Local elections delay: Parliament must decide

EMBARGO: Immediate release

The Liberal Democrats have tabled an amendment in the Lords to take powers away from government ministers to “delay elections at the stroke of a pen.”

It comes ahead of the deadline today for councils to apply to delay their elections in May.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

“The government’s plans could see 10 million people across England denied their voice in the local elections in May.

“Both Labour and the Conservatives are running scared of the electorate, allowing councillors to serve terms of up to seven years without a democratic mandate.

“We must never allow this to happen again. The law should be changed so that ministers cannot simply delay elections at the stroke of a pen. MPs should also be given a vote over future election delays and a chance to properly hold the government to account.”

Commenting, Lord Pack said:

“The right to vote is one of the fundamental rights that people in this country have.

“Everyone understands that there are exceptional circumstances such as the Second World War and Covid when elections might need to be cancelled.

“If there is an emergency, Parliament can legislate very quickly. But this is not such emergency.

“No elections should be cancelled without full parliamentary scrutiny and a vote. We need the full parliamentary process so the government cannot do just what the government wants to do.

“We need to safeguard elections as the government seems to be slipping into bad habits on this.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

First reported in the Telegraph.

Lord Pack, a former president and acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, has laid an amendment to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill to scrap the Secretary of State’s power to delay elections without a vote in Parliament.

The amendment will be debated on in the next few weeks.

Full amendment here.