'It stinks!' James Cleverly launches scathing attack on 'arrogant' Labour over plans to delay MORE local elections

Labour has confirmed ministers have written to as many as 63 local authorities offering them the opportunity to delay next year's elections to 2027.

Plans to delay the elections will mean millions of Britons will wait even longer to have their say at the ballot box.

Delivering his verdict on the delays, Mr Cleverly told GB News: "Well, the Conservatives have made it clear, and I've made it clear long before this announcement, that we should not be cancelling elections.

"Elections are the foundation stone of democracy, and we should we absolutely should not be cancelling elections. What we've seen is the Labour Government, arrogant and naive and cocky, thinking they can completely restructure English local Government all in one go."

He added: "Scrapping police and crime commissioners, introducing mayors, getting rid of district councils, merging them with county councils. Doing it all in one go.

"And of course they bitten off far too much, and what we now see in the opinion polls is that they are almost certainly going to have a really, really difficult night in those elections.

"They've used their ineptitude as an excuse to hide from the voters - it stinks and we are completely against it."

Revealing that he has spoken to a "number of local Tory leaders" about the delay, Mr Cleverly assured they have "no intention" of cancelling their elections.

He explained: "I've spoken to a number of the Conservative local Government leaders, and the message I'm getting back over and over again is that they have no intention of cancelling or delaying next year's elections.

"Now, the message that I've put out, the message that Kemi has put out and the conversations that I have had and will have with our local Government leaders will be consistent."

He fumed: "British people deserve the right to choose those who make decisions on their behalf. That is the foundation stone of democracy. That is what we'll be pushing for, and that is the message I put out to political leaders of all persuasions.

"This is Labour running scared. We haven't asked for this, they are the ones that are pushing this, and they're basically trying to shift the blame onto local Government leaders for their own arrogance and ineptitude."

As host Stephen Dixon argued that it could be a "complete waste of taxpayers money" to hold the elections in May when there's going to be future reshuffling, the Shadow Levelling Up Secretary disagreed.

He told GB News: "They weren't saying that two weeks ago. Since the first announcement of delayed elections early this year, we kept asking over and over again, are you going to make sure that the 26 elections go ahead? And as recently as two weeks ago, the message from ministers was yes, these elections are definitely going ahead.

"And then suddenly, out of the blue, they say, oh, actually, we can cancel these elections. And there is nothing meaningful that's changed over the last two weeks other than the slow realisation by No10 that they are going to have a really, really tough set of elections."

He argued: "And the point is, just because you are going to have a tough set of elections, that is no excuse to cancel them. We went into the last general election knowing that we were going to have a bad night. But that's the nature of democracy.

"You have to take the rough with the smooth, you have to take the defeats as well as the victories. Labour are undermining one of the most fundamental tenets of democracy, and that is elections."

Asked what he would do if Conservative-led councils did postpone elections, Mr Cleverly concluded: "A couple of days ago, the Labour Government announced a complete restructure of local Government finances, stripping money away from typically Conservative-held rural councils and giving it to Labour-held urban councils. So they are really putting councils into a vice, squeezing them in both directions.

"Now, as I say, we want these elections to go ahead, that's what we're saying to all our local Government leaders. If council leaders come to me and say, look, we are really, really, really stuffed here because of this combination of events, of course I will listen to that. But our position is clear, we want these elections to go ahead."