Overview
- Ministers have written to councils with polls scheduled in May 2026, giving them until 15 January to say if they want a one‑year postponement tied to local government reorganisation.
- At least five authorities say they will seek a delay — Blackburn with Darwen, Chorley, East Sussex, Hastings and West Sussex — while about a dozen, including Essex and Southampton, have said they will proceed.
- The Electoral Commission criticised the plan as unprecedented, warning that capacity concerns are not a legitimate reason to defer long‑planned elections and that confidence could be damaged.
- The government describes the approach as locally led, citing cost and capacity pressures from merging councils and noting precedent for limited postponements during past reorganisations.
- Opposition parties attacked the move, with Reform UK threatening legal action and the Liberal Democrats condemning it, as Conservatives nationally say they want the elections to go ahead.