Around five million people will be denied the chance to vote in local elections this year after a swathe of councils were allowed to postpone them until 2026.
Angela Rayner gave nine local authorities permission to tear up plans for May due to imminent reforms that will see scores of them axed.
The English Devolution White Paper, published in December, said 164 district and 21 county councils responsible for a combined population of 20 million and an annual budget of £32 billion will be merged to create authorities serving at least 500,000 people.
Permission has now been given for some of those affected to delay elections until the new council is up and running, to avoid having councillors serving terms of a year or less.
Communities secretary Ms Rayner told MPs that she was only agreeing to half of the requests for postponements, allowing them in areas where ‘significant amounts of work’ were required to alter the council structure.
They are: Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Thurrock, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
However, ministers and councillors have faced claims they are trying to void handing any more ammunition to Reform, which is currently riding high in the polls.
The government has also ben accused of rushing the whole process, with Kevin Hollinrake, the Tory shadow communities secretary, saying the postponement was ‘unprecedented and entirely wrong’.
Angela Rayner gave nine local authorities permission to tear up plans for May due to imminent reforms that will see scores of them axed.
The government has also ben accused of rushing the whole process, with Kevin Hollinrake, the Tory shadow communities secretary, saying the postponement was ‘unprecedented and entirely wrong’.
‘Local residents have not been consulted. Council leaders have a ”gun to their head” from the Labour Government,’ he said.
‘This whole process should be considered in slower time, with proper and open consultation, and not imposed from Whitehall on your town hall…
‘No council should be bullied or blackmailed into local government restructuring.’
And Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey added: ‘The Liberal Democrats made sweeping gains against the Conservatives at the General Election, and now failing Tory-run councils are running scared and denying voters a chance to kick them out of office in May.
‘Where local elections are still going ahead this year, the Liberal Democrats will be campaigning hard to build on our historic election wins last year and give communities the strong voice they deserve.’
The nine councils refused permission to postpone elections were: Derbyshire, Devon, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire.
Ms Rayner also announced six new potential devolution areas throughout England with ‘a view to mayoral elections in May 2026’.
These areas are Cumbria, Cheshire and Warrington, Greater Essex, Hampshire and Solent, Norfolk and Suffolk, and Sussex and Brighton.
Ms Rayner, who is also the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, told the Commons: ‘These places will get a fast-track ticket to drive real change in their area.
‘While devolution can sound techie, the outcome is simple – it’s a plan for putting more money in people’s pockets, it’s a plan for quicker, better, cheaper transport designed with local people in mind, a plan for putting politics back in the service of working people.’
Turning to a seventh area, Ms Rayner said: ‘Lancashire is already deciding its mayoral devolution options and we will look at their proposals in the autumn in parallel with the priority programme.’
