Councils wanting elections postponed will have to meet ‘clear criteria’ – Powell

Councils wanting to postpone local elections will have to meet a “very clear criteria”, Commons Leader Lucy Powell said, amid concerns changes to local government could cause “democratic outrage”.

Reforms to local government, including the abolishment of two-tier council areas, were announced in a White Paper in December.

As a result, some local ballots scheduled for May could be postponed for councils undergoing a process of reorganisation.

According to the BBC, at least 12 out of 21 county councils which were due to hold elections that month are poised to ask ministers to delay the ballots.

But Ms Powell told the Commons on Thursday postponement will only be considered if it will help to deliver devolution in “the most ambitious timeframe possible”.

During business questions, Conservative former minister Dame Harriett Baldwin called for a debate on the “enormous changes to local government”.

The MP for West Worcestershire added: “It forced a lot of councils to come up with plans at very, very short notice.

“There has been very limited opportunity for democratic engagement from our constituents, and it seems to me we ought to at least in this chamber spend some time debating some of the implications of potentially cancelling a series of local elections, and I wondered if she would spare that time?”

Ms Powell replied: “We have set out in a White Paper, as was described in the statements, some really major reforms around delivering on that devolution agenda, putting power back in to communities that we said we would do. There have been some knock-on consequences of that.

“I would like to reassure her that we will only consider postponing elections where this would help deliver reorganisation and devolution in the most ambitious timeframe possible.

“But I think she makes a very good case for perhaps a general debate to discuss some of these issues more broadly.”

Later in the session, Liberal Democrat MP Max Wilkinson (Cheltenham) said: “In Gloucestershire we stand on the cusp of a democratic outrage.

“The county council leadership has suggested that districts are backing it in cancelling this year’s elections and backing a single unitary authority for the whole of Gloucestershire.

“This is not the case having spoken to other districts, and I know those on the Labour benches from Gloucestershire share my concerns.

“So I would add my weight to the call made by (Dame Harriett), that if county councils persist in this kind of democratic outrage, that we must have time in this House to debate it, and I hope the Leader would agree with me.”

Ms Powell replied: “The minister for local government has set out some very clear criteria that must be met in relation to any requests for postponing of elections, and one of the things that he will be looking (at) is that there is support across the area for that decision.

“But I certainly will listen to requests for a broader debate on this issue.”