25 AND COUNTING

25 local authorities have requested that council elections due to be held this May are postponed.  The overwhelming majority of these councils are either Labour controlled or Labour led.  Labour have outright control in 14, are the senior partner in a coalition (Basildon) and lead as minority administrations in a further four.  The government is almost certain to grant all the requested delays - including the six councils not run by Labour.

The government is currently in the midst of reorganising local authorities in England, ostensibly to reduce the number of councils that overlap each other and replace them with larger single unitary authorities.  Some councils - by no means all - argue that holding elections during this period of reorganisation is unfeasible.  However, many have noted that ongoing election delays and cancellations has coincided with the rise of Reform UK.  With Labour councils forming the bulk of those asking for delays, they are being accused of running scared and clinging onto power in the face of Reform gains.

Last month the government approved the cancellation of four regional mayoral elections until 2028, leading to a Tory accusation that Labour were 'subverting democracy'.  This followed on from cancelled elections in 18 council areas last May.

There is no doubt that Reform would have won a significant chunk of the cancelled elections, which - combined with other authoritarian policies - does no end of damage to Britain's standing as a democracy.  Keir Starmer is quite rightly being seen as a despot in some global quarters.  How much further will he lurch towards outright fascism before he is forced out of office?

The following 25 authorities have so far requested delays (more are expected in the coming days).  Where no party has overall control (NOC), the composition of the authority appears in brackets - either a coalition of two or more parties or a minority administration.

• Adur District Council - Lab
• Basildon Borough Council - NOC (Lab/Ind)
• Blackburn with Darwen Council - Lab
• Burnley Borough Council - NOC (Ind/LDm/Grn)
• Cheltenham Borough Council - LDm
• Chorley Borough Council - Lab
• Crawley Borough Council - Lab
• East Sussex County Council - NOC (Con min)
• Exeter City Council - Lab
• Hastings Borough Council - NOC (Grn min)
• Hyndburn Borough Council - Lab
• Ipswich Borough Council - Lab
• Lincoln City Council - Lab
• Norwich City Council - NOC (Lab min)
• Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council - NOC (Lab min)
• Pendle Borough Council - NOC (LDm/Ind)
• Peterborough City Council - NOC (Lab min)
• Preston City Council - Lab
• Redditch Borough Council - Lab
• Rugby Borough Council - NOC (Lab min)
• Stevenage Borough Council - Lab
• Tamworth Borough Council - Lab
• Thurrock Borough Council - Lab
• West Sussex County Council - Con
• Worthing Borough Council - Lab