14 h. ago Starmer defends blocking Burnham from standing in byelection – UK politics live

PM says holding a mayoral election in Manchester would divert resources from local council, Scottish and Welsh campaigns for LabourKeir Starmer has defended the decision not to allow Andy Burnham to stand to be Labour’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton byelection. Starmer was on the 10-strong panel that took the near-unanimous decision to block Burnham yesterday, and, speaking to broadcasters today, he set out the same argument used by Douglas Alexander earlier. (See 8.51am.) Starmer said:We have really important elections already across England for local councils, very important elections in Wales for the government there and very important elections in Scotland for the Scottish government that will affect millions of people. And we’re out campaigning on the cost of living and they’re very important elections.We need all of our focus on those elections.There’s also a political point here. What does our constitution say as a democratic socialist party? “By the strength of our comm...

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4 d. ago Labour accused of preventing 3.7 MILLION people from voting in May's local elections as government postpones polls in 29 areas to 'speed up' major council reorganisation

Minister Steve Reed confirmed that elections would be rolled over into 2027 to 'speed up' Labour's planned reorganisation of councils into one tier.

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4 d. ago Are local elections in your area being cancelled or going ahead?

Ministers have announced polls for 29 town halls are being ditched, including nine in London’s commuter belt

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4 d. ago Government confirms local elections for 29 councils have been postponed

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed has told MPs that 29 council elections scheduled for May this year will be postponed.

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9 d. ago Why are so many English councils delaying elections and why is it controversial?

The government said some 63 council areas could postpone elections until 2027 after some told ministers they lacked the capacity to reorganise in time

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1 week ago Nigel Farage in legal bid to block election delays that risk turning Britain into a 'banana republic' where FIVE MILLION people will lose their vote

Ministers announced last month that they were inviting councils in areas undergoing local government reorganisation to postpone their elections.

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2 w. ago Calls for ‘immediate’ general election to be debated by MPs as 1,000,000 voters sign petition

The petition is a sign of increased dissatisfaction with the government among voters ahead of the local elections in May

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2 w. ago Government responds to calls to stop local elections being cancelled

Cancelling local elections is 'voter suppression and undemocratic', according to a petition with more than 100,000 signatures

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