Labour council leader 'angry with this PM'

A Labour council leader has hit out at Sir Keir Starmer, saying: "No-one in this borough is more angry with this prime minister than me."

Posting on Facebook, Gavin Callaghan, leader of Basildon Council, also wrote: "There is now no doubt that LGR [local government reorganisation] in Essex is over."

A government spokesperson said: "We remain committed to local government reorganisation"

The government had agreed to cancel the elections to allow local authorities to focus on a radical reshape of local government that would see fewer councils.

Basildon was one of the authorities to request its election be postponed.

Last month, Local Government Secretary Steve Reed approved delays for the ballots until 2027.

He argued some councils were worried about delivering the major reorganisation at the same time as running elections for authorities due to be abolished within two years.

But Reed changed his position ahead of Reform UK's legal challenge to the plans, which had been due to be heard in the High Court on Thursday.

Callaghan wrote: "Local government was put in an impossible position by sheer incompetence from central government."

Independent councillor Kerry Smith, who is part of the Labour-led administration at Basildon, supports LGR but voted against cancelling this year's elections.

He told the BBC: "LGR is dead. The government has just folded. They made themselves a total laughing stock."

Opposition Conservatives and Reform UK on Basildon Council attacked Labour for wanting to cancel this year's local elections in the borough in the first place.

The government is expected to announce in March whether Essex will go from two layers of 15 authorities to between three and five all-purpose unitary councils.

Elections for the new councils are expected to take place in May 2027.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "We want to work with local councils to deliver our ambition to simplify local government and end inefficient two-tier structures, including in Essex."

Kevin Bentley, Conservative leader of Essex County Council, backs a three-council model for the county.

He challenged Callaghan's claim LGR was over in the county, telling the BBC: "I think it is over if we let it be.

"The current system does not give the best value for taxpayers. If the government is still up for it, then I am."

Liberal Democrat Stephen Robinson, leader of Chelmsford City Council, supports a five-council model for Essex.

"The process has been started and I don't think a change of council leadership would make the government want to stop LGR," he said.

"They are in charge of that process, not councils."