Nigel Farage blasts 'banana republic' local election delays as ministers push votes back to 2027

Ministers say some 53 council areas could opt to postpone elections until 2027, after some were already delayed until May 2026.

The delay comes as Labour looks to abolish the two-tier system of county and district councils in favour of single unitary councils.

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The 63 local councils affected - including county councils in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hampshire, East Sussex - have been given until the middle of next month to request for a 12-month-delay to their scheduled 2026 elections.

Reform UK was expected to perform well in many of these contests, and its leader claimed the Conservatives were "colluding" with Labour to delay the contests.

"Turkeys don't vote for Christmas. Tory county councils look set to collude with Labour to keep their control until 2027," Mr Farage said.

He added that the delays were another step towards turning Britain into a 'banana republic', after the Government postponed elections for newly created mayors in the same areas until 2028.

Local government minister Alison McGovern told the Commons that she and colleagues have heard from councils which have said they lacked the capacity to carry out the reorganisation within the current timeframe.

“In recent weeks, as final proposals have been submitted, the number of councils voicing such concerns have grown,” she said.

“Many councils across the country, and of all stripes, have expressed anxiety about their capacity to deliver a smooth and safe transition to new councils, alongside running resource-intensive elections to councils proposed to be shortly abolished.

“They have expressed concerns about the time and energy spent managing elections to bodies that won’t shortly exist, only to run an election a year later.”

However, Reform and Conservative MPs said Labour was delaying elections because it was scared of the outcome.

MPs also queried why the Government had changed its position shortly after Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Steve Reed had said ballots would go ahead.

Ms McGovern said Whitehall does not wish to dictate local decisions without consultation and they will “listen to local leaders” on what is right for each area.

"To be clear, should a council say that they have no reason to delay their elections, there will be no delay," the minister said.

"If a council voices genuine concerns, we’ll take these issues seriously, and would be minded to grant a delay in those areas."

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has described two-tier authorities as “wasteful”, with reorganisation cutting the number of councillors and bringing services such as housing, planning and roads under one roof.

Conservative shadow local government minister Paul Holmes said the Government had taken the decision as it was afraid of fighting elections.

Mr Holmes asked what the Government “has against democracy” as he also compared the party’s approach to the fictional Christmas figure, the Grinch.

He said: "While many people gather around their screens to watch movies like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, we’re sitting here discussing how Labour is trying to steal the elections."

He continued: "Earlier this month Labour cancelled mayoral elections because they were worried they wouldn’t win them. Now they are doing the same with local elections, pausing the democratic process to serve their own political interests, creating for themselves a true nightmare before Christmas.

“This process has been a mess from start to finish, not wanted, not in their manifesto and centrally dictated. It’s time it was scrapped today.”