The following Statement was made in the House of Commons on Monday 23 February.
“With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a Statement on local government reorganisation.
This Government are taking action to repair local government, through a new fairer funding settlement based on need, through more powers being taken out of Whitehall and put in the hands of local leaders, and through our plans to reorganise councils to provide better services by eliminating wasteful duplication. Last month, as part of that process, I told the House that we would postpone local elections in councils undergoing reorganisation, where local leaders sought it and where they provided compelling, evidence-based justification. I was guided by two principles: first, that postponement should only ever happen in exceptional circumstances, and secondly, as a firm believer in local decision-making, that we should be guided by local leaders themselves.
Following extensive consultation with the affected councils, many of whom shared their anxiety that a lack of capacity could lead to elections for councils that are due to be abolished delaying the reorganisation process, I concluded that those tests had been met in 30 cases. Councils across the political divide were engaged in the original assessment, and across party lines many called for postponement. Delay was granted in those cases, using a statutory power granted by Parliament—the same power that has been exercised by previous Governments. We were satisfied that the use of this statutory power in such circumstances was lawful and justified.
As is normal practice, lawyers kept the legal position under review and I received further legal advice. After considering that further advice, I took the decision to withdraw the proposal. We then rapidly reviewed the matter, recognising the urgency created by the electoral timetable. To confirm to the House, the decision made is that the elections in the affected areas will now go ahead in May 2026 in full, and we have laid a further order to bring this into effect.
We have already written to the relevant councils and we will continue working closely with returning officers, suppliers, the Electoral Commission and other sector bodies to ensure they are fully supported. I recognise that this is a significant change for affected councils. That is why, when further legal advice was received, we acted as quickly as possible to provide clarity for councils. We know that this change will mean additional pressure for councils and councillors across the country. That is why I announced last week up to £63 million in new capacity funding, on top of the £7.6 million provided last year for developing reorganisation proposals.
Our priority is now ensuring that local councils have the support they need for reorganisation. This extra money will help councils to complete reorganisation effectively and sustainably. We will continue working with councils across the 21 reorganisation areas to move to single-tier unitary councils. The people of Surrey specifically will just have elections to the new unitary councils.
Given the views expressed by Members from across the House following my decision, I recognise the importance Members attach to the framework governing ministerial powers over the timing of local elections. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill provides an opportunity to look again at that framework, and the Government are reflecting carefully on the amendments that have been tabled and the concerns raised.
Reforming local government is not optional. Councils are the front line of the state, responsible for the visible signs of whether a place is succeeding or failing. The public expect better local services and they are right to do so. It was important that we acted swiftly on these elections when further advice was received. I recognise that has been difficult for affected councils and I want to assure colleagues that we did not take this difficult decision lightly. I have spoken to many councillors and Members of Parliament in recent days and understand the scale of disappointment acutely, but ultimately the Government must act when legal advice says that we need to do so. We will continue to rebuild local government after a decade of neglect, so residents get the services that they deserve. I commend this Statement to the House”.
My Lords, the Government have sown confusion and imposed unnecessary costs upon the taxpayer by cancelling local elections, only to reinstate them weeks later and then seek to distance themselves from the consequences. What was presented as a firm and settled judgment has unravelled in short order, leaving uncertainty in its wake. That matters, because it is not an isolated U-turn or rethink or change of position; it joins a growing catalogue of reversals, each compounding doubt and carrying a financial price.
Stability in public administration is the foundation upon which local authorities plan, candidates prepare and citizens place their trust. Against that background, it is important to recall how we arrived here. The original decision to cancel these elections was taken by the Secretary of State. He defended it repeatedly in the other place, and the Minister defended it consistently in your Lordships’ House. In the press, the Secretary of State went so far as to describe the elections as “pointless”. Yet what was so confidentially asserted has now been undone.
Two issues now arise. The first is constitutional. Does the Minister accept that there should be strict limits upon the power to delay or disapply elections outside the most exceptional circumstances, such as war or public emergency? If she does, then, in the context of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, will she urge her colleagues to reflect upon the sentiment of the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Pack, and those in my name, which would limit the power of the Secretary of State to cancel elections by secondary legislation and constrain the power to alter the timings of local polls? It is notable that members of the governing party voted down those safeguards in the Commons.
The second issue is practical and goes to the heart of delivery. Local government is already navigating a demanding programme of reorganisation. Councils are restructuring governance, staffing, finance and service delivery. To remove and then abruptly restore elections in the midst of that process has inevitably diverted senior officers and members from their primary duty, which is the delivery of services to their residents. In other words, reorganisation requires focus, discipline and clarity. Instead, councils have been drawn into administrative uncertainty, legal contingency planning and accelerated preparations at short notice. That is not without consequences. It absorbs scarce managerial capacity and risks delay to the very reforms that the Government profess to champion. If community empowerment is truly the objective, one might expect the Government to strengthen local capacity rather than burden it with unavoidable disruption.
