Keir Starmer has abandoned plans to postpone 30 council elections this May after a legal challenge from Reform UK.
The local authorities had their polling days pushed back amid a reorganisation drive.
The move triggered Nigel Farage to launch a legal battle, accusing Labour of trying to avoid bruising election defeats to Reform in the spring.
The announcement is the 14th U-turn of Keir Starmer’s time in office, after the government changed course of pub business rates and inheritance tax for farmers.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) spokesperson said today: ‘Following legal advice, the Government has withdrawn its original decision to postpone 30 local elections in May.
‘Providing certainty to councils about their local elections is now the most crucial thing and all local elections will now go ahead in May 2026.’
Want to understand more about how politics affects your life?
Metro’s senior politics reporter Craig Munro breaks down all the chaos into easy to follow insight, walking you through what the latest policies mean to you. Sent every Wednesday. Sign up here.
Nigel Farage said the Government’s decision to abandon plans to cancel local elections in 30 councils was a victory for Reform UK.
In a statement on X, he said: ‘We took this Labour government to court and won.
‘In collusion with the Tories, Keir Starmer tried to stop 4.6 million people voting on May 7th.
‘Only Reform UK fights for democracy.’
The government has agreed to pay Reform UK’s legal costs relating to the challenge.
In a letter to council leaders, Local Government Secretary said: ‘I recognise that many of the local councils undergoing reorganisation voiced genuine concerns about the pressure they are under as we seek to deliver the most ambitious reforms of local government in a generation.’
He added: ‘My officials will be in touch with those affected councils to understand if any further practical support will be required.’
The 7 May elections, taking place in councils across England, as well as the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments, are expected to be painful for the Labour Party as it suffers from low poll ratings.
The Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called the government’s decision ‘a humiliating U-turn’.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch echoed that sentiment, writing: ‘Predictable chaos from a useless government that cannot make basic decisions.
‘The legal mess is no surprise and one of the reasons why Conservatives (with a couple of exceptions who now look really silly) opposed the move to delay council elections for a second year in a row.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: How Count Binface is ruining Labour leadership contenders’ fight to be PM
MORE: AI chatbots could be ‘restricted for children’ under new social media ban
MORE: Keir Starmer warns the UK ‘must step up and go faster’ on defence spending
