Local Government: Elections
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of deferring local elections on the number of candidates standing for future elections in those areas.
Answered by Alison McGovern
We have not made such an assessment. It is only right that we listen to councils who are expressing concerns about their capacity to deliver a smooth and safe transition to new councils, alongside running resource-intensive elections to councils who may be shortly abolished. The Secretary of State has asked councils to set out their views on the postponement of their local elections and is minded to only make an Order to postpone elections for one year for those councils who raise capacity concerns. Previous governments have postponed local elections in areas contemplating and undergoing local government reorganisation to allow councils to focus their time and energy on the process.
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