For many people, the 2025 Council Elections in England will be the first opportunity in four years to have their say on their local councillor and on who’s been running their Council.
But 16 of the 21 county councils have applied to ‘delay’ their elections due to the UK Labour Government’s devolution plans.
When the Westminster Government first suggested they might allow a delay to elections, it was clear that it would only be for a year. However it’s become increasingly clear that any reorganisation involving these councils will take much longer than 1 year.
The Government now says it expects the new local authorities to be up and running in 2027 and 2028.
That would mean current administrations and councillors on these councils will end up with a 6 or 7 year term!
In effect, elections will be cancelled and voters will have no say on who runs their council or who their councillor is for 2 or 3 more years, when the new local authorities are ready to take over.
Democracy shouldn’t be put on hold in this way – people deserve their vote and their voice!
That’s why Unlock Democracy has started a campaign to ensure elections go forward as normal on May 1st this year. Voters should have their say on what’s going on in their communities and importantly on the local government reforms that are being imposed by the Government.
We have written to the Deputy Prime Minister urging her to ensure elections go ahead.
The Government’s dalliance (and we hope it’s just that) with cancelling elections reveals some much deeper problems at the heart of our democracy. These won’t go away without the kind of major political reforms which Unlock Democracy is campaigning for. Let’s look at those issues –
A gaping hole in our democracy
There’s a serious question as to whether any Government should have the power to delay or cancel elections. At the very least, it should be a power that can only be used in truly exceptional circumstances with strong safeguards. No guardrails exist in our democracy and we should all be worried about that.
Trust in politics
To many, this looks like an attempt to avoid a difficult set of elections this May. It’s not just the Government that might suffer, it’s the official opposition too. When these seats were last fought, the Conservatives were on 43% in the national polls and the Labour Party was on 33%.
Today the Conservatives are polling around 20% worse and the Labour Party around 8% worse. Both face a very challenging election in May and it is potentially politically beneficial for both parties not to go to the polls.
With trust already at record lows, voters are unlikely to give the Government the benefit of the doubt when it tries to justify its decision on this.
The relationship between central and local government
Unlock Democracy looked at the state of local government in its 2021 report ‘Local Government in England – 40 years of decline’. Things have not improved much since then!
The relationship can be likened to a parent (central government) and child (local government) relationship, but not in a good way. In this relationship, the parent tries to control everything that the child does and thinks that if the child has any freedom bad things will happen.
It’s the equivalent of saying, if I give my child pocket money, they might spend it on drugs, so I won’t give my child any pocket money!
Over the last few decades, this is where central government has got to with local government. To a significant degree, it’s what we’re seeing in this Government’s devolution plans. Central government can dictate whether councils even exist, they can dictate what powers they have and they control the money. As discussed, it can even dictate whether elections can even take place!
This is not to say that local government has been perfect over the decades. At times Councils have wasted money and taken decisions that have not been in their residents’ best interests. But the same thing can equally be said about central government – HS2 is an obvious example of this.
This is a dysfunctional relationship and needs a reset.
How can we fix it
One of Unlock Democracy’s founding goals is to secure a Written Constitution. It’s the rulebook that our political system is lacking and it’s the guarantee of people’s rights and our democracy.
A written constitution would include rules about elections – when they happen, who can vote and on what grounds, if any, they can be postponed. No Government could ignore a written constitution.
A written constitution, developed with the input of ordinary citizens, would be a major start to restoring trust in our politics. It would contain rules that would ensure that no Government or Prime Minister can ignore. It would restore the checks and balances that have been too easily overridden in recent times.
Finally a written constitution would clearly define the powers of both central government and local government. It would give local government the legal standing it lacks. It will enable a partnership between central and local government in building a better future for their citizens.
People on most, if not all, sides of the political divide agree that our political system isn’t working the way it should. A written constitution should be a key plank in a long overdue reform programme designed to fix things.
We will continue to fight for this, whilst at the same time calling for this year’s elections to go ahead.
