SIR Jacob Rees-Mogg says that the government wanted to cancel 29 local elections because it was “facing disaster”.
Speaking on GB News, he said: “The Secretary of State has decided to withdraw his decision to postpone the council elections of 30 local councils due to take place in May 2026 in light of recent legal advice.
“And this matters, because occasionally there are arguable things that the government gets one side of a legal argument or another, and they could go one way or another. But this is getting the law wrong on cancelling elections for 4.6 million people.
“And how did it happen? Well, it happened because Nigel Farage took a case against the government and won, and he’s going to get his money back. So the Secretary of State goes on to say, ‘the Secretary of State will seek to agree in order with the claimant [Reform], in the light of this announcement disposing of the claim and will agree to pay the claimant’s cost of these proceedings.’
“This is a complete climbdown. It’s very rare that you get the government so clearly bang to rights. And Nigel Farage was understandably quite chuffed.
“It really does matter, because the government is unpopular. It was facing disaster in these elections, and it used its re-organisation, which was a voluntary choice of the government, it didn’t have to happen, as an excuse to cancel elections and take away votes.
“And this has an effect, because if governments lose local elections, by-elections, elections in Scotland and in Wales, it puts pressure on them to do different things, to change their policy, possibly to change their leader.
“And it’s how democracy evolves and ensures that the government keeps in touch with what voters want. If you can just cancel them, where do you stop? And 4.6 million votes or potential vote, is a very significant proportion of the country.
“Previously, it’s been done in small areas or when there was a big issue. It’s been done for war, it was done for covid. But this was just for political convenience, and this government’s been caught out.
“And I’m afraid it’s part of a trend. This government doesn’t like scrutiny, it runs away from it. It fears voters because it never got a mandate in the first place. And although we have, and I think it’s the right system, a first past the post system, a government that only has 33% of popular support when it wins, even if it has a big majority, doesn’t have the mandate to go with the majority that legitimises it making difficult choices.
“And that’s why you have a government in office, but not in power. A Prime Minister who clings on when he is incapable, incompetent, unable to fulfil the role that he has, and he does it because his opponents can’t get their act together to get rid of him.
“They wish to wound but they will not kill. They don’t wish to take the final step to push him out, and so the country drifts. Nothing happens. His unpopularity grows, and we have to put up with this for another three and a half years.
“They don’t like democracy. They’re frightened of it. They tried to stop it. Well done, Nigel Farage. Well done Kemi Badenoch, who also wanted these elections to go ahead.
“A pox on those councillors who voted to cancel elections, who really shouldn’t have done so. And if they’re Conservatives, they should hang their heads in shame, because this case has shown that democracy really ought to go ahead. And Conservatives who went along with this socialist nostrum should not have done so.”