In yet another embarrassing U-turn by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s leftist Labour Party government, Downing Street backed down from its plans to cancel local elections this May following a threat of legal challenge from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
While the government had been set to appear before the High Court this week to face off with Farage’s legal team over plans to cancel elections for over 4.5 million Britons across 30 councils, it reversed course on Monday, claiming that “new legal advice” had advised against taking the plans to court.
According to The Times of London, some 672 councillors who were set to avoid voters will now be up for election in May, including 205 Labour Party councillors.
A spokesperson for the ministry said: “Following legal advice, the government has withdrawn its original decision to postpone 30 local elections in May. Providing certainty to councils about their local elections is now the most crucial thing, and all local elections will now go ahead in May 2026.”
In a letter, government lawyers wrote to Reform: “The secretary of state has decided to withdraw his decision to postpone the council elections of 30 local councils due to take place in May 2026 in the light of recent legal advice.”
The government had previously argued that cancelling local elections, as was done last year for 5.5 million voters, was necessary amid the ongoing restructuring of local governments.
Downing Street said that it would make £63 million in additional funding available to local councils to hold the elections and that the government would reimburse Reform UK for its legal costs.
The U-turn will provide an opportunity for Farage’s Reform Party to broaden its party power structure across the UK and further demonstrate its ability to win elections as it seeks to overthrow the two-party Westminster establishment at the next general election.
According to the Times, Reform is potentially set to become the largest local party in both Norfolk and Suffolk, both of which are currently under the control of the neo-liberal Conservative Party, which requested that the elections be delayed, likely out of concern for losing ground to Reform.
Reform will also likely seek to gain ground in Labour-controlled constituencies in Essex and Lancashire, where the upstart populist party made significant gains in local elections last year.
Mr Farage hailed the victory as a major defeat for the political establishment, accusing the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats of “colluding” with the Labour government to prevent the rise of Reform.
“This is a huge win for democracy, a huge win for Reform, and I tell you what, we are going to campaign like hell,” he said.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on X: Follow @KurtZindulka or e-mail to: [email protected]
Read the full article here