My Lords, here we are again with a topic we have discussed and debated in different forms several times. I will do my best not to simply repeat the points made previously, particularly as it seems like each time we return to this topic, it is messier and more expensive. Although the outcome in the end is welcome—that all elections will be going ahead in May, as should originally have been the case—I think we can all agree that the route by which we have got here is a highly undesirable one. Therefore, having read the Statement that we are considering this evening very carefully, and having read Hansard for the debate on Monday in the House of Commons about the Statement, I have three particular questions for the Minister.
First, in that debate on Monday, the Secretary of State was asked whether, in the light of the latest legal advice and the Government’s current understanding of the legal situation, the Government believed that the cancellation of elections last May was legal. The Secretary of State was asked that direct question and chose not to answer it. We can all speculate why, but I hope that the Minister will be able to clear that matter up by giving us a direct answer on that.
Secondly, having looked at the reasons the Secretary of State gave in the Statement for cancelling elections, I think that they do not sit easily with what he wrote in the article published in the Times newspaper ahead of the consultation closing on potential cancellations. The Statement that we are considering this evening says that the cancellation of elections,
“should only ever happen in exceptional circumstances”.
That is a sentiment with which I suspect we all agree. But in the article in the Times newspaper, the Secretary of State said:
“They want pointless elections, Labour wants to fix potholes”.
I thank the noble Baroness and the noble Lord for their questions and comments on the Statement. Your Lordships have now heard in full the Statement made by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State in the other place, and the House has raised a number of thoughtful and serious points about process, legality and democratic principle, which I appreciate.
I wish now to draw together the key arguments and restate clearly why the Government acted as we did, in answer to the questions that I have been asked, and why we have now changed course. First, as noble Lords will know, this sits in a much wider programme of reform. The Government are determined to fix local government through a fairer funding settlement based on need, through devolving power out of Whitehall and into the hands of local leaders and through reorganisation designed to deliver stronger, more sustainable unitary authorities and better services for residents.
It was in that context that the original decision was taken, and the Government were guided by two clear principles. First, the postponement of elections should occur only in exceptional circumstances. I repeated a number of times in this House that it would be only in exceptional circumstances and only where there is compelling evidence-based justification. Secondly, as a Government committed to devolution, we should be guided by local leaders themselves. Following extensive engagement with councils in the areas concerned, a number from across the political spectrum expressed serious anxiety about their capacity to run elections while simultaneously undertaking structural change. They warned of duplication, uncertainty, additional cost and the risk of impeding the reorganisation process at a critical phase.
On the basis of those representations and on the legal advice then available, the Secretary of State concluded that statutory tests were met in 30 cases. An order was therefore brought forward using powers provided by Parliament that had been exercised by previous Governments in comparable reorganisation contexts. However, as is entirely proper, the legal position was kept under review and further legal advice was subsequently received. At that point, the responsible course was clear and the proposal was withdrawn.
My Lords, we now move on to a maximum of 20 minutes of Back-Bench contributions. The key is Back-Bench and we want questions, not speeches. This is set out at point 6.7 in chapter 6 of the Companion.
My Lords, the Minister referred to the powers. They come out of Section 87 of the Local Government Act 2000. In its present form, those powers have existed for more than 25 years. Custom and practice and advice have been consistent throughout, so what was this new legal advice to suggest that this blanket postponement, and particularly the double postponement, would have been possible? Why did the Secretary of State not pay some attention to the Electoral Commission and question this advice? It has taken a junior Minister only a little bit of time to look at the advice and come to the conclusion that most people in that office would have come to, which is that this was not right. Am I being unfair to the Government in agreeing with Jonathan Carr-West, the chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, when he said that the Government are
“reckless … to play fast and loose with the foundations of democracy”?
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It is precisely because there are constitutional and practical consequences that your Lordships’ House is entitled to transparency on the costs of all this. Can the Minister therefore inform the House of the full costs of this regrettable sequence of events? What have been the expended legal fees on wasted preparation and the emergency arrangements that are now required to conduct elections at short notice? What support is being provided to local authorities required to shoulder these additional burdens? There is talk of £63 million, but is this on top of the already agreed election costs? Has an assessment been made of the impact upon council capacity and service delivery, and if so, will it be published?
The same need for clarity applies to the Government’s approach to election pilots. What is their present status? How many councils that initially indicated they possessed the capacity to participate later informed the department that they did not any longer have that capacity?
Taken together, these questions point to a wider uncertainty. Where does this leave the Government’s much-heralded program of reorganisation? Confidence in reform depends upon steadiness of hand and clarity of purpose. If Ministers will not answer fully and restore transparency, then we feel that serious reflection is required at the highest level. I would suggest that that is not at Secretary of State level, as he has been the person responsible for this unnecessary mess.
The existence of potholes in need of repair is absolutely not an exceptional circumstance. It is a frustrating daily reality. It is really hard to see how one can reconcile the Secretary of State’s comments about wanting to fix potholes with the claim that these are exceptional circumstances.
Moreover, the Statement we are considering goes on at some length about how the Government were listening and consulting. Again, however, looking back at the article in the Times newspaper, published before the closure of the consultation over elections for this May, we see that it kicks off right from the very first sentence with a very clear steer that the Secretary of State thought that cancelling elections was a good idea. It goes on to make that point repeatedly in the succeeding sentences and paragraphs. So, given that that article, published before the close of the consultation, could be seen both to have prejudged the outcome of the consultation and to have given different reasons for cancelling elections than those considered in the consultation—all of which potentially would result in some legal issues about the validity of the decision—I wonder whether the Minister could again clarify matters by letting us know if the Secretary of State’s comments, both in that Times newspaper article and elsewhere, were a factor in the change in legal advice being given to the Government about the legality of the cancellation of elections.
Thirdly, turning to perhaps a more positive aspect, I absolutely welcome the comment in the Statement that the Government are willing to think again—particularly in the context of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. I am sorry: the phrase is that the Government are “reflecting carefully”, which I hope means “thinking again” as well, about the amendments that have been tabled, such as by myself and by the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, about the powers and the circumstances in which elections might be cancelled in the future. I hope, therefore, that the Minister will be able to tell us whether those reflections will be carried out involving a degree of cross-party discussion. Will they be carried out in time so that, if the outcome of those reflections by the Government is to decide that changes to the law are appropriate, we can do that on Report of that Bill?
After reconsideration, the conclusion was that elections in the affected areas should proceed as scheduled in May 2026. A further instrument has been laid to give effect to that decision. I recognise, as the noble Lords have said, and as our friends in the other place said, that this has been a significant change for councils, and it will of course mean some additional pressures for them in making sure they are ready for elections. That is precisely why the Government acted swiftly once the new advice was received so that clarity could be provided as early as possible. We are working very closely with returning officers, suppliers, the Electoral Commission and sector bodies to ensure that elections are delivered safely and effectively.
Local authorities have a strong track record of administering polls within compressed timeframes—as I know only too well from my experience—including snap general elections and by-elections, and we are confident in their ability to do so again. At the same time, our focus remains firmly on supporting reorganisation itself. Last week the Secretary of State announced up to £63 million in additional capacity funding—to answer the comment from the noble Baroness, Lady Scott—building on the £7.6 million previously provided to develop proposals. That is substantial support, and no previous Government have provided dedicated capacity funding for reorganisation on this scale. This funding is there to help councils manage both the transition and service delivery sustainably. We will continue working hand in hand with councils across the 21 reorganisation areas to progress toward unitarisation. As has been made clear, subject to Parliament, for Surrey there will be elections to the new unitary councils as planned this year.
Noble Lords also raised the question of ministerial powers over the timing of local elections, and both the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, and the noble Lord, Lord Pack, asked me a specific question about the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. As the Secretary of State set out in his Statement, our Bill provides an opportunity to look again at the statutory framework, and the Government are reflecting seriously on the amendments tabled and the concerns expressed by noble Lords. To respond to the noble Lord, Lord Pack, we will do that as quickly as possible. Reforming local government is not optional. Councils are the front line of the state; they shape whether communities feel they are thriving or falling behind. The public are entitled to expect better local services, and rightly so.
When we received the legal advice, the Government acted swiftly. I do not pretend that this has been easy for the councils concerned—I spoke to many of them—and nor do I dismiss the disappointment that has been expressed, but responsible government requires that when the legal position changes, we respond accordingly. Elections will go ahead in May 2026. Reorganisation will continue, and we will proceed in a way that upholds both democratic accountability and the long-term sustainability of local government. I hope I have picked up the noble Lord’s questions as I have gone through.
On the election pilots, as far as I know, only one council has pulled out of the pilot, but for a reason that has nothing to do with reorganisation and is a specific local issue. If that is not correct, I will respond to the noble Baroness in writing.
On the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Pack, about last May’s election, there are legal powers to cancel elections. Each situation is taken on its merit. I do not have any detail, and I could not give legal detail because this year’s is privileged information, so I do not know what the difference is.
On prejudging the outcome in a Times article, I say to the noble Lord, Lord Pack, that the Secretary of State, other Ministers and I received many representations from councils about the possibility of cancelling elections, so it may be that the Secretary of State was reflecting on that rather than prejudging the extensive consultation that we carried out.