[arista]

30 Councils
now will have Local Elections. this May 2026

Labour will now have to pay Reform UK's legal costs

Ch5 News 5PM

[arista]

[Government abandons plans to delay 30 council elections]

BBC:

[The government has abandoned plans
to delay 30 council elections in England
following legal advice.

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed
had approved delays for the ballots until 2027
to help deliver a major reorganisation
which will see some local authorities abolished.

Reform UK had launched a legal challenge against
the plans to delay May's elections, which was
due to be heard in the High Court on Thursday.

The move was welcomed by opposition parties,
who had branded the delays undemocratic.

Reform leader Nigel Farage, writing on X, external,
said: "We took this Labour government to court and won.

"In collusion with the Tories, Keir Starmer
tried to stop 4.6 million people voting on May 7th.
Only Reform UK fights for democracy."

Asked by BBC London if Reed should resign,
Farage said "if a government minister does
something illegal, they really ought to resign".

His remarks came after he claimed the decision
to approve the election delays was "clearly unlawful".

The government has agreed to pay Reform's legal costs
relating to the proceedings, which a party source said
would be at least £100,000.

In a letter to council leaders,
Reed said the government had written to the
High Court to confirm he had decided to withdraw
the original decision.

The statement said: "The secretary (of) state invited
the housing minister, who was not involved
in the initial decision-making, to reconsider
the position afresh on a very urgent
basis recognising the pressing timescales involved.

"The housing minister has decided that the
elections should proceed in May 2026."

Reed said he recognised that many of
the councils undergoing reorganisation
"voiced genuine concerns about the pressure
they are under" as part of the reforms.]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70ne31d884o

[arista]

[Crimson Dynamo]

[arista]

[arista]

[arista]

[arista]

Sky News Text:
[Starmer has vowed to protect young people
by extending the Online Safety Act
to include restrictions on AI chatbots
Following the recent Grok controversy,
The Metro reports.]

[arista]

[arista]

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by arista

Sky News Text:
[Starmer has vowed to protect young people
by extending the Online Safety Act
to include restrictions on AI chatbots
Following the recent Grok controversy,
The Metro reports.]

He is basically saying "think of the children" isn't he?