Labour is delaying some elections in a supposed bid to stop Reform UK’s momentum.
Keir Starmer has been slammed after cancelling some elections next year (Image: Getty)
Nigel Farage has torn into Prime Minister Keir Starmer after it emerged this morning some crucial local elections will now not be held next year.
It’s understood that some local elections will now no longer take place in May 2025 as originally scheduled, but instead be delayed until 2026 or 2027.
All 21 county councils have been asked to send in restructuring plans by mid-January. Reform UK is now running a social media graphic accusing Labour of wanting “to silence you”.
Mr Farage blasted: “The two old parties’ century-long stranglehold on British politics is breaking and they are terrified.
“Their day of reckoning is fast approaching.”
He added that Labour has imported the US Democrats’ doctrine of claiming their opponents are a threat to democracy.
Reform chair Zia Yusuf laid into the Prime Minister’s plans (Image: Getty)
Keir Starmer has been branded a ‘terrified dictator’ by Reform UK, after the government intervened to stop some local elections next year.
Reform had been hungrily preparing for the next major electoral test, however local government reforms now mean they may not take place until 2027.
Jim McMahon, a senior Local Government minister, said councils that are being merged or abolished could “hold off” elections until the reforms are complete.
LBC has reported that the Government is looking to scrap elections in Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire and Sussex – all areas Reform would have been hoping to make big gains.
Nigel Farage erupted that cancelling elections “in some areas of the country where Reform are gaining momentum is the act of a desperate government.”
A new Reform UK social media graphic (Image: Reform UK)
“They have the audacity to call us a “threat to democracy” whilst they act like third world dictators.”
Yesterday Labour grandee Harriet Harman claimed that Mr Farage’s party is “not just a threat to individual parties, but a threat to democracy”.
Reform Chairman Zia Yusuf accused Labour of “trying to stop the English County Council Elections.”
“The day after Harriet Harman talked about how poorly they were doing in by-elections.
“Starmer is governing like a despot.”
This morning Angela Rayner unveiled the government’s new white paper on English devolution, promising to embed powers away from Whitehall and ensuring it becomes “the default position of government”.
Ms Rayner said: “Our English Devolution White Paper will be a turning point when we finally see communities, people and places across England begin to take back control over the things that matter to them.”
“When our proud towns and cities are once again given the powers they need to drive growth and raise living standards as part of our Plan for Change.
“It’s a plan for putting more money in people’s pockets, putting politics back in the service of working people and a plan for stability, investment and reform, not chaos, austerity and decline, that will deliver a decade of national renewal.
“Devolution will no longer be agreed at the whim of a Minister in Whitehall, but embedded in the fabric of the country, becoming the default position of government.”
Most Popular Comments