Steve Reed, local government secretary, has announced Norfolk County Council and Norwich City Council votes will take place in May.

It means the authorities have just 80 days to prepare to hold the polls, after the government had previously scrapped the elections so the councils could focus on delivering a major shake-up of councils.

District and county councils are due to be abolished and replaced with one or more unitary authorities.

The change in policy was announced by Mr Reed in a letter he sent today.

He said he had "decided to withdraw his decision to postpone the council elections due to take place in May in light of recent legal advice".

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed told the Commons last month the polls would be pushed back following “arguments made about capacity, reorganisation and democracy” amid a drive to reorganise English local authorities.

But on Monday, a Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) spokesman said: “Following legal advice, the Government has withdrawn its original decision to postpone 30 local elections in May.

“Providing certainty to councils about their local elections is now the most crucial thing and all local elections will now go ahead in May 2026.”

Nigel Farage said the Government’s decision was a victory for Reform UK.

In a statement on X, he 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.”

Reform leader Nigel Farage had signalled his party would challenge Labour's decision to cancel elections this year in the courts.

© Eastern Daily Press