Council shake-up sees elections delayed in nine areas

Local elections in East Sussex, West Sussex, Essex, Thurrock, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Norfolk, Suffolk and Surrey will be delayed for one year to allow major reorganisations to take place, local government secretary Angela Rayner has said.

Speaking to Parliament, Rayner said the postponement would pave the way for a “generational power shift from Whitehall to the town hall”.

She said that holding elections for authorities that were due to be scrapped would be “an expensive and irresponsible waste of taxpayers’ money”.

However, Conservative shadow minister Kevin Hollinrake said the “mass postponement” was a “worrying day for democracy”.

The shake-up of local councils, announced by the government last year, will see smaller district councils merged with local country councils to create single bodies known as unitary authorities.

The new bodies would represent populations of around 500,000.