A pause in Britain’s local democracy?

Opposition parties have accused the government of denying democracy by postponing 30 council elections, as part of its local government reform program.

The Labour government plans to abolish the system of two-tiered councils in England, under which around one-third of the population of England lives. Currently, local government services in two-tiered council areas are provided by multiple layers of councils, a situation that wastes government money and creates bureaucracy. Local Government Secretary Steve Reed has said, “no one would ever design a system where one council collects your rubbish, but another gets rid of it.” Some local councils have also cited capacity concerns, as many town halls are being overhauled.

Labour argues that postponing elections is therefore necessary because many councils will be abolished next year, and so it would be a waste of money to elect councillors who would only serve for one year. However, the delays mean that some councillors will have served terms lasting a total of seven years, nearly twice as long as the ordinary four-year term of councillors.

Reform UK has launched legal action against the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government and accused Labour of “disgracefully trying to deny democracy.” A hearing will take place across 19 and 20 February. Reform UK believes it would have won many of the elections that are now postponed.

The Liberal Democrats have also criticised the delay, with leader Sir Ed Davey accusing Labour of “running scared of the electorate.”

Robert Jenrick, who defected from the Conservatives to Reform UK last month, argued that the government’s actions were “almost certainly illegal.” Mr Jenrick postponed elections in Cumbria, North Yorkshire, and Somerset in 2021 whilst Local Government Secretary under Boris Johnson. Mr Reed hit back at Mr Jenrick, accusing him of failing to “eliminate waste” by not abolishing the two-tier council system.

It is difficult for an unpopular government to escape the accusation that it is trying to avoid elections that would be politically inconvenient.

Of the councils which have been granted a postponement by the government, 21 are controlled by Labour, four Conservative, three Liberal Democrat, one Green, and one independent.

Despite the difference of opinion expressed by several opposition parties, the postponing of local government elections seems unlikely to cause a significant political backlash given the general lack of interest and knowledge the public usually has regarding local government; Turnout at the May 2025 local elections was a meagre 34%, with turnout at local elections hanging around the low to mid-thirties for several years previously. That figure is dwarfed by the 60% turnout at the 2024 general election, the second-lowest turnout at a general election this century.

Opinion polling by YouGov suggests that a majority of Reform UK and Conservative voters support holding the postponed local elections this year, whilst slightly more Labour and Liberal Democrats support delaying those elections until next year. It seems, therefore, that people’s views on the debate are shaped more by their general support or opposition rather than through a truly sincere reference to the principle of democratic legitimacy.

Nonetheless, the postponement of elections is yet another compromise that local councils are being expected to make in an era of fiscal strain. The perestroika of local government in England is expected to make scrawny savings in the region of tens of millions of pounds, which will be of little consequence. Whilst councils still receive inadequate funding from central government, public services will continue to creak at the seams, and councils will be pushed into cutting services, raising taxes, and digging into reserves to minimise the impact on residents while they still can.

A full list of postponed elections and elections that will still take place this year can be found here.

Image: Billy Wilson / Flickr