Twenty-three councils vote to postpone elections in order to focus on reorganisation

The Government asked 63 local authorities late last year if they would like to delay the 2026 May elections in order to “release capacity” and help the councils focus on local government reorganisation.

Whitehall said the proposal came in response to representations from some councils that expressed concerns about their ability to smoothly deliver reorganisation and local elections at the same time.

The Government set a deadline of 15 January for councils to make their decisions.

Twenty-three councils have now asked to postpone their ballots ahead of the deadline, while 33 will not, and seven are yet to confirm their position, according to the BBC.

The report said East and West Sussex County Councils, Suffolk County Council, Exeter City Council, Preston City Council, Norwich City Council and Peterborough City Council are among those to ask for delays.

Other smaller councils to request a delay include Cheltenham, Hastings, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Ipswich, and Redditch Borough Councils.

Plans to push elections back have proven controversial in some areas, with police called to a meeting last week at Redditch Borough Council after a member of the public clashed with a councillor over the issue.

A recording shows that the extraordinary meeting was delayed for around 30 minutes after the councillor became embroiled in the argument. Members ultimately voted to postpone elections once the meeting readjourned.

The Government has also issued a defence of its proposals in response to a petition that called for a change in the law to remove the power of the Secretary of State to cancel local elections.

More than 135,000 members of the public signed the petition, which described the right to vote as "sacred and inalienable", adding: "2025 Elections in some areas were cancelled this year. We believe any further cancellations would be voter suppression and undemocratic."

In a written response to the petition, the Government said that the powers in this area are set out in legislation made by Parliament and “used only with strong justification”.

Commenting on the proposals on social media, legal and governance consultant, Geoff Wild, meanwhile said that referring to polls as being “delayed” or “postponed” was “misleading”.

He said: “These are actually cancelled elections on a large scale and a denial of the democratic process to millions of citizens.

“It is a clear conflict of interest to give councils the right to decide whether or not to hold elections, and will result in some councillors staying in office for seven years without being re-elected.”

Adam Carey