Local election postponement U-turn is the latest in a long line of embarrassments for the Government
When Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister, he entered Downing Street having promised a Government led by expertise and probity. Yet repeatedly this Government has been found wanting.
The latest U-turn, the Government having to abandon plans to postpone dozens of May’s council elections, is deeply embarrassing for Labour.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on Monday reinstated the votes, after receiving advice from lawyers following a legal challenge by Reform.
Politically, the PM has handed the initiative to Nigel Farage and his Reform party. While on the surface the postponement was to help town halls through a major reorganisation of local government, it will now seem to many that the Government was standing in the way of democracy because it fears damaging defeats at the upcoming local elections.
Administratively, this latest U-turn suggests that the Government has failed to grasp the legal complexities involved in such a reorganisation.
This is said to be the Government’s 15th major U-turn since Sir Keir arrived in Downing Street 19 months ago. As hard as the Government may try to spin these U-turns as an example of it listening to voters, it is indicative of a rudderless leadership.
The fact that left-leaning think tank Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North has warned that these reorganisation plans risk moving local residents further from power unless action is taken to empower communities, raises more questions over the Government’s listless approach. Labour is running out of road. This is another example of why a change in direction is needed.