Half of England’s county councils due to hold elections could ask for delay – reports | Local elections

Half of the county councils due to have elections in England this spring could ask to have them postponed.

Local elections are due to take place in 21 county council areas in England in May, but at least 12 of them are poised to ask ministers for a delay, the BBC and the Times reported.

Angela Rayner, the local government secretary, has given councils until Friday to request their elections be delayed so that they can explore the potential for restructuring their local authority as part of devolution plans.

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has reacted furiously to the potential delay. Several of the councils that have asked to postpone the ballots, including Essex and Thurrock, are key Reform target areas.

Zia Yusuf, Reform’s chair, posted on X: “Labour and the Tories are so terrified of Reform’s rise that they are colluding to rob the British people of their democratic rights.” The potential delays have also drawn backlash from some local leaders.

Ministers announced a major redesign of local government in December, where smaller district councils and larger county councils could be merged to create unitary authorities that handle all services.

The reorganisation is seen as an important way to devolve powers away from Westminster to local areas. When the plans were set out, the government said some of the local elections in May, especially in county councils, could be delayed by a year or more. This would not affect mayoral elections.

Several councils are holding urgent meetings this week to decide whether to press ahead with their elections in May. The government has stressed that no decisions have yet been made.

Rayner told a select committee hearing this week that it would be “ludicrous” for councils to hold elections if they were planning mergers, but some council leaders have argued these two things should not go hand-in-hand.

Alistair Beales, the Conservative leader of West Norfolk council, said on Wednesday that “given the support for devolution as formally expressed by all local authorities in Norfolk and Suffolk, any election delay is plainly unnecessary, and worse could prove divisive”.

The elections in May will be Labour’s first electoral test since its landslide victory in July’s general election. In the six months since, the party’s popularity has plummeted.

The last time the seats up for grabs were contested was a high point in Boris Johnson’s premiership, which means the Conservatives are braced for heavy losses this spring.