Nigel Farage has urged Tory peers to condemn Angela Rayner's local election cancellations in the House of Lords today in a bid to hand 5.5 million Britons the chance to vote.
This morning, the Reform UK leader unusually put his weight behind Green and Liberal Democrat peers who have tabled "fatal motions" to avert Rayner's local authority shake-ups and allow the May 1 elections to proceed.
More than five million people across nine county councils have had their polls postponed to allow the Deputy PM to reorganise local authorities.
With both Labour and the Conservatives widely expected to suffer large-scale losses in May, the "minor" parties have come together to demand democracy in the face of the Government's "stitch-up".
Farage unusually put his weight behind Green and Liberal Democrat baronesses who have tabled "fatal motions" to avert Rayner's local authority shake-ups
And now, Farage has said: "It would be disingenuous for the Conservatives to vote for the same motion in the Commons but then vote against this motion in the Lords.
"If the Conservatives really care about democracy, their peers will vote for 5.5 million people to have their voice heard in May."
While his Lib Dem counterpart Sir Ed Davey added: "This is a disgraceful stitch-up between Labour and the Conservatives... The Liberal Democrats made sweeping gains at the general election, and failing Conservative councils are now running scared of the voters.
"It's now down to Kemi Badenoch to make sure the Conservatives in the Lords do the right thing and back our motion so we can restore votes to millions of people."
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His comments were echoed by a Reform spokesman - who said the Tories "have a chance today to stand against Rayner's local election stitch up" and let "people have their voices heard".
A poll conducted for The Telegraph earlier this month indicated that Rayner's decision to cancel key ballots could prevent Reform from securing a victory on May 1.
The survey projected that Reform would either control or be the largest party in eight councils, while the Tories would dominate 10.
However, if all county council elections had proceeded, Reform would have been the largest party in 12 councils, compared to the Tories' 11.
Sir Ed Davey said: "This is a disgraceful stitch-up between Labour and the Conservatives
PAThe delays have occurred because Rayner is eliminating district councils and merging them into county councils to create new unitary authorities.
She explained that this meant, in many cases, holding a county council election would be redundant, as another election would take place the following year for the new unitary structure.
A spokesman for Rayner's Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "We have agreed to postpone scheduled elections from May 2025 until May 2026 only, for nine councils whose requests met the high bar we set.
"This postponement is necessary to unlock devolution and deliver reorganisation to the fastest-possible timeline, which will drive growth and mean more money in people's pockets, greater accountability, and the ability to reinvest in vital public services."
