Confirmed: twenty-one Labour councils in England to delay elections

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed has confirmed the number of English local councils set to have their local elections postponed in 2026, which will affect over twenty current Labour-led local governments.

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government told the House of Commons that he had approved 29 councils in total to have their elections put on hold until 2027, with one further local authority application still under consideration.

This decision has been deemed controversial, with the Electoral Commission warning of a potential risk to “damaging public-confidence”, while opposition MPs claim this will disenfranchise voters.

However, the government argues the decision is necessary due to the significant changes to the workings of local government that will see certain authorities abolished in the process.

JOIN LABOURLIST ‘IN CONVERSATION’ WITH STEVE ROTHERAM ON 3rd FEB

The government is seeking to replace the current district and county councils system that they say creates unnecessary bureaucracy and costs the tax-payer significant sums of money through duplication. Reed’s speech showed that this move looks to save “tens of millions of pounds” current wasted for tax-payers, as the government seeks to introduce new ‘unitary’ councils to provide all services, in place of the current system.

Reed opened his statement in the Commons by saying “This government was elected on a promise, to repair the broken foundations of Local government. In 2024 councils were on the brink financially, while a third of the country was left paying for the wasteful duplication of two-tiers of councils for their area. This cannot be acceptable.”

READ MORE: LabourList opportunities: Freelancers needed for devolved and local elections

Reed then outlined the need “to eliminate the financial waste of two-tier councils, so we can plough the savings back into the frontline services people care about the most,” pointing out public confusion under the current model, as to knowing which specific services each council is responsible for saying: “No one would ever design a system where one council collects your rubbish, and another one gets rid of it.”

Subscribe here to our daily newsletter roundup of Labour news, analysis and comment– and follow us on Bluesky, WhatsApp, X and Facebook.

As the government seeks to make this change towards unitary councils, some of those who would be up for election this year if they were not postponed, could potentially find they were only serving in office for a year as certain councils become disbanded into the updated local government structure.

Here is the full list of Labour councils that will be postponing elections.

• Adur
• Blackburn and Darwen
• Basildon
• Cannock Chase
• Chorley
• Crawley
• Exeter
• Hyndburn
• Ipswich
• Lincoln
• Norwich
• Peterborough
• Preston
• Redditch
• Rugby
• Stevenage
• Tamworth
• Thurrock
• Welwyn Hatfield
• West Lancashire
• Worthing

Share your thoughts. Contribute on this story or tell your own by writing to our Editor. The best letters every week will be published on the site. Find out how to get your letter published.

There are also six Conservative councils and one Liberal Democrat authority that will see their elections postponed in light of the government’s changes.

• • SHARE: If you have anything to share that we should be looking into or publishing about this story – or any other topic involving Labour– contact us (strictly anonymously if you wish) at [email protected].
  • SUBSCRIBE: Sign up to LabourList’s morning email here for the best briefing on everything Labour, every weekday morning.
  • DONATE: If you value our work, please chip in a few pounds a week and become one of our supporters, helping sustain and expand our coverage.
  • PARTNER: If you or your organisation might be interested in partnering with us on sponsored events or projects, email [email protected].
  • ADVERTISE: If your organisation would like to advertise or run sponsored pieces on LabourList‘s daily newsletter or website, contact our exclusive ad partners Total Politics at [email protected].