Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 4 of the Autumn Budget 2025, HC1492, 26 November 2025, if he will publish the evidential basis for the claim that there would be a £250 million saving from reducing the number of councillors by 5000.

The Government is committed to cutting the cost of politics.

The £250 million figure was calculated based on estimated savings from the potential reduction in local councillors through Local Government Reorganisation and from the abolition of Police and Crime Commissioners

For councillors, this is based on £120 million of savings through a potential reduction in the number of councillors by 5,000. The Government estimated savings on councillor expenditure of £40 million per year from 2028/2029 when new unitarity councils are due to be established, through to the end of the fiscal forecast period in 2030/31.

Our estimates are based on the range of councillors and number of new authorities post-reorganisation based on the proposals and initial plans under discussion in local areas, the announced approach for reorganisation in Surrey, as well as the Local Government Boundary Commission 2024/25 data on councillor numbers and sampling councillor expenditure from current upper and lower tier authorities. Our estimates are rounded mid-points as the exact figures will naturally depend on decisions on which, if any, proposals for reorganisation are implemented.

The remaining £130 million is based on estimated net savings from the abolition of Police and Crime Commissioners over 5 years.