Who's afraid of the voters?

The Labour government invited 63 councils which were due to hold elections in May this year to consider postponing them. A survey by the Daily Telegraph of which councils have taken up the offer or are considering doing so makes interesting reading.

Of nine Conservative councils which replied, seven have voted to go ahead with elections this year and ruled out asking to postpone them, and only two have applied to put the polls back. 

Of nine Lib/Dem controlled councils which replied, eight have voted to go ahead with elections this year and ruled out asking to postpone them, and only one has applied to put the polls back.

Of the Labour councils which replied, those in Hyndburn, Chorley, Preston and Blackburn with Darwen told The Telegraph they had requested a delay to the poll.

The Labour leadership in Exeter is also suggesting a delay, saying it would save money and allow officers to concentrate on the reorganisation. A formal decision will be taken in the next few days.

In 17 Labour areas, the councils have not ruled out delays and say they will make a decision by the government’s deadline of Jan 15.

Four Labour council have voted to go ahead with elections in May 2026

In one council with no overall control, Nuneaton and Bedworth, where Labour runs a minority administration, the party wants to delay the elections but the Conservatives do not.

Overall, of councils with no overall control (NOC), none have yet said they want a delay. Seven have rejected one, while eight either said they had not yet made a decision or did not reply to the survey.


So the picture is complicated with exceptions to all these generalisations, but it would appear that the great majority of both Conservative and Liberal Democrat controlled councils given the option to defer elections this year have declined it and voted to go ahead with elections in 2026, councils with no overall control have either voted to go ahead with elections in 2026 or are yet to decide, while of Labour councils a small number have voted to go ahead with elections, a slightly larger number have voted to defer them, and most are yet to decide.


I don't think it would be unfair to say that most Conservative and Lib/Dem councillors seem rather less afraid of facing the electorate this year than at least some Labour councillors.

Nor would it be unfair to say that this survey refutes allegations from Reform UK that the attempt to defer elections is an established party or "Uniparty" stitch-up: it was the Labour government that proposed it, and most Conservative and Lib/Dem councils have turned the offer down.


A Conservative spokesman said: “Labour are denying democracy and running scared of voters because they know they are in for a pasting at the ballot box. Local democracy should not be cancelled for a second year in a row, with councillors facing seven-year terms, and residents banned from voting yet again.”


A spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said: “The Government’s actions mean that 10 million people could see their democratic right to an election this May, and choice over who governs them locally, ripped away. We’re calling on the Government to reverse course and take these proposals off the table.”









You can find a summary of the Telegraph article online at

Twenty-two Labour councils set to delay local elections

Posting the above link does not represent an endorsement of that headline. Twenty-two is the number of  Labour councils who have voted to delay elections plus the rather larger number who have not made a decision yet.

Comments

Chris Whiteside said…
A previous and almost identical version of this post with a slightly different title was deleted while I was trying to link to Facebook.
4:05 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
The previous version was called "Which councils have supported delaying elections." Deleting it and re-posting was the only way I could get Facebook to tag an up-to-date picture like the ballot box rather than an old quote of the day from Bismarck which had o relevance to the topic at issue.
4:08 pm
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