More than 20 local authorities in England are expected to have their scheduled May 2026 council elections postponed until 2027 after requesting delays because of pressures linked to a sweeping restructuring of local government.
The Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) said 27 of 63 council areas eligible to seek a delay had already submitted formal requests by a mid-January deadline, meaning more than a third of councils involved in the current reorganisation could avoid going to the polls this year. Ministers are expected to approve most, or all, of the applications in the coming days.
The postponements are tied to the government’s plan to overhaul parts of English local government by replacing some two-tier county and district arrangements with single unitary authorities, alongside the creation of new combined authorities and the introduction of directly elected mayors in several regions. Councils applying for delays have argued that running elections while simultaneously preparing for mergers, boundary changes and governance reforms risks overstretching staff and undermining delivery.
If signed off, the delays would extend the terms of around 600 sitting councillors by more than a year without voters being able to pass judgement at the ballot box. The Guardian reported that roughly 200 of those affected councillors are Labour, reflecting the fact that many of the councils seeking postponements are Labour-led, with a smaller number under Conservative or Liberal Democrat control and others run by coalitions or independents.
Ministers have defended the principle of postponing elections in areas where councils are expected to be abolished or reorganised, arguing that holding a full vote for bodies nearing the end of their existence would not represent good use of public money or staff time. Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has described some of the authorities due to be replaced as “zombie councils” and said elections for them would be “pointless” if the institutions are set to disappear. He has also argued that the administrative burden of elections can divert resources from frontline services, including road maintenance and social care.
In Parliament in December, the local government reorganisation minister, Alison McGovern, indicated that government would be prepared to approve election delays where councils presented what she called “genuine concerns” about their ability to deliver polls alongside reorganisation work.
The councils seeking delays span county, district and city authorities. Examples cited include county councils such as East Sussex, West Sussex and Suffolk, alongside district and unitary areas including Exeter, Preston, Peterborough, Cheltenham, Hastings, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Ipswich and Redditch.
The prospect of postponements has prompted criticism from opposition figures and some local campaigners, who argue that delaying scheduled elections weakens democratic accountability and risks appearing self-serving, particularly where political control is contested. Critics have framed the decision as effectively cancelling a set of local elections in order to avoid electoral risk during a period of political sensitivity.
Public reaction in some areas has been heated. In Redditch, a borough council meeting discussing the issue became fractious, with reports of protests, shouting and verbal abuse, and police called to the venue. The incident has been cited by some councillors as evidence of the strength of feeling about extending terms without a vote.
The requests come against the backdrop of a broader reshaping of local governance in England. The government is pursuing what it has described as a once-in-a-generation reorganisation, including moves to form six new mayoral combined authorities covering Cheshire and Warrington, Cumbria, Greater Essex, Hampshire and the Solent, Norfolk and Suffolk and Sussex and Brighton. Ministers say the new structures will simplify decision-making, improve efficiency and provide stronger regional leadership, particularly in coordinating services and economic development.
However, the timing and sequencing of elections have already been contentious. Four mayoral elections connected to new combined authorities — in Greater Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, Hampshire and the Solent and Sussex and Brighton — have previously been postponed, with first contests now expected in 2028 rather than 2026.
For councils seeking to delay May’s polls, the central argument is capacity: electoral services teams are expected to manage complex, highly regulated elections at the same time as implementing structural reforms, transferring functions, preparing new governance arrangements and, in some places, redesigning ward boundaries. The AEA has warned in the past that large-scale changes can place exceptional strain on local administrators.
Final decisions on which councils will be allowed to postpone elections are expected shortly, with the government likely to set out the legal basis and any conditions attached. If approvals are granted as anticipated, voters in affected areas would next go to the polls for their local councils in May 2027, with wider changes to council structures and mayoral governance continuing into 2028.