Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The UK government has abandoned its attempt to delay elections for 30 councils after receiving legal advice that the move would be against the law, in a setback after weeks of controversy over the proposal.
The U-turn announced on Monday by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government came after Reform UK had launched legal action against the Labour government over the matter.
“Following legal advice, the government has withdrawn its original decision to postpone 30 local elections in May,” the ministry said.
It added that “providing certainty to councils about their local elections is now the most crucial thing and all local elections will now go ahead in May 2026”.
Both Labour and the Conservatives are braced for major losses at the hands of Reform and other parties including the Greens in the elections in early May.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership is widely seen as under threat following the backlash over revelations relating to the relationship between the disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Lord Peter Mandelson, whom Starmer appointed as US ambassador.
Nigel Farage, Reform leader, wrote on X on Monday: “We took this Labour government to court and won. In collusion with the Tories, Keir Starmer tried to stop 4.6 million people voting on May 7th. Only Reform UK fights for democracy.”
In December, ministers asked 63 councils that are likely to be abolished in their current form if they wanted to delay elections to focus on a simultaneous shake-up of local authorities, and nearly half took up the offer.
FT analysis of the authorities that accepted the proposal showed that such delays could have helped Labour hold on to 10 councils, allowing more than 200 of the party’s councillors to stay on for an extra year.
This is a developing story