On Delaying Elections

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a council meeting as well-advertised as the one taking place today, so I’m sure most readers will be are aware that tonight Crawley Borough Council is be meeting to discuss its response to the Government’s offer of delaying this year’s local election.

Over recent weeks I have spoken directly with much of the council, in addition to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, about my concerns over this process. Despite this, the fact that the motion tonight is a free vote means that, even at this stage, it remains unclear to me what the council will decide. The purpose of this post is to set out in advance how I see the issue, outlining points I have already made to decision-makers.

Crawley remains one of very few places in the country to have a council election every single year, with a third of the borough council up in three out of every four years (it’s worth noting that as a result of this, the Labour Group’s current majority means means the council cannot change control this year regardless of whether or not the election goes ahead) and a county council election in the forth year. Most district-tier councils now elect the full council once every four years and as unitary areas now make up much of the country, having one local election every four years is increasingly standard.

As council leader, I always opposed attempts to reduce the number of elections, as in my experience annual elections kept councillors more active in their communities, kept the council administration active and alert, and gave residents a regular say in the running of the local authority.

While it is true to say that local government reorganisations typically result in elections being delayed at this stage to avoid the cost of electing councillors for only a partial term, we are still two years out from a new council taking control and we are living at a time when many major urgent issues are facing the town, not least West of Ifield and Gatwick Airport’s expansion, where a delay would prevent residents from being able to express their views until the shadow authority, town council and mayoral elections next year.

While West Sussex County Council have lobbied the Government hard for this delay, having already received one last year, claiming they cannot undertake the process of re-organisation and run elections at the same time, the reality is that these are completely independent teams at local authorities and consequently the one has no capacity impact upon the other. Even more so for county councils, since it is the districts and not the counties which run their elections for them.

The result of West Sussex and other county councils pressing the Government for further delays is that county councillors taking decisions in 2028 will be serving a seventh year of their four year term, despite opinion polls making it very clear that the current Conservative administration and most of their councillors would have been removed from office last year if the election had taken place. Crawley Borough Council has always held itself to a higher moral standard than West Sussex County Council and they should continue to do so with this decision.

Democracy isn’t simply a buzzword to be used in political speeches, it is the world’s most effective political system for delivering peaceful, free and prosperous societies. It delivers this because it enables nations with a wide range of differing views to co-exist alongside one another without conflict by giving everyone a fair mechanism for changing the nation’s course. To change a Government all that is necessary is to persaude others of the need for change.

Being a democrat is easy when your views are popular, the real test of your principles is what you do when the majority does not agree with you.

It is inevitable that for those in power delaying an election will be more attractive than for those seeking power, that’s what makes the idea so pernicious. Democracies do not collapse overnight, they are always first weakened from the inside, even with the best of intentions actions which disrupt the democratic elements of our constitution have a corrosive effect.

I believe it was wrong for West Sussex Conservatives to seek a delay to their elections last year, I believe it wrong for them to do it this year, and I believe that it would be wrong for the borough council to seek a delay this year. I have made this case to those members of my party on the council and, as a fellow council taxpayer, I now wait to see what my elected representatives decide.