Labour accused of 'hanging on to their seats' over local election delay: 'Democracy denied!'

Last month, 63 councils in England were asked if they wanted to delay their elections until 2027, as part of a local Government system shake-up, with 29 deciding to take up the offer.

Defending the decision, Labour MP Stephen Kinnock told the People's Channel: "We're carrying out a much-needed reorganisation of local Government.

"There are too many layers, too much bureaucracy in the system. We're streamlining it, we're making it work more effectively."

Reacting to the delays, Mr Dormer fumed: "Obviously, I can only speak for Redditch, but I think this is absolutely democracy denied, there's no real excuse.

"They're trying to say that it was about capacity, but Redditch is a shared service, we shared with Bromsgrove. Bromsgrove don't have elections, so all of those staff were available to work on this."

He explained: "We'd applied to the Government to try their new pilot scheme of voting early, and we only did that because we had capacity. So their argument to say we've got no capacity is just totally and utterly flawed.

"This is about hanging on to their seats and nothing else. They would have lost control in these coming elections without a doubt."

Asked by host Alex Armstrong whether he agrees with some of his fellow Tory councils choosing to delay their elections, Mr Dormer responded: "I obviously won't speak for councils I'm not involved in, but they are probably further down the devolution route than we are.

"We're not expecting a decision until June, so our elections would have been done and dusted by May and then we still might not be in the next tranche of devolution anyway."

He made clear: "But as far as other councils are concerned, that's their choice, but I believe we should always hold elections whenever they're supposed to be held."

Stressing that many Britons do not understand the "importance" of local Government, the Tory councillor argued: "I think sometimes a lot of people don't understand the importance of local Government and how that actually does impact the wider Government.

"So people need to engage more, but so do your councillors. They need to get out, knock on the doors and explain more about what's going on and how it impacts by them not voting.

"As far as I'm concerned, if you don't vote, then don't moan at me. That's generally my philosophy."

Alex then read a statement from Redditch Council leader Sharon Harvey, who said of the delays: "I cannot support a position where Redditch Borough Council is compromised on its journey towards a unitary council.

"We completely recognise the depth of feeling. This has not been easy. There'll be a massive display of democracy when we move to a unitary authority."

Mr Dormer responded: "Like I said earlier, it wouldn't jeopardise the journey because we don't know if we're in the next phase, and we won't know till June. Like I said about capacity, I think she's implying capacity there.

"Redditch has no capacity issues, otherwise why would we apply for a pilot scheme? You know, it's totally flawed. The whole argument is totally flawed."

He concluded: "But really, this is still a Government decision, so why put the onus on the councils to make the decision when actually this is the Government hiding behind those councils as well?"