The government has U-turned on its decision to postpone 30 local elections across England, which are due to take place in May. How did we get here, and why?
What was the original plan, and why was it done?
In January the government confirmed local elections affecting about 4 million people across England would be postponed amid slow-moving efforts to reorganise the structure of local government.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) stressed it was a postponement and not a cancellation. Under plans to end the two-tier system of local government throughout much of England, district and county councils taking on different responsibilities in the same area would be replaced by single-tier “unitary” authorities.
With the MHCLG saying elections for these new councils would be held in 2027, the argument was that it was an unnecessary expense to hold dozens of elections for a single year, and that the existing councillors could carry on. But with nine councils having postponed elections in 2025 for the same reason, some areas were facing a two-year delay.
Why the change of plans?
The MHCLG press release announcing the U-turn cited only “legal advice”. However, it is more specific than that – Reform UK has begun a legal challenge to the decision under the judicial review process, and the government backed down.
A letter posted on social media by Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, showed the Government Legal Department confirming that Steve Reed, the housing and communities secretary, had decided to hold the 30 elections “in the light of recent legal advice” – ie the government had been advised it would probably lose.
What councils are affected, and who currently controls them?
This is done by the affiliation of the council leader – some will be minority administrations or coalitions:
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
What was the political context to the postponement?
While ministers insisted this was merely a sensible way to allocate resources amid a long-overdue streamlining of everyday services that affect millions of people, opposition parties objected vehemently, saying it was an affront to democracy. Given the high percentage of Labour-run councils involved, Downing Street was accused of trying to massage the effect of what is expected to be a terrible set of local election results in May.
A number of Labour MPs were also concerned, both about the postponements but also whether such a massive reorganisation of councils was a useful thing to do.
What has been the reaction to the U-turn?
Overwhelmingly positive. The Conservatives, Reform, Liberal Democrats and Greens have hailed the restoration of the elections, while also savaging ministers for postponing them in the first place.
Local government groups also said this had been an avoidable error, with one saying the government “has lost a fight it should never have picked”. Florence Eshalomi, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons housing, communities and local government committee, who opposed the original plan, said: “I welcome this development. As I argued previously, democracy is not an inefficiency that should be cut out during a local government reorganisation process.”
How damaging is it politically for Keir Starmer’s government?
It is far from ideal, not least as the “Day since a humiliating U-turn” counter is now turned back to zero again. As well as being forced by Reform to back down, Labour now faces what will probably be even more of a kicking at the local elections. It is one thing to change course and another to do so when being told that your course of action would probably be struck down by a court.
