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More than a third of local authorities in England have asked to postpone their elections in May, saying they are unable to deliver them effectively during an overhaul of local government, according to administrators.
The requested postponements have sparked unrest and fierce criticism in some councils, with police being called to a council meeting in Redditch this week after insults were traded and members of the public decried a delay as “arrogant”.
Sixty-three council areas could opt to postpone elections until 2027, after some were already delayed until May 2026, as two-tier authorities are being combined into single unitary councils.
According to data compiled by the Association of Electoral Administrators, 27 of the 63 eligible local authorities – more than a third – have sought a postponement to either district or county council votes this year.
Others were yet to make a decision on whether to ask for a delay before the request deadline at midnight on Thursday. Ministers are expected to approve the requests in the coming days.
Among those asking for a postponement are the county councils of East Sussex, West Sussex and Suffolk and the city councils of Exeter, Preston and Peterborough. Other smaller councils requesting a delay include Cheltenham, Hastings, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Ipswich and Redditch borough councils.
The government’s reorganisation of local government replaces the two-tier system of district and county councils that exists in many parts of England with unitary councils responsible for delivering all councils services in their area, which the government says will be more efficient at delivering services such as social care. It will also introduce six more elected mayors – in Cheshire and Warrington, Cumbria, Greater Essex, Hampshire and Solent, Norfolk and Suffolk, and Sussex and Brighton.
The delay means some councillors in England could stay in their role for more than an extra year, with an estimated nearly 600 councillors, including about 200 Labour councillors, unlikely to have to defend their seats.
Critics argue the delay undermines the democratic process. But the local government secretary, Steve Reed, said the public would support cancelling “pointless” elections to “zombie” councils.
Writing in the Times, Reed said local elections were “time consuming and will take scarce resources away from frontline services like fixing potholes and social care”. The government said the changes were a “once-in-a-generation reorganisation that will transform democratic accountability”.
Four of the elections for new mayors had already been postponed. It was announced in December that the mayoralties in Greater Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, Hampshire and the Solent, and Sussex and Brighton would now be first contested in 2028.
Last month the minister for local government reorganisation, Alison McGovern, told the Commons that ministers had heard from councils that said they did not have the capacity required for the reorganisation in the timeframe, and that the government would authorise delays to the polls if there were “genuine concerns” about delivery.
Of those seeking a delay, the majority are Labour-led, three are Conservative-led, one is Liberal Democrat, and the remainder are run by more than one party or by independents, according to the BBC.
This week police were called to a fractious meeting at Redditch borough council, and a Labour councillor apologised for calling a member of the public a Nazi after he was called a “scumbag” during the meeting. About 50 protesters attended the meeting, in which councillors voted to approve an election postponement despite heckles of “shame on you” and “this is no democracy”, the BBC reported.
