Why it matters: The government announced today that county councils on the Devolution Priority Programme, like Suffolk County Council, could request cancellation of their elections for the second time, with opposition councillors raising concerns that the Conservative-led council may use this as an excuse not to face voters.
The details: Ministers asked 63 councils going through reorganisation to set out their views on potentially postponing their local elections, with areas having until Thursday, 15 January, to make their representations.
Suffolk County Council's cabinet and full council will consider the question on Monday, 12 January.
County council elections were initially due to take place in May 2025, but were postponed by the government. If delayed again, this would be the second time elections were cancelled.
What they're saying: Councillor Andrew Stringer, Green, Lib Dem and Independent Group leader, said: "At the most recent council elections for districts and boroughs in 2023 and in the general election of 2024, the people of Suffolk voted to break the hold of the Conservative party. Suffolk County Council is now the only council they run in the whole of Suffolk."
"The Conservative administration should be willing to stand on its record before the electorate. If any of the Conservative councillors vote to postpone these elections again, they would be wide open to the accusation that they care less about serving the people of Suffolk, and more to do with saving their political skins," he added.
"Elections are held every four years so the people of Suffolk have a regular opportunity to choose who they want to represent them - postponing the local elections simply takes that choice away! Democracy delayed is democracy denied."
"Devolution should be about empowering communities, yet under this government it seems to be about taking those powers away."
The bigger picture: Opposition councillors say the cancellation of county elections in both May 2025 and May 2026 would mean the county council's administration would be electorally unchallenged since 2021 and will not be dissolved until 2028, nearly twice as long as its constitution allows.
Suffolk is one of 21 areas where county, district and borough councils are set to be scrapped and replaced with unitary authorities with more powers. The county council is proposing one unitary council for all of Suffolk, with the district and borough councils united in their proposal for three.
The Devolution Priority Programme, which Suffolk County Council has committed to, means the county is on the fast-track to reorganise its councils. However, the outcomes of changes proposed by the government could mean that unitary authorities may not be created until 2027.
For context: Alison McGovern, the local government minister, asked areas going through council reform to weigh in on potential delays to next year's county council elections, saying some councils had told the department that elections, planned for May next year, could derail the plans for council reform.
She 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."
While Surrey and Hampshire are likely to see their elections go ahead, those in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and East and West Sussex could be postponed by another year until 2027.
A county council spokesperson said: "Decisions on the timing of local elections sit entirely with the government. However, ministers have now asked 63 councils going through reorganisation to set out their views on the potential postponement of their local election and if they consider this could release essential capacity to deliver reorganisation in their area."
The other side: Opposition parties nationally have criticised the potential delays, with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage saying: "Only a banana republic bans elections, that's what we have under Starmer."
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: "This is looking like yet another Labour and Conservative stitch-up to deny people their votes in May."
However, Conservative shadow local government secretary Sir James Cleverly accused the government of "blaming local leaders for not being ready", adding: "Voters will now be denied the right to elect their own representatives - and not for the first time under this Labour government."
The bottom line: Opposition councillors have raised concerns that the Conservative administration may use council reorganisation as an excuse to avoid facing Suffolk voters in May 2026, warning that postponing local elections "simply takes that choice away" from residents.
