Dear Constituent,
Thank you for contacting me about the Government’s plans to cancel local elections.
I am clear that elections should not be postponed, and it is unacceptable that the Government is seeking to cancel elections throughout the country, now for a second year. My colleagues and I in Opposition did not support postponing these elections.
A vital part of our constitution relies on strict upper time limits between one election and the next; these cannot change at the convenience of the Government. Voters need to know with certainty how long a term of office is when they cast their vote for a candidate. While the Government argues that aligning electoral timetables with proposed structural changes is necessary to reduce costs and simplify the transition, I am concerned that extending councillors’ terms without public consent undermines the process and sets a troubling precedent.
Indeed, on 19 January, my colleague James Cleverly MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, submitted an Urgent Question, causing the Minister to be summoned to the House of Commons to answer for this. You can read the full debate here.
Regrettably, the Government has put many local authorities – including a disproportionately high number of Conservative-led local authorities - in difficult positions. They have legislated to impose complex reorganisation on local authorities and subsequently presented the postponement of local elections as an ‘option’ to them, even though many councils feel they have little genuine choice in the matter, due to the complexity and sheer scale of the reorganisation.
The Leader of His Majesty’s Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, has made clear she wants to see all scheduled elections go ahead. However, she has also made clear that it is not for her to overrule local authorities where they feel, as a result of the chaos caused by this Government’s mandated local government reorganisation, that they have been left with no other option but to do so.
I, and my colleagues in HM Opposition, will continue to monitor this situation and any updates, and maintain to hold the Government to account on this matter.
Yours sincerely,
