Why has government reversed its decision to postpone 30 local polls across England?
The government has U-turned on its decision to postpone 30 local elections across England, which are due to take place in May,How did we get here, and why?In January the government confirmed local elections affecting about 4 million people across England would be postponed amid slow-moving efforts to reorganise the structure of local government,The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) stressed it was a postponement and not a cancellation,Under plans to end the two-tier system of local government throughout much of England, district and county councils taking on different responsibilities in the same area would be replaced by single-tier “unitary” authorities,With the MHCLG saying elections for these new councils would be held in 2027, the argument was that it was an unnecessary expense to hold dozens of elections for a single year, and that the existing councillors could carry on.
But with nine councils having postponed elections in 2025 for the same reason, some areas were facing a two-year delay.The MHCLG press release announcing the U-turn cited only “legal advice”.However, it is more specific than that – Reform UK has begun a legal challenge to the decision under the judicial review process, and the government backed down.A letter posted on social media by Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, showed the Government Legal Department confirming that Steve Reed, the housing and communities secretary, had decided to hold the 30 elections “in the light of recent legal advice” – ie the government had been advised it would probably lose.This is done by the affiliation of the council leader – some will be minority administrations or coalitions:Labour – 21Adur district councilBasildon borough councilBlackburn with Darwen councilCannock Chase district councilChorley borough councilCity of Lincoln councilCrawley borough councilExeter city councilHyndburn borough councilIpswich borough councilNorwich city councilPeterborough city councilPreston city councilRedditch borough councilRugby borough councilStevenage borough councilTamworth borough councilThurrock councilWelwyn Hatfield borough councilWest Lancashire borough councilWorthing borough councilLiberal Democrat – 2Cheltenham borough councilPendle borough councilConservatives – 5East Sussex county councilHarlow district councilNorfolk county councilSuffolk county councilWest Sussex county councilIndependent – 1Burnley borough councilGreen – 1Hastings borough councilWhile ministers insisted this was merely a sensible way to allocate resources amid a long-overdue streamlining of everyday services that affect millions of people, opposition parties objected vehemently, saying it was an affront to democracy.
Given the high percentage of Labour-run councils involved, Downing Street was accused of trying to massage the effect of what is expected to be a terrible set of local election results in May.A number of Labour MPs were also concerned, both about the postponements but also whether such a massive reorganisation of councils was a useful thing to do.Overwhelmingly positive.The Conservatives, Reform, Liberal Democrats and Greens have hailed the restoration of the elections, while also savaging ministers for postponing them in the first place.Local government groups also said this had been an avoidable error, with one saying the government “has lost a fight it should never have picked”.
Florence Eshalomi, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons housing, communities and local government committee, who opposed the original plan, said: “I welcome this development.As I argued previously, democracy is not an inefficiency that should be cut out during a local government reorganisation process.”It is far from ideal, not least as the “Day since a humiliating U-turn” counter is now turned back to zero again.As well as being forced by Reform to back down, Labour now faces what will probably be even more of a kicking at the local elections.It is one thing to change course and another to do so when being told that your course of action would probably be struck down by a court.
Slalom heartbreak sparks McGrath’s trudge to the woods as Ryding bids farewell
As the Rocket zigged and zagged for a fifth and final time at a Winter Olympics on Monday, another skier made a very different kind of exit.Coming into the final run of the men’s slalom, the Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath knew that victory was there for the taking – until he straddled a gate. Gold was gone. A heartbroken McGrath – who had hoped to deliver victory in honour of his grandfather, who died on the day of the opening ceremony – threw his poles as far as he could and trudged across the slope into the woods.TV footage then captured him lying on his back, occasionally putting his hands over his face on the side of the course
How British skeleton left the world in its tracks with golden Winter Olympics haul | Andy Bull
According to the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, 3,500 people have signed up to audition for their skeleton Talent ID programme in the past three days, an extraordinary surge of interest in what has never been what you might call the most accessible sport.It is all after Matt Weston and Tabby Stoecker won Great Britain’s 10th and 11th Olympic medals in the sport, continuing a lineage that reaches back to 1928, when it was the winter sport of choice for the most reckless of a set of aristocratic adventurers. The 11th Earl of Northesk won bronze ahead of his teammate, and the pre-race favourite, Lord Brabazon of Tara. It is some legacy. After a century of competition, skeleton is the only Winter Olympic sport in which Britain lead the all-time medal table
Did the USA v World format revive the NBA’s struggling All-Star Game?
Basketball Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady flashed a look of disdain when recalling last year’s NBA All-Star Game.“The All-Star Game that we witnessed last year was not an All-Star game,” McGrady told the Guardian. “I don’t know what that was.”Prior to Sunday night’s contest, the All-Star Game had experienced years of disarray. In an attempt to make the game more competitive, the league replaced the classic East v West matchup and tinkered with multiple formats, including a playground-style selection process with team captains (Team LeBron v Team Stephen)
Ilia Malinin writes about ‘inevitable crash’ after Olympic figure skating shock
Ilia Malinin has written about “an inevitable crash” after he missed the podium at the Winter Olympics in one of the biggest shocks in the history of figure skating.The 21-year-old was the overwhelming favourite entering the men’s free skate on Friday in Milan, but he fell twice during his routine. Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov won gold and Malinin finished 15th out of 24th in the free skate and eighth overall.This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies
England beat Italy by 24 runs: T20 World Cup cricket – as it happened
Simon Burnton’s piece from Eden Gardens has landed, so I’ll get outta here.As he says, it was a proper scare for England though they’re through to the Super Eights, which is all that matters in the end.Well done Italy. Hope to see more of them in future tournaments.Next up is Harry Brook:We haven’t played our best cricket but we’ve made it through, so can be happy about that
England survive Italy scare after Manenti’s blitz threatens T20 World Cup shock
If England keep up the winning habit, perhaps in time they will get good at it. Under the lights here in Kolkata they did enough to beat Italy and secure a spot in this T20 World Cup’s Super 8s, though again without establishing themselves among the form teams of the tournament.Harry Brook had declared he would “rather not start amazing and finish amazing than start amazing and finish bad”, and in that sense alone it is proceeding entirely according to plan. The next stage is unlikely to be so forgiving.“They were better than us for quite a lot of the game,” said Will Jacks, whose 22-ball 53 was decisive
Former Carillion chief fined by FCA for role in misleading investors
Volkswagen aims to cut costs by 20% by 2028 in restructuring plan, report says
Trump donor who criticized offshoring to close Ohio plant and move work to China
Britons feeling ‘dismal’ about finances amid mounting debts, survey finds
Lloyds investigating after using staff’s bank account data in pay talks
Royal Mail blames bad weather and sickness for late deliveries