Member

We find ourselves debating this on 24 March. By law, the publication of notice of election must be made tomorrow. You have to admire the way the Government have run down the clock on this. The Secretary of State said that the rationale for cancelling this year’s elections hinged on the fact that it would be pointless to have elections for councils that could just be abolished a year later. But next year, on that timetable, there will still be two years to go to 2028, so unless those elections are cancelled on that basis, councillors will serve, as the noble Lord has said, an unprecedented seven-year term. In what universe is that acceptable? What assurances can the Minister give, on the record, about not cancelling next year’s polls as well? By her reasoning, there may be better justification to cancel then than cancelling now: at least the public would have a chance to have their say on the devolution opportunity before their plans become a done deal. Or is that the real plan?