Labour has confirmed that a total of 29 council elections scheduled for May will be postponed.
Ministers asked 63 councils in England last month if they wanted to delay their elections until 2027 so they could bed in a local government shake-up.
Of those councils, 29 have decided to take up the offer and push back elections.
They include:
- Adur District Council
- Basildon Borough Council
- Blackburn with Darwen Council
- Burnley Borough Council
- Cannock Chase District Council
- Cheltenham Borough Council
- Chorley Borough Council
- City of Lincoln Council
- Crawley Borough Council
- East Sussex County Council
- Exeter City Council
- Harlow District Council
- Hastings Borough Council
- Hyndburn Borough Council
- Ipswich Borough Council
- Norfolk County Council
- Norwich City Council
- Peterborough City Council
- Preston City Council
- Redditch Borough Council
- Rugby Borough Council
- Stevenage Borough Council
- Suffolk County Council
- Tamworth Borough Council
- Thurrock Council
- Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
- West Lancashire Borough Council
- West Sussex County Council
- Worthing Borough Council
The Government has said the remaining 34 councils also going through reorganisation will still hold local elections in May, meaning the majority will go ahead as planned.
Councillors in areas where elections are postponed will have their terms extended, the Local Government Secretary has said.
Steve Reed told MPs in the Commons: “In areas where elections are postponed, existing councillors will have their terms extended for a short period.
“Once the new unitary councils are agreed, we will hold elections to them in 2027.”
He added: “To those who say we’ve cancelled all the elections, we haven’t.
“To those who say it’s all Labour councils, it isn’t. I’ve asked, I’ve listened, and I’ve acted.
“No messing about, no playing politics, just getting on with the job of making local government work better for local people.”
Labour’s planned local government shake-up will see two-tier councils combined into single unitary authorities.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has said streamlining councils will “eliminate confusion and duplication” to allow more cash to be spent on “things the public want”.
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