Sorry Nigel, but Rayner is right to delay local elections

I am sure that Nigel Farage would love the opportunity to embarrass Labour and the Tories as much as he can in May’s local elections. But sorry, Angela Rayner is right – for once – to delay local elections for a year in some areas so that local government can be reorganised and many councils abolished.

No, it is not ‘cowardice’, as the Reform leader described it yesterday, adding, ‘I thought only dictators cancelled elections.’ It is simply a case of trying to save money and free the taxpayer from having to prop up a multiplicity of unnecessary councils. In any case, most of the councils where elections have been called off are Conservative-controlled; only in Thurrock could Rayner be accused of trying to keep Labour in power beyond its existing mandate.

Local government needs reform because it is an absurd mix of authorities with competing powers, with multiple sets of mayors, councillors and officials.