Electoral Commission exposes the utter scandal of cancelling local elections
The government says that because of some increased 'admin' they need to cancel 29 local elections. Scale 'admin' up to a risk from virus, terrorism or war, where does that leave democracy exactly?
Under the guise of administrative restructuring, Labour have confirmed the cancellation of local elections across 29 councils in England. By delaying these votes until 2027 or 2028, we still don’t know when, Labour is undemocratically stripping millions of us the right to hold our local leaders accountable and yes we all know the vast majority of these councils, roughly two thirds, are Labour led.
Running scared of Reform and the Greens
The excuse being peddled by Labour including Local Government Secretary Steve Reed, is that councils need capacity to transition to new unitary authorities. It’s the ultimate unbureaucratic gaslighting. Since when did paperwork and admin become a valid reason to suspend the very core of British democracy, the fundamental right to vote? Even the Electoral Commission are unhappy.
Shadow Local Government Secretary James Cleverly hit the nail on the head when he accused the government of putting undue pressure on councils to request these delays. Labour is looking at the polls, seeing the public’s mounting fury over their failed policies, and deciding that the best way to keep their people in power is to remove the right to vote.
“Scheduled elections should as a rule go ahead as planned, and only be postponed in exceptional circumstances... capacity constraints are not a legitimate reason.”
Vijay Rangarajan, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission
Even the Electoral Commission, usually the most diplomatic of bodies, is sounding the alarm. They’ve rightly pointed out the clear conflict of interest in asking existing councils, who are currently failing their constituents, to decide how long they should stay in power without facing a ballot. It’s undemocratic insanity.
Starmers Dictator playbook
Delaying elections on the basis of needing to stabilise the government or restructure the state isn’t a new underhand technique. It’s a classic move from the autocrat’s handbook. When you look at the global stage, the company Labour is keeping is eye opening;
Venezuela: Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly used administrative hurdles and judicial manoeuvres to delay regional and municipal elections when his grip on power looked shaky.
The Democratic Republic of Congo: Elections were famously postponed for years under the pretext of technical issues and internal reorganisation, keeping an unpopular regime in place long past its mandate.
Pakistan & Africa: From Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan to various military juntas in Africa, the “temporary suspension for the sake of reform” is the standard prelude to permanent disenfranchisement.
While Starmer isn’t wearing a general’s uniform, the principle is the same. If you can’t win the argument, shut down the argument and remove democratic rights.
Millions of voters loosing their rights
The scale of this scandal is staggering. We are not just talking about a few village halls and a couple of hundred people. We are talking about the systematic removal of voting rights for approximately 3.7 million people across multiple counties.
In areas like Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, some councillors will now serve at least six years without ever having to answer to the people who elected them. In any other country, the UK government would be issuing statements and sanctions for this kind of undemocratic behaviour.
Setting a dangerous undemocratic precedent
This isn’t just about local bins, amenities or potholes, it’s about the precedent it sets. If the government can cancel local elections because they’re busy with some admin, what’s to stop them from delaying a General Election because of an economic emergency, a health emergency, a security emergency? It’s not like we have a failing economy and warning of a pending depression, a recent virus emergency that locked people in their homes or getting close to a war with Russia or increased terrorist risk are we….o hang on! This is not a coincidence.
The legal challenge by Reform UK is a start, but the real pushback needs to come from us at the doorstep or by contacting our local MP to express our alarm. We cannot allow Labour to just decide the cancel elections because they are behind in the polls, Starmer has the lowest approval rating any any PM in history and they are at risk of loosing their people.
Meanwhile…Rupert Lowe MP absolutely nails it with his letter to the Conservative leader of Norfolk County Council…
