LGIU response: 2026 local elections changes

Jonathan Carr-West, Chief Executive, Local Government Information Unit (LGIU said):

“The government has lost a fight it should never have picked. There was no good reason to postpone these elections and the government should have known where the crunch points in local government reorganisation were going to come. Many people pointed them out.

Having attempted to pass the political risk of postponing elections on to councils by insisting that it should be a local choice and now backing down under the threat of legal action, the government has shown a capricious disregard for local democracy.

The government should remember that running an election is difficult. As years of our research have shown, the fact that elections are safe and reliable despite severe time and resource constraints is only because of the extraordinary efforts put in by electoral administrators. This most recent announcement means that 30 councils will now have to run elections within an even more constrained timetable. This risks the successful delivery of elections in all of these places, not to mention the additional strain it will needlessly add to the workloads of dedicated staff. On the political side, many parties will now be scrabbling around to find candidates they didn’t think they needed. It’s reckless of the government to play fast and loose with the foundations of democracy.

Those councils undergoing local government reorganisation are trying to implement the biggest change in local governance for a generation. This is a project of massive complexity being delivered under intense pressure in challenging timescales. They deserve to have confidence that the government will deliver on its side of the process and not just keep changing its mind. Today’s announcement will further dent councils’ confidence in the government’s consistency of purpose.”