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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that County Council elections cannot be cancelled for purely partisan political purposes.

The government’s starting point is for all elections to go ahead unless there is strong justification for postponement. On 16 December, my colleague, the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, wrote to leaders of all councils in two-tier areas and neighbouring small unitary authorities to set out further detail on our plans for a joint programme of devolution and local government reorganisation. In that letter, he explained that he would only consider requests to postpone elections where it was clear this will help the area to deliver both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe. The Minister is now considering the requests he has received and a decision will be made in due course.

The Minister’s letter of 16 December has been published and can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-government-reorganisation-letter-to-two-tier-areas