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The UK government has reversed its decision to postpone elections for 30 councils in England, following legal advice that suggested such a delay could be unlawful. This development marks another challenge for Sir Keir Starmer.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced the reversal on Monday, a decision prompted by legal action initiated by Reform UK last month.

“After receiving legal counsel, the government has retracted its initial plan to defer 30 local elections scheduled for May,” stated the MHCLG. “Ensuring clarity for councils regarding their local elections has become a priority, and thus, all local elections will proceed as planned in May 2026.”

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, expressed his satisfaction with the government’s reversal and called for the resignation of local government secretary Steve Reed.

Farage also revealed that the government agreed to cover Reform UK’s legal expenses for the challenge, estimated to be around £100,000.

The U-turn comes as Starmer’s premiership has been teetering following a backlash over revelations relating to the relationship between the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Lord Peter Mandelson, whom the prime minister appointed as UK ambassador to the US.

Both Labour and the Conservatives are braced for major losses at the hands of Reform UK, which is leading in nationwide opinion polls, and other parties including the Greens in the local elections on May 7.

MHCLG had invited 63 councils to delay their polls so they could prioritise a broader restructuring of local government. Twenty-six borough, district and unitary local authorities across England, plus four county councils, had agreed to the proposal.

Sir John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said the biggest impact of the U-turn would be on the four county councils — Norfolk, Suffolk, East and West Sussex — three of which are currently controlled by the Conservatives. 

“Those are large councils where all the seats are up for grabs, and these are the type of areas that should mimic where Reform did well last year,” he added. 

One Labour strategist said the climbdown was bad for the party in two ways. “Firstly we got brickbats for trying to delay elections, understandably, and secondly we are now bound to lose a load of seats, so there’s no pretending this is great for us.

“The only silver lining is that the Tories will get bad headlines as well on the day,” they added.

Reed said the government would now provide up to £63mn to help fund councils’ reorganisation costs.

During a press event in Romford on Monday, Farage said Labour’s climbdown was “a victory for Reform, but more importantly, it’s a victory for democracy in this country”. He described Starmer as “inept”, “useless” and “gutless”.

Kemi Badenoch, Conservative leader, said the election delays had been “unnecessary” and said the government was right to abandon them. “Predictable chaos from a useless government that cannot make basic decisions,” she added.

The District Councils’ Network, which represents 169 local authorities, said voters would be “bewildered” at “unrelenting changes to the electoral timetable”.

“It’s the government — not councils that have acted in good faith — which should bear responsibility for this mess which impacts on people’s faith in our cherished local democracy,” said the body’s chair, councillor Richard Wright.

The proposed delays stemmed from ministers’ plans to abolish district councils and consolidate them into unitary local authorities under regional mayors.

FT analysis of the authorities that accepted the proposal showed that the delays could have helped Labour hold on to 10 councils, allowing more than 200 of the party’s councillors to avoid elections for an extra year.

A spokesperson for the Local Government Information Unit, an umbrella organisation, said the government had “lost a fight it never should have picked”.

“Having attempted to pass the political risk of postponing elections on to councils by insisting that it should be a local choice, and now backing down under the threat of legal actions, government has shown a capricious disregard for local democracy,” the LGIU added.

“On the political side, many parties will now be scrabbling around to find candidates they didn’t think they needed.”

Tom Brake, chief executive of campaign group Unlock Democracy, said: “This is a victory for democracy and for the millions who faced losing their vote this May.”