Lee Anderson has launched a scathing attack on the “political cowardice” of Labour, amid plans to delay local council elections.
Speaking to GB News, the Reform UK MP hit out at “cowardly councils” for denying Britons their vote, declaring Reform would “sweep the board” if they were to go ahead.
As many as 22 areas could be denied a local election, with Reform losing control of a possible eight local councils.
As Martin highlighted that Reform could lose a total of 400 seats if the ballots are delayed, Mr Anderson raged: “I’ll tell you what, it is political cowardice at the highest level. They know we’re going to sweep the board if all the council elections go ahead.
“I think there’s 63 areas up for grabs, probably about a third of those will get cancelled by these cowardly councils.
“But you know what, they spent the last 14 or 15 months really having a pop at Reform-led councils across the country, the 10 that we actually control.
“And they’re that confident in their berating and their criticism of reform-led councils, that they’re sneakily trying to cancel future elections. And you know what, we’d win those seats.”
As GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope argued that they are claiming the delays are to help “cut costs”, Mr Anderson hit back: “It’s absolute nonsense. People deserve their vote when they go to the ballot box at the council elections.
“I’ve been on councils on two authorities, and they put the cross at the side of that candidate, and that person should be there for four years and no more. It’s as simple as that.”
Lee Anderson hit out at ‘political cowardice’ over plans to cancel local elections
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GB NEWS
Christopher responded: “They are literally trying to say, we’ve got two councils, we’re putting one council together, we’re taking longer than we expected – why waste money on elections now and have them again next year?”
Agreeing with Christopher, Senior Political Commentator Nigel Nelson argued: “There’s no point electing somebody who’s going to disappear next year.
“So when you hold your elections in May 2027, that will set up your shadow authorities for unitaries in May 2028. Leave it till then rather than put people in now just for 12 months.”
Disagreeing with Mr Nelson, Mr Anderson said: “Let me just repeat what I said, people go to the ballot box to put a cross on that candidate to last for four years. No more.”
Labour-led councils remain undecided | PA
Weighing in on the debate, host Martin Daubney highlighted Labour’s “unique appetite” compared to other parties to delay the elections.
He told the panel: “It’s also worth pointing out in terms of who’s cancelling and where, the Labour Party are cancelling the huge majority of these elections.
“The Liberal Democrats want them to go ahead and props to them for doing so, the Green Party want elections to go ahead in the vast majority of areas, the Conservatives want elections to go ahead.
“It does seem to be that the Labour Party have a unique appetite to cancel in their areas?”
Mr Anderson told GB News that the move is ‘fraudulent’
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GB NEWS
Mr Anderson responded: “They just want a free ride for another year, that’s all they want. Martin. Another year of collecting their councillors allowances, their special responsibility allowances, it is fraudulent for me.
“The British public in these areas deserve a vote to to boot some of these councillors out.”
Asked if Reform plans to take “legal action” against the Government for the delays, the Reform MP said: “I don’t know what will happen.
“But it comes to something in a country like ours where we’ve got one of the oldest democracies in the world, where a political party may have to take the Government or local authorities to court to have an election hold. It’s off the scale.”