Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Councils offered flexibility to complete reorganisation, published on 18 December 2025, what evidence his Department used to determine that local elections could divert substantial time and resources away from delivering local government reorganisation, including those county councils without responsibility for administering elections.

This government takes democracy very seriously. In the spirit of devolution and trusting local leaders we have listened to councils telling us about the capacity constraints they are operating within and the work that reorganisation introduces on top of existing challenges.

On 18 December I invited councils undergoing local government reorganisation with local elections in May 2026 to set out their views on the postponement of their local election and if they consider this could release essential capacity to deliver local government reorganisation and will consider all the representations we receive by the deadline of 15th January. The Secretary of State will consider the position of each council individually, weighing up the evidence received.