labour to keep their control until 2027.
“Only a banana republic bans elections, that’s what we have under [Sir Keir] Starmer. Kemi Badenoch must instruct her council leaders to allow elections to go ahead.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey echoed that sentiment, saying: “This is looking like yet another Labour and Conservative stitch-up to deny people their votes in May.
“Kemi Badenoch must stop her Conservative council leaders from delaying elections yet again just because they are running scared of the Liberal Democrats.”
But Tory shadow local government secretary Sir James Cleverly hit out at the government for “blaming local leaders for not being ready”.
He added: “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.”
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been contacted for comment.
