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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has assessed the potential impact of preparing for scheduled elections that have been cancelled on costs and council officer time.

Spend on elections is a matter for local authorities. Where councils have asked for their elections to go ahead, those elections are going ahead. The Government has listened to councils, as we said we would.

Postponement also avoids the cost of holding elections to councils that are proposed to be abolished.