Devon County Council says postponing elections is ‘undemocratic and ‘dangerous’

Government plans to postpone elections in Exeter and Plymouth next year have been heavily criticised by the leader of Devon County Council.

Councillor Julian Brazil has called a special meeting to discuss the issue on January 9 and has described the proposal – put forward by local government minister Alison McGovern as Parliament closed for Christmas – as undemocratic and ‘incredibly dangerous’.

The minister has told councils in 64 local authorities where reorganisation into larger unitary authorities is taking place that they can ask for May 2026 elections to be delayed to free up capacity for officers to work on that.

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While the county council itself has no elections in 2026, Devon is included in areas where the shake-up is taking place, as two-tier district and county authorities are replaced by unitary authorities to combine delivery of all council services.

Cllr Brazil, who opposed proposals for a similar delay to county council elections in May this year, accused the Government of misleading the public.

He said: “The Government says this will free up resource to work on reorganisation, but councils have elections almost every year, they are routine and resourced for, unlike reorganisation, which is rushed, wasting millions of pounds, and disrupting services.

“Scrapping elections is incredibly dangerous and the public will see this for what it is, a blatant and undemocratic attempt to retain power for longer. I will be appealing to Exeter and Plymouth’s council leaders to put democracy before party and press on with the vital process of allowing voters the right to decide who calls the shots.

“If they are serious about wanting councils to work efficiently and effectively, it is reorganisation they should postpone, not elections.”

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Deputy council leader Paul Arnott said he was concerned that a raft of major changes to local government were in disarray.

In July, leaders of Devon County Council, Plymouth City Council, Torbay Council and district councils across Devon wrote jointly to Government to further ambitions for a comprehensive devolution agreement.

This project, which would bring more power and funding to Devon through a Mayoral Strategic Authority, now appears in jeopardy, after mayoral elections were delayed in four other regions.

Cllr Arnott said: “This latest move to offer councillors the chance to stay in power for longer than they were elected to office comes in the context of increasing uncertainty about democracy across the whole of Devon.

“I now have little faith that we can rely on what we are told from Westminster, or the strategy and vision for the future of vital local authority services, because the Government keeps moving the goalposts in the most chaotic and knee-jerk manner.

“Despite saying they are concerned about local authority resources, the ministers are insisting on rushing headlong into a new year consultation on local government reorganisation in Devon.

“The obvious solution is to delay that work, not the elections.”

Councils affected by the next tranche of reorganisation have until January 15 to request an election delay.