Human rights watchdog should investigate local election delays, Lib Dem leader urges

Liberal Democrat person Sir Ed Davey has written to the UK's quality rights watchdog asking for an probe into the government's program to postpone immoderate section elections adjacent year.

In a missive to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, Sir Ed said that astir 10 cardinal radical could spot their antiauthoritarian rights "ripped away".

It comes aft the authorities indicated it would postpone elections if section authorities undergoing reorganisation requested it.

In his letter, Sir Ed said: "Article 3 of the archetypal protocol of the Human Rights Act spells retired successful achromatic and achromatic the close to escaped elections.

"Removing elections altogether, wholly unnecessarily, is successful wide breach of this principle. Can you truthful corroborate your plans to analyse the government's cavalier attack to our elections?"

In a large shake-up of section government, Labour ministers privation to scrap the two-tier strategy of territory and region councils, replacing them with caller unitary authorities that volition present each section services from 2028.

Many of these are expected to beryllium headed by section mayors, with the program aimed astatine widening devolution by giving section leaders much sway implicit decisions successful their areas.

On Thursday, the authorities revealed it had asked each 63 councils impacted by the shake-up and that are owed to clasp elections successful May to accidental whether they necessitate a delay, with a deadline of 15 January to respond.

In a Written Ministerial Statement (WMS), section authorities curate Alison McGovern said immoderate authorities were acrophobic astir their capableness to tally the polls alongside the planned overhaul, arsenic good arsenic the outgo to the payer of holding elections for councils that volition soon beryllium abolished.

"Should a assembly accidental they person nary crushed for postponement, past we volition perceive to them," she said.

"But if a assembly voices genuine concerns astir its capacity, past we volition instrumentality these concerns seriously," she added.

"To that end, the caput of authorities is lone minded to marque an bid to postpone elections for 1 twelvemonth for those councils that rise capableness concerns."

The determination has been criticised by the electoral commission, which has said that capableness constraints aren't a "legitimate crushed for delaying agelong planned elections", and the program risks "damaging nationalist confidence".

There has been a furious absorption from absorption parties too.

Reform UK has threatened ineligible enactment against ministers, accusing Labour and the Tories of "colluding" to postpone elections successful bid to fastener different parties retired of powerfulness - a sentiment antecedently echoed by Sir Ed.

But shadiness section authorities caput Sir James Cleverly told Sky News past week that the Conservative Party "wants these elections to spell ahead".

Following the government's announcement past week, Sky News contacted the 63 councils that person been sent the missive astir perchance delaying their elections.

At the time, 5 replied saying they would petition a postponement:

• Blackburn with Darwen Council (Labour);

• Chorley Borough Council (Labour);

• East Sussex County Council (Conservative minority);

• Hastings Borough Council (Green minority);

• West Sussex County Council (Conservative).

Elections primitively scheduled for May 2025 successful 9 areas - including Essex, Suffolk, East Sussex and West Sussex - person already been postponed once.

Responding to the electoral commission's statement, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government said it was taking a "locally-led approach" and emphasised that "councils are successful the champion presumption to justice the interaction of postponements connected their area".

They added: "These are exceptional circumstances wherever councils person told america they're struggling to hole for resource-intensive elections to councils that volition soon beryllium abolished, portion besides reorganising into much businesslike authorities that tin amended service section residents.

"There is simply a wide precedent for postponing section elections wherever section authorities reorganisation is successful progress, arsenic happened successful 2019 and 2022."