Labour plans to delay local elections
Labour’s proposal to delay local elections is illegitimate, the head of the Electoral Commission has said.
Vijay Rangarajan, the commission’s chief executive, said it did not think the Government’s justification was a “legitimate reason” for postponing ballots in 63 areas.
In a statement, Mr Rangarajan said the delaying of elections risked “damaging public confidence”.
He said: “As a matter of principle, we do not think that capacity constraints are a legitimate reason for delaying long-planned elections. Extending existing mandates risks affecting the legitimacy of local decision-making and damaging public confidence.
“There is a clear conflict of interest in asking existing councils to decide how long it will be before they are answerable to voters.”
