Councils face revolt over cancelled elections

Government accused of ‘running scared of voters’ as councillors step down in protest over delays Daily Telegraph 29/01/26 Councillors have launched a revolt after Labour cancelled local elections for 4.6 million people.

Norfolk, one of Britain’s biggest councils, has been hit by a string of resignations in protest over the delays, which have been branded a “democratic outrage”. Meanwhile, the leader of Welwyn Hatfield council stood down after a backlash over cancelled voting drove its ruling coalition to the brink of collapse. Essex, another major council that was thought to have been considering cancellations, formally announced on Thursday that it would hold a vote after all. The Telegraph understands a string of other councillors across Britain are also considering whether to stand down, potentially forcing local authorities to hold dozens of by-elections. Labour announced plans earlier this month to deny millions of people the vote, leaving some with no say over who controls their local services and council tax for up to seven years. Elections have been cancelled at 30 councils over claims that a looming reorganisation of local government makes holding ballots expensive, complicated and unnecessary. The Telegraph has launched a Campaign for Democracy, calling for ministers to be stripped of their legal powers to cancel local elections without a full vote in Parliament. Critics said the latest council resignations showed Labour’s plans were “descending into farce”. This week, four councillors in Tory-run Norfolk resigned from their posts in protest over the delays. Edward Connolly, a Conservative councillor, Independent Progressive Group councillors Emma Corlett and Maxine Webb and independent councillor Simon Ring announced they would step down to give residents the right to vote. Councillors are hoping to exploit a loophole by which they would resign and force a by-election to take place on May 7, the same day as cancelled elections were due to take place. While Labour has the power to postpone local elections thanks to an obscure clause in the Local Government Act 2000, it has no power to stop by-elections from taking place. Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative Party chairman, said: “Labour are denying democracy and running scared of voters because they know they face a ballot box battering. “The process of election cancellations started as a democratic outrage and is now descending into a farce, with chaos on the ground and voters left in the dark. It is absurd and disgraceful for Labour to pressure councils to ask for cancellations and then try to blame them when they do.” ‘Labour held a gun to local leaders’ heads’ He added: “Throughout their top-down reorganisation process, Labour have held a gun to local leaders’ heads, showing disdain for the communities they represent. The Conservatives are clear that these elections should be going ahead. We are the only party that will ensure a fair deal for residents.” Ministers have justified the delays by saying they are needed to allow local authorities to merge as part of an efficiency drive, but critics have claimed that councils are cancelling ballots to avoid losing seats. Labour is widely expected to perform poorly at this May’s elections, given its dire national poll ratings, and faces losing seats to Reform on the Right and the Greens to its Left. Announcing his decision to stand down, Mr Connolly told the Eastern Daily Press: “At the very least in Norfolk this will ensure the residents within Yare and All Saints are able to vote for a democratically elected county councillor. I will not be standing as a candidate in the by-election.” Mr Ring said he intended to fight the by-election triggered by his resignation and treat it as if the elections were going ahead as normal. The independent councillor said: “I want to gauge the electorate’s belief in me and everyone who is honest and has integrity should want to do that. If they don’t want me, that’s fine. My wife will love that. But if they do, that’s great. “The council leader, Kay Mason Billig, thought she had control. But by doing this, I’ve given the power back to my residents. It’s quite invigorating. All of a sudden, I’ve taken a bit of control off her and that feels quite good.” Ms Corlett, who was previously the deputy leader of the Labour group, said the postponement was “ridiculous and completely embarrassing”, and warned the authority would probably seek a delay again next year. She said: “Last year I reluctantly agreed to stay on after we were told elections had to be delayed to make sure the mayoral authority could be set up. “But the council has made no progress on setting up the mayoral authority so how will anything be different next year. The Norfolk public are being forced to put their trust in the same councillors who haven’t delivered this year.” ‘Running around like headless chickens’ Ms Corlett said the “final straw” came after her motion to force councillors to vote on whether they wanted elections to go ahead was scuppered by Tory and Labour councillors who “filibustered” the meeting so that there was no time left to vote. She said: “All of these councillors say they want elections to go ahead, so I thought ‘okay, put your money where your mouth is’. But Labour and the Conservatives worked together to run down the clock and we had to withdraw the motion. The reality is that it is in our hands to force the election to go ahead. If all 84 [councillors] step down, the elections would go ahead because you would have 84 by-elections.” After insisting there would be no delay, Kay Mason Billig, the council leader, announced an 11th-hour cancellation of Norfolk’s vote. She brushed aside internal party complaints about the cancellation as “sour grapes” and told opponents at a council meeting this week they could “b...h and moan as much as they like”. On Thursday, ministers were accused of “running around like headless chickens” after the Government told one council its elections would go ahead, only to reverse its decision days later. Pendle borough council was told last week its election was happening, but was then informed on Thursday morning that this was no longer the case. A government spokesman said the about-turn came because the authority had not been “clear” in its initial communication. However, Liberal Democrat council leader David Whipp accused the government of presiding over a “shambles”. Pendle was the only one of Lancashire’s seven councils told its election would have to go ahead, despite requesting a delay. Mr Whipp said the Government had been “playing politics” with the area because it was the only authority that did not have Labour councillors. After the Government changed course, he said: “It really is a shambles and I think that the Government ought to be ashamed of the way they have handled this and the position that we are in.” He added the Government’s “complete turnaround” was akin to Ministers “running around like headless chickens”. The Labour leader of Welwyn and Hatfield Council also announced on Thursday he would be resigning his post at the full council meeting next week. He cited “different perspectives and strength of feeling” over local government reorganisation as key to his decision, saying it is “too important to let any disagreement over leadership be the cause of delay or disruption”. Labour forced through the cancellation of the election despite opposition from the majority of members. A non-binding full council vote showed 24 members were against postponement and only 15 in favour, with Lib Dem and Conservative councillors speaking out against the decision. 'It's undemocratic': Why the Speaker's Chorley constituency is in uproar over cancelled elections Read more The Lib Dems withdrew their coalition agreement with Labour in the wake of the postponement, forcing the party into running a minority administration, which has now prompted the leader’s resignation. Essex County Council, which faced rumours it too was planning to cancel its elections, has now confirmed polling will go ahead following the backlash over cancelled votes. A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “We have always said we would listen to councils about their concerns relating to their capacity ahead of reorganisation in their area. “Pendle Borough Council had previously set out capacity concerns, but not how capacity would be diverted to help reorganisation. The council has now made this clear and for this reason, the Secretary of State has decided to postpone the council’s upcoming elections. “This decision follows a clear precedent, as postponements happened between 2019 and 2022 to areas undergoing reorganisation.”