Nigel Farage today claimed Britain is turning into a ‘banana republic’ as Labour prepares to delay local council elections again for millions of voters.
Ministers said they were asking 63 local authorities across England whether they want to postpone contests scheduled for May next year until 2027.
Some council leaders were said to have expressed fears that holding elections in 2026 could derail their efforts to deliver Labour’s reorganisation of local government.
Labour wants to abolish the two-tier system of county and district councils in favour of new unitary authorities, which are expected to be up and running in 2028.
Local councils have been given until the middle of next month to lodge a request to postpone their elections in 2026.
This could include county councils in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hampshire and West Sussex, who previously delayed elections from this May to next year.
Mr Farage, the Reform UK leader, claimed these Tory-led councils were ‘colluding’ with Labour to postpone contests, in which his party is expected to perform well, for a second time.
Earlier this month, the Government delayed elections for newly-created mayors in the same areas until 2028.
Nigel Farage claimed Britain is turning into a ‘banana republic’ following reports Labour is ready to delay local council elections again for millions of voters.
Ministers are said to be ready to ask county councils in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hampshire and West Sussex if they want to suspend contests for a second year
Mr Farage said: ‘Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas. Tory county councils look set to collude with Labour to keep their control until 2027.’
He added that ‘only a banana republic bans elections’ as he called on Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to ‘instruct her council leaders to allow elections to go ahead’.
Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, also expressed his anger at the prospect of local elections being suspended once more.
He said: ‘This is looking like yet another Labour and Conservative stitch-up to deny people their votes in May.
‘Kemi Badenoch must stop her Conservative council leaders from delaying elections yet again just because they are running scared of the Liberal Democrats.’
Senior Tory MP Sir James Cleverly, the shadow local government secretary, noted how ministers recently said they intended for all elections set for May 2026 to go ahead.
He said: ‘Labour promised council elections would go ahead as planned as recently as last week. Now they’re saying they won’t. Another broken promise.
‘Voters will now be denied the right to elect their own representatives – and not for the first time under this Labour Government.
‘Labour are scared of the voters. They thought they could completely overhaul local government and stack the deck in their favour. They were wrong.’
Sir James added it ‘cannot be right’ that some councillors could now serve seven-year terms.
Labour’s Alison McGovern, the local government minister, said: ‘We have listened to councils who’ve told us of the challenges they face reorganising while preparing for resource-intensive elections for areas which may shortly be abolished.
‘Several have submitted requests to postpone elections so it is therefore right we let them have their say so they can focus their time and energy on providing vital services while planning for reorganisation.
‘Our goal is to create new councils who can improve services for residents and it is only right that we listen to councils.’
