Fact check: Are this year’s local elections being ‘cancelled’?

This information cheque has been compiled by Full Fact, the UK’s largest information checking foundation moving to find, exposure and antagonistic the harms of atrocious information.

In caller weeks we’ve seen assorted antithetic claims astir section elections successful May being “cancelled” oregon postponed — from politicians, successful the media and connected societal media, wherever immoderate person suggested elections person been cancelled “till 2027” oregon are acceptable to beryllium cancelled “for the archetypal clip since World War II”.

The claims are based connected the quality that immoderate councils successful England person asked to hold elections which were to instrumentality spot this May, owed to a reorganisation of section government.

Some of the media, politicians from antithetic parties and adjacent a curate person referred to the imaginable of assembly elections being “cancelled”, connected the grounds that immoderate elections which had been owed successful May volition not instrumentality place. However, the Government has mostly utilized the word “postponed”, fixed the votes person been delayed and volition yet instrumentality spot successful May 2026 (albeit technically for caller entities, not the existing councils).

The imaginable of postponement has attracted fierce disapproval from immoderate politicians from crossed the governmental spectrum, with 1 Conservative MP calling it “anti-democratic”, the Liberal Democrats describing it arsenic a “scandal” and Reform UK person Nigel Farage claiming: “Only dictators cancel elections.”

Prior to announcing which elections volition beryllium delayed, the Government said postponements would lone beryllium considered to “help an country to present reorganisation and devolution to the astir ambitious timeline”. It has besides argued determination is simply a “well-established precedent” for postponing elections owed to reorganisation.

Why are immoderate elections being postponed?

Some areas of England are presently covered by a azygous unitary authority, portion others are portion of a “two-tier” system, successful which section authorities work for services is shared betwixt 21 region councils and the 164 territory councils they cover.

The Government wants to determination councils successful two-tier forms of section authorities to single-tier unitary authorities.

Sixteen region councils and 2 unitary authorities owed to clasp elections successful May asked the Government for support to postpone them, successful bid to instrumentality portion successful this section authorities reorganisation. Nine of those requests person present been granted.

What section elections are scheduled for May 2025?

Some 33 section authorization elections were primitively owed to instrumentality spot successful England connected May 1, including for each 21 region councils, 9 unitary councils, the unitary authorization of Thurrock, 1 metropolitan territory assembly (City of Doncaster) and the Isles of Scilly.

On Wednesday, it was announced six areas had been granted places connected the Government’s “devolution precedence programme”: Cumbria; Cheshire and Warrington; Greater Essex; Hampshire and Solent; Norfolk and Suffolk; and Sussex and Brighton.

Elections volition beryllium postponed to May 2026 successful 7 region councils (East Sussex, Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey and West Sussex) and 2 unitary councils (Thurrock and Isle of Wight).

The rescheduled elections volition not beryllium for the existing region oregon unitary councils. In a missive to councils successful December 2024, section authorities curate Jim McMahon referred to these arsenic elections to a “shadow unitary council”, and said this was the “usual statement successful the process of section authorities reorganisation”. Indeed, this was the lawsuit erstwhile Cumbria County Council was reorganised, for example.

Local elections volition beryllium going up arsenic planned successful May successful 14 region councils, 8 unitary councils, the City of Doncaster and the Isles of Scilly, portion six mayoral elections volition besides instrumentality place. So wide claims connected societal media that “2025 section elections [have been] cancelled” are perchance misleading, due to the fact that we knew adjacent earlier the Government’s announcement connected Wednesday that galore decidedly would inactive spell up arsenic planned.

What is Labour’s program for section government?

In its English Devolution White Paper, published successful December, the Government said it would “facilitate a programme of section authorities reorganisation for two-tier areas”, arsenic good arsenic unitary councils “where determination is grounds of nonaccomplishment oregon wherever their size oregon boundaries whitethorn beryllium hindering their quality to present sustainable and high-quality nationalist services”.

The Government said unitary councils “can pb to amended outcomes for residents, prevention important wealth which tin beryllium reinvested successful nationalist services, and amended accountability with less politicians”. It said that “for astir areas”, caller unitary councils would screen a colonisation of 500,000 oregon more.

However, immoderate academics person raised questions astir the benefits of ample unitary councils implicit smaller ones, and immoderate politicians person expressed concerns implicit however efficaciously ample councils volition beryllium capable to service agrarian communities.

In his December 2024 missive to councils, Mr McMahon said the Government “expect to present caller unitary authorities successful April 2027 and 2028”.

How galore voters are affected?

Prior to the Government’s February 5 announcement we saw assorted speculative claims astir the fig of voters who would beryllium affected by elections being postponed. For example, a fig of posts connected societal media claimed 9 cardinal radical could beryllium near incapable to vote.

However, present the Government has confirmed which elections volition beryllium postponed, we cognize astir 5.7 cardinal radical are connected the electoral registry successful the councils which volition beryllium affected.

Has this happened before?

Some connected societal media person antecedently suggested that if assembly elections are postponed successful May, it would beryllium the archetypal clip this has happened “since World War II”. But this isn’t correct.

For example, nether the erstwhile Conservative government, section elections successful 3 region councils and 3 territory councils that had been scheduled to instrumentality spot successful May 2021 were delayed until May 2022, arsenic the councils moved to go unitary authorities. In 2019 and 2020 too, immoderate territory assembly elections were besides cancelled owed to reorganisation.

And section elections person been postponed for different reasons successful the past, for illustration owed to the Covid pandemic successful 2020 and the ft and rima illness outbreak successful 2001.