Lib Dem council to ask for election delay weeks after Davey's warning

"Article 3 of the first protocol of the Human Rights Act spells out in black and white the right to free elections. Removing elections altogether, entirely unnecessarily, is in clear breach of this principle. Can you therefore confirm your plans to investigate the government's cavalier approach to our elections?"

"We have to take a balanced and pragmatic view as to how we can continue to prioritise our residents and deliver the high-quality services they rightly expect"

"incredibly resource-intensive, and it does not seem responsible, in my view, to conduct an election with these concerns in mind, especially when those elected may not serve any more than 12 months"

Cheltenham Borough Council will request a 12-month postponement of local elections scheduled for 7 May, citing the financial and operational burden of running polls. The council noted that elections are resource-intensive and that recently elected councillors might serve only around 12 months under impending reorganisation proposals. Since 2002, half of Cheltenham’s councillors have been elected every two years, with the last elections held in 2024. Sir Ed Davey warned that cancelling elections could breach Article 3 of the first protocol of the Human Rights Act and asked the Equality and Human Rights Commission to investigate proposed delays.

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