Norfolk county councillor Simon Ring, who resigned in protest after the delay of his election, has issued a called to other councillors to “force that election”.

Speaking to GB News, he said the move gives councillors the power to return democracy to residents.

Last week, the Government announced it would postpone the council elections for another year to allow more time for a local government reorganisation.

The decision sparked controversy, as voting had already been delayed for a year.

Speaking to GB News, Mr Ring said: “It isn’t just Labour, you’ve got to remember Norfolk County Council is a Conservative-controlled council, and they singularly failed to request that the elections go ahead.

“They did everything they could in their letter to the minister to point out reasons why he might want to make the decision to cancel the elections.

“The leader, Councillor K Mason, did not say ‘have the elections’ even though she promised our council that she wanted the elections. She said, ‘I am ready for the fight.’

“Well, she wasn’t so ready for the fight to request that the elections go ahead.

“If you look at her letter to the minister, which incidentally is not online and should be a public document and no one can find it, those that have managed to get hold of it will confirm that she’s done everything she can to avoid saying yes or no.

Martin Daubney asked: “So, in your opinion, do you believe the elections were cancelled for the reasons we’re mentioning here that the controlling parties feel they’re going to get a good hiding in May, so they pulled the rug to prevent that? Is that what you think is going on?”

He responded: “Yeah, no doubt. Absolutely no doubt. There’s obviously a rise of Reform in East Anglia, and that’s the fear. But that’s the fear of every election.

“You might win your seat, you might not. And we can’t go cancelling elections just because we might lose them.

“That’s the thin end of the wedge for the loss of democracy, and it’s frankly ridiculous.”

LATEST ON DELAYED ELECTIONS 

• ‘A complete disgrace!’ Reform mayoral candidate lashes out at Labour and says Keir Starmer ‘fears’ losing to NigeLFarage
• ‘Dictator’ Keir Starmer faces Tory bid to strip election-blocking powers after 4.5 MILLION voters denied a say
• Labour confirms exactly which 29 councils will have elections postponed as full list published

He added: “I’ve announced my resignation. I announced my intention to resign before or by May, when the election should have gone ahead.

“I’ve got to be careful not to resign right now, because if Reform actually win their appeal against the cancellation, then my residents will have no councillor until May because if there’s no by-election within a six-month period up to an election.

“But I fully expect and plan to stand at that by-election when it’s held. And the interesting thing here is it’s giving us, the councillors who are deciding to resign, the power to give the electorate their democracy back.

“I call upon all 84 councillors in Norfolk County Council and around the country: if they truly believe in democracy, stand down and let the residents make their choice, because we can force that election if we want to.

“By us all resigning and by us all taking the same stance that myself and one or two other colleagues have now followed suit with it.”

Martin explained: “It really just begs the question what are people so afraid of? What are the parties so afraid of?

“I’ve always believed democracy is like oxygen. You need it to survive, and you can’t have too much of it. But what do I know?”

The council’s Conservative leader, Kay Mason Billig, said the decision to put off elections was “the right one”.

In England, 29 elections have been delayed for a year. The other council affected in Norfolk is Norwich City Council, where ballots were due to take place for 13 of its 39 seats.