Party leaders accused of trying dodge scrutiny in asking for elections to be cancelled
All authority leaders have been accused, in some form, of trying to dodge scrutiny in local elections
Hello and welcome to The Lancashire Lead.
There is precedent for cancelling elections where local government reorganisation is taking place - but that certainly doesn’t mean that precedent is always correct.
What it does mean, though, is that what is being proposed now is not unheard of. But it was always going to be the case that any leader who requested postponing elections could be accused to dodging scrutiny and democracy.
Reform UK have a point, too. With their current popularity, it is unthinkable that they wouldn’t make gains in the majority of local elections.
But where Reform UK is already in power? It’s a touch more complicated in Lancashire, where the local leader has called for the district elections to take place while, at the same time, requesting the next time his party would face voters be effectively delayed.
All of those political arguments are captured in today’s edition.
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Party leaders accused of trying dodge scrutiny in asking for elections to be cancelled
By Luke Beardsworth
The row over whether local elections should go ahead this year continues with all ruling parties - including Reform UK - accused of trying to dodge public scrutiny.
The government invited the 63 English councils with elections due this year – and which are also set to be abolished in 2028 as a result of a shake-up ordered by ministers – the chance to request what they described as the “postponement” of the planned polls.
In Lancashire, this means Preston, Chorley, Pendle, Burnley, Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn and West Lancashire.
There would be just a third of seats up for grabs and it would not be possible for Reform UK to gain a majority on any of them - although polling commissioned by the party suggests they would get the largest vote share in Chorley and Hyndburn.
The leaders of all seven Lancashire authorities in question have made postponement requests – six of them on the basis of majority or unanimous votes of their cabinets and full councils, while West Lancashire’s leader has done so only in her capacity as Labour group leader, because the authority itself has not voted on the issue. There have been varying degrees of local political controversy in each case.
Nigel Farage says “the establishment” is seeking to scrap the council contests, because “they know Reform would win them”.
He added: “Denying elections is the disgraceful behaviour of a banana republic. Reform UK has launched a judicial review against this abuse of power by the government.”
The arguments for postponing the elections to be put forward include the cost of holding them for such short periods of time and the pressure it would put on local authorities who are going through the process of abolishing themselves.
The Reform UK leader of Lancashire County Council – which is not one of the authorities where elections are due in May – last week wrote to the government to set out County Hall’s “strong view that these elections should not be cancelled”. The authority backed, by a majority, a motion on the subject back in November.
In the letter, county council leader Stephen Atkinson rubbishes the suggestion that local authorities cannot both prepare for reorganisation and stage elections, stating there is “no reason” they cannot proceed as planned.
But that argument is complicated by the fact that he also put his name to a letter to government in October asking that local government reorganisation be delayed until 2029 and 2030. If that were to happen, the elected councillors at Lancashire County Council would also likely see a delay in when they next faced the voters for a verdict on their performance. The current trajectory could see a full scale election for all seats on all new Lancashire authorities - in whatever shape they take - take place in 2027 with the 15 current authorities ceasing to operate in 2028.
Cllr Matthew Brown is leader of Preston City Council but also a county councillor for Preston Central West at Lancashire County Council.
He told The Lancashire Lead: “It’s always a high bar to postpone any election but we are taking local government reorganisation very seriously.
