Reform says Tories are ‘terrified’ as councils seek to delay election

Conservative councils seek delay in local elections have been accused of trying to dodge defeat at the polls, with Reform UK claiming the party is trying to avoid an “electoral reckoning”“.

Some 11 municipalities asked to postpone the spring elections to prepare for a planned reform of the local government starting Friday afternoon.

The decision sparked anger from the likes of Reform UK, as well as the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, who argued that the democratic process was being blocked.

The frustration was directed at both the conservative councils that requested the delay and the the Labor Government implements the devolution reforms.

Friday was the deadline to apply for permission to postpone local elections due to plans to abolish two-tier councils and replace them with larger authorities.

The councils that called for a delay appeared to be led predominantly by Conservatives.

It is understood that Surrey, Devon, Suffolk, Essex and Norfolk councils have requested an extension, as well as Worcestershire, Hampshire, Kent and Gloucestershire.

Oxfordshire, led by a coalition of Liberal Democrats and Greens, as well as Labour-led Thurrock, also requested postponements.

The Conservatives are expected to do poorly in this series of elections, which were last contested in 2021, when Boris Johnson was prime minister and the party was doing considerably better in the polls. Smaller parties were expected to make gains, with Reform in particular hoping to maintain its momentum from the general election.

Reform experts said they would have expected the party to make gains on Essex and Kent councils.

Party president Zia Yusuf said: “Labour and the Conservatives are so terrified by the rise of reform that they are plotting to rob the British people of their democratic rights.

“The fact that all the Conservative-controlled councils where support for reform is strongest have asked not to allow voters to oust them speaks volumes. In the end they will face the electoral reckoning they deserve.”

However, in a blow to Reform’s prospects in the municipal elections, a dozen of the party’s councilors have indicated their intention to resign in protest at Nigel Farage’s leadership, The Guardian reported.

The Lib Dems said Conservative councils were “scared” and “silencing democracy”.

A party source said the Lib Dems were a threat in areas such as Devon and Surrey, where they performed well in the general election.

This week, the Liberal Democrats beat the Conservatives in a by-election in North Devon, one of the Conservative-led councils that called on the government to cancel the election.

The source said: “Kemi Badenoch is holding everything back and trying to cancel these local elections because she is terrified of further advances by the Lib Dems and a Conservative collapse that would threaten her leadership.”

The Green Party opposes broader reforms, arguing that imposing large unitary authorities does not help people engage with decisions made locally. The reforms would also significantly reduce the number of Green councillors, as two-thirds of the Greens in power are at district council level.

Parliament co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: “People must be allowed to vote in the local elections in May. It would be outrageous if the first result of a plan which the Government says will transfer power from Westminster to local areas was the cancellation of democracy. Our fragile democracy cannot afford it.

“Behind the hasty and undemocratic pleas of county council leaders to deny their constituents the vote is the fact that many of those closest to voters – district and ward council leaders – are opposed . With a five-fold increase in the number of Green councilors in the last five local elections, it seems that the two big parties are afraid to face voters.”

Chris Hopkins, director of policy research at Savanta, said The paper that approximately 80 per cent of the councils that will hold elections in May are led by Conservatives, and it is estimated that six in ten seats up for grabs are defended by the party.

“The last comparable election was in 2021, where the Conservatives did very well, taking advantage of the peak of the ‘vaccine rebound’. Therefore, given their current performance in the polls, it is very likely that they will suffer significant losses in the May elections,” he said.

“Where conservatives falter, others will win. Labor looks less likely to benefit hugely, given it has also fallen in the polls compared to 2021 after a rocky start in government.

“That gives the Liberal Democrats, Reform UK and Greens opportunities to make significant progress, and with many of these councils having all their councillors, rather than a third, standing for election, we could see a seismic fragmentation of the local government. “

He said reform would likely target areas such as Lincolnshire, where there are also mayoral elections, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, and areas in the south where Ukip was historically strong, such as Kent and Thurrock.

The Liberal Democrats will focus on Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Devon, where they could make progress, he said.

And the Greens will seek to attract more “dissatisfied Tories in Suffolk”.

Ministers previously said there would be “very clear criteria” for delaying the election, and that postponement would only be considered “where this would help achieve the reorganization and transfer of powers”.

On Friday, Downing Street said the Government would “work collaboratively” with councils to ensure the deferral “fits with reorganization and devolution within the most ambitious timeframe”.

In the coming weeks the government will decide whether councils can delay the election.

Conservative shadow local government secretary Kevin Hollinrake said: “No council should be intimidated or blackmailed into restructuring local government. It should not be imposed by Whitehall fiat from above. The Conservatives have always supported greater joint working and greater local accountability through directly elected leaders. But there are many ways to do it, and local government must be ‘local’ to residents and respect proud local identities.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “No decision has been made about postponing the election. “We will only consider postponing elections in areas where the council concerned has requested it and where it helps an area achieve reorganization and devolution on the most ambitious timetable.”