Councillors on lame-duck authorities will end up with six- or even seven-year terms. Meanwhile the people they serve will get no say on their performance
Tom Brake, Director of Unlock Democracy
Last week, at the stroke of a pen, the Government denied 5 million people a vote.
Hyperbole, ministers will say, asserting, as Angela Rayner did in Parliament, that elections in nine areas of England have simply been ‘postponed’ for a year.
But that’s not true. The elections slated for May this year in Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey, East and West Sussex, Thurrock, and the Isle of Wight will never happen again. Instead, elections scheduled for 2026 will be to new unitary councils that will not yet fully exist.
Experience of previous local government reorganisations on this scale suggests it may take a further year – or even two – for those authorities to be up and running. Until that time, existing councils will continue to operate, immune from the democratic accountability that elections provide. The Head of the Electoral Commission warned MPs last week that councils existing past their mandate would risk democratic legitimacy. That is what will now happen under the Government’s plans.
Councillors on lame-duck authorities will end up with six- or even seven-year terms. Meanwhile the people they serve will get no say on their performance. Nor on the biggest shake up of local government in half a century. This isn’t democracy delayed, it’s democracy denied.
And it’s difficult to ignore the whiff of party politics at play. To many, this looks like a convenient attempt to avoid a difficult set of elections.
Admittedly, it’s not just the Government that stands to gain from sidelining the electorate. It has the final say, but requests for election cancellation had to come from the nine councils themselves, the majority of which are Conservative-controlled. Indeed, 2021 – the last time these seats were fought – was the high-water mark for the Conservatives under Boris Johnson. Then, the Conservatives were polling 43% nationally, 10 points ahead of Labour. Now the polls have the Conservatives 20 points worse off, with Labour 8 points down.
All the same it does not look good, especially when viewed alongside the evidence that abolishing district councils may disproportionately benefit Labour. Our analysis found that Labour is set to lose a smaller percentage of its district councillors than other parties and disproportionately few district councils it controls.
Government spokespeople have tried to brush off the suggestion that poll ratings were a factor. But with trust in politics already at record lows, voters are unlikely to give them the benefit of the doubt.
It begs the question whether any Government – outside of truly exceptional circumstances such as public health emergencies or war – should have the power to delay or cancel elections. (All the more pressing with the prospect of further mass election cancellations next year as more authorities submit their reorganisation plans.)
By law, a general election must be held in the UK, and a new Parliament elected, at least every five years. To get around this requirement, Parliament would have to amend the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act (DaCoP).
All that is needed is a simple majority. So, the Fixed Term Parliament Act was repealed and replaced by DaCoP, and elections postponed during Covid. Fortunately, in neither case did the UK descend into arbitrary rule. But should it be a question of good fortune?
This Government, despite gaining the support of just 1 in 5 eligible voters, has the numbers in Parliament to overturn centuries of constitutional tradition – to abolish the monarchy, suspend due process or curtail long-held freedoms. Of course, no one is seriously contending that the Government intends to do any of this. But the fact remains that the UK is an outlier in leaving open the possibility.
Most other advanced democracies, to guard against this, have written constitutions that make a distinction between constitutional law and normal law, so that to change the constitution, a special procedure is required – generally a two-thirds majority in Parliament, a referendum or a special election.
Securing a written constitution for the UK, as the guarantee of our rights and freedoms, is one of Unlock Democracy’s founding missions. The ultimate rulebook for our political system, it would enshrine the right to free, fair and regular elections, ensuring they could be cancelled only in specific exceptional circumstances.
Right now, this guardrail does not exist in our democracy; we are extraordinarily reliant on the honourable intentions of those in power. At a time when few still trust the system, and suspicion of politicians is wholesale, it looks an increasingly quixotic setup.
A written constitution is a long-term task; but a firm commitment from the Government not to cancel elections in all but the rarest of circumstances is within its power now – and is the right thing for democracy. Ministers still have time to think again.
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