Local elections in Norfolk delayed as the Government announces devolution plans
Norfolk is set for new powers and funding.
Last updated 5th Feb 2025
Elections scheduled for May in nine council areas have been postponed for one year due to plans for the reorganisation of local government in England, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner confirmed.
She told the Commons: "The Government's starting point is for all elections to go ahead unless there is a strong justification for postponement, and the bar is high, and rightly so.
"I am only agreeing to half of the requests that were made. After careful consideration, I've only agreed to postpone elections in places where this is central to our manifesto promise to deliver devolution.
"We're not in the business of holding elections to bodies that won't exist and where we don't know what will replace them. This would be an expensive and irresponsible waste of taxpayers' money and any party calling for these elections to go ahead must explain how this waste would be justifiable.
"To that end, I've agreed to postpone local elections in East Sussex, and West Sussex, Essex, and Thurrock, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight, and Norfolk, and Suffolk. I've also agreed for the postponement in Surrey, given the urgency of creating sustainable new unitary structures and to unlock devolution for this area.
"We are postponing elections for one year, from May 2025 to May 2026."
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has announced six new potential devolution areas throughout England with "a view to mayoral elections in May 2026".
These areas are Cumbria, Cheshire and Warrington, Greater Essex, Hampshire and Solent, Norfolk and Suffolk, and Sussex and Brighton.
Ms Rayner, who is also the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, told the Commons: "These places will get a fast-track ticket to drive real change in their area.
"While devolution can sound techie, the outcome is simple - it's a plan for putting more money in people's pockets, it's a plan for quicker, better, cheaper transport designed with local people in mind, a plan for putting politics back in the service of working people."
Turning to a seventh area, Ms Rayner said: "Lancashire is already deciding its mayoral devolution options and we will look at their proposals in the autumn in parallel with the priority programme."