Councils remain committed to holding election in 2026
Written by Hitmix Local News on 7 January 2026
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has no intention of voluntarily cancelling the planned 2026 election.
Council Leader Simon Tagg made his position clear in response to a letter from Alison McGovern, Minister of State for Local Government, in which she invites councils to ask for permission to postpone elections planned for May.
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council is scheduled to hold an election on 7 May, 2026, for all its 44 seats. The previous election was in 2022.
Simon Tagg said: “First, the Government forces Local Government Reorganisation on communities when there wasn’t any demand for it, now it suggests delaying scheduled elections while it tries to make the change work.
“Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has not made any move to delay its election and is proceeding as planned for May.”
The council has consistently argued that the forced abolition of Staffordshire’s two-tier system in favour of unitary councils is unjustified, unwelcome and unwanted.
Simon Tagg said: “The Borough Council is already delivering good, cost-effective services, accountable at a local level and supporters of forced reorganisation fail to explain how change will improve on the services residents already receive in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
“Any reorganisation will bring significant but, as yet, unknown up-front costs as staff and services are transferred, IT systems aligned and places of work reorganised – and the Government has admitted that it has not made a detailed calculation of savings that might arise.
“I and many other councillors have written to the Ministry making these points and calling on them to bring forward devolution.”
On the same subject ……Martin Murray, Acting Leader of Staffordshire County Council, said:
“It is hugely disappointing that, instead of a conversation around genuine devolution and the benefits that could bring to the county, the government are more interested in a conversation around delaying local democracy.
There was no public mandate for local government reorganisation and there is definitely no public mandate to cancel what would be our last ever district and borough elections.
Any delay is not just for one year. With the added transition year into a new unitary authority, it will be another two years with no elections. As a result, some councillors will have served a six-year term.
With a new electoral and local government system on the horizon, it is imperative that people have a vote on who they choose to lead this change.”
