Local Authorities (Changes to Years of Ordinary Elections) (England) (Revocation) Order 2026

Baroness Scott of Bybrook Excerpts

Tuesday 21st April 2026 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook]

That this House regrets the decision-making process that led to the need for the Local Authorities (Changes to Years of Ordinary Elections) (England) (Revocation) Order 2026 (SI 2026/142) and the indecision and lack of transparency surrounding the proposed postponement of local elections; and affirms the importance of those elections now proceeding as scheduled.

Relevant document: 53rd Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee (special attention drawn to the instrument)

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, some time has passed since I tabled this regret Motion, and this House has debated this issue in considering the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. I am glad that the Government have responded to our concerns to make sure that we do not find ourselves in this situation again. I want to be clear from the outset that we are pleased that our local elections are now proceeding as scheduled, but we still regret the decision-making process that led to this U-turn being necessary.

This is a simple but important issue. The Government’s handling of these elections has created needless uncertainty, unnecessary costs and completely avoidable confusion for local authorities and their residents. They did this through a decision-making process that was unclear, inconsistent and lacking in the transparency that councils and voters rightly deserve and expect.

On 22 January, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government announced that the Government would proceed with postponing local elections in 30 councils until May 2027. Legislation to give effect to that announcement was laid on 5 February, and councils were told to plan on that basis. Less than two weeks later, the Government changed their mind. On 16 February 2026, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government asked the Housing Minister to reverse the decision that he had just announced. This revocation order was then laid the next day.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I feel that the noble Lord is pushing me to do what I have just said I cannot do, which is to disclose the legal advice—I am going to stick to that line. The decision was, as he rightly says, taken by another Minister in the department because the Secretary of State had already been involved in the decision. I think we put the guardrails in place to make sure that was done in accordance with what we would all expect to happen. We will stick to the convention of not disclosing the legal advice put before that Minister.

I wanted to talk about my noble friend’s comment about previous elections that were cancelled. There were 17 elections delayed between 2019 and 2022 by the last Government to prepare for local government reorganisation, including in Weymouth and Portland in 2018, Aylesbury, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe in 2019 and Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Somerset in 2021, so there was precedent for that. We took that into consideration when local authorities made representations to us.

I will just go into a little more detail on the questions raised by the noble Lord, Lord Hayward. The decision was updated following legal advice and the Government acted promptly and responsibly in light of that advice. Where decisions are revisited following legal advice, as I have said, it is entirely appropriate for a new Minister to look at that advice and now all 30 elections will proceed as scheduled in May 2026, and a revocation order was laid in Parliament in February to give effect to that decision. We engaged rapidly with councils and issued written confirmation without delay and are supporting them with their updated plans. This was done at pace. We have always said that a decision would be made on the basis of evidence available to us at the time and that is what has happened. The Government’s ambition remains to simplify local government by ending the two-tier system and establishing new single-tier unitary councils.

The noble Lord, Lord Scriven, raised the issue of town and parish consultation. I understand his point, but there was never an intention to cancel town and parish elections. I understand his point about finances and will give that further consideration. On his point about statutory inclusion of things in Explanatory Memorandums, again, I will take that away. I understand the point he is making, and we need to think further about how that might work.

In conclusion, I hope I have set out the Government’s explanation of the timeline and exactly what happened in this case. I hope I have responded to the concern of the House, both in what I have said today and in the action taken to put an amendment forward to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. While recognising the concern that has been expressed around the House, I hope the noble Baroness will withdraw her Motion.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

Before the Minister sits down, can I ask about the £63 million? Has this already gone out to local authorities? If it has not, when will it go out?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I cannot answer the specific question of whether it has already gone out, but we have notified local authorities of what will be coming to them. When we spoke to them about the decisions taken as a result of the reorganisation, we spoke to them about funding as well. I will write to the noble Baroness with information on whether that money has gone out the door yet.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken in this short debate and to the Minister for her response. However, I reject the premise of the blame game that the Government are seeking to play. The power, responsibility and ability to cancel local elections lie with the Government and the Government alone. They made the decision to cancel these elections and then they made the decision to reinstate them.

I welcome the steps now being taken, in the English devolution and so-called community empowerment Bill, to put this matter on a clearer footing for the future and to ensure that this can never happen again. Although the Government did not go quite as far as we wanted them to, I am pleased that the House’s scrutiny has brought us to this point. This is just one of many examples of your Lordships’ House demonstrating the vital and constructive role it plays as a revising Chamber.

I will not be pressing the Motion to a vote today, but I hope the Government take a clear message from it: councils must be properly supported and transparency must be the rule and not the exception for proper, functioning democracy. Before I sit down, I would like to place on record our thanks to all the local authority election staff and their returning officers, given the extra work this has caused. We know that they will deliver a safe, secure and efficient election on 7 May.

Motion withdrawn.