Four million Britons are set to be denied a chance to vote in the May local elections today.

In total, 27 councils are expected to ask to postpone their polls before Thursday’s deadline – including 21 run by Labour.

Twenty-one councils already have, 34 will not – and eight were still to confirm their position as of Wednesday night.

Last month, ministers told 63 local authorities they would green-light election delays if there were “genuine concerns” about delivering them alongside Labour’s overhaul of local government.

After the deadline passes, Local Government Secretary Steve Reed is set to approve the requests, meaning that nearly 600 councillors, including just shy of 200 Labour councillors, will be able to keep their jobs for at least another year.

Under a clause in the 200 Local Government Act, Mr Reed can change the year in which elections will be held.

But Labour has now been accused of “running scared” from voters as the party continues a years-long polling slump.

The Tories were quick to attack the Government – frontbencher Sir James Cleverly said Labour were “denying democracy and running scared of voters’ verdict on their appalling leadership”.

“Having promised elections would go ahead, they have U-turned again,” he added.

But Reform UK chief Nigel Farage went on to warn of “collusion” between Labour and the Conservatives – while his party is set to challenge the Government in the courts.

“How dare the Tory fraudsters complain about cancelled elections,” Mr Farage blasted. “Seven Conservative councils colluded with Labour to cancel elections last year.

“Three will repeat it for a second year in a row. Never trust what they say.”

Even the Electoral Commission has raised doubts over the delays – it has outlined how the power to shift them back should only be used in exceptional circumstances like the Covid pandemic, and questioned whether a local government shakeup meets that threshold.

And Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey – whose party also stands to gain at the locals – added: “We must never allow this to happen again.

“The law should be changed so that ministers cannot simply delay elections at the stroke of a pen.”

FOLLOW BELOW FOR LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY…

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed: ‘The public would support delaying elections – ask them!’

Steve Reed, writing in The Times, mounted Labour’s defence to denying Britons a vote last night.

He said it would be pointless to push ahead with elections that would see “zombie” councillors voted in for a couple of years at most.

Under his plans, district and county councils will be merged into “unitary” councils responsible for delivering all local services.

“Ask the public if they think it’s a good idea to elect thousands of councillors to jobs that are set to be abolished,” he said.

“Ask them if they want to protect local government duplication across the country – two chief executives, two sets of councillors, two finance officers and so on.

“Then tell them running a series of elections for short-lived zombie councils will be costly, time consuming and will take scarce resources away from frontline services like fixing potholes and social care.

“They would probably say: ‘Don’t do it.'”

RECAP: Reform UK set to sue Labour over local election cancellations: ‘We are coming for you!’

Reform UK is poised to go to court to try to force the Government to stop dozens of councils postponing elections this May, GB News can disclose.

Reports say that more than 20 Labour councils covering four million people are expected to have elections cancelled this year after telling ministers that they do not have the “capacity” to hold a vote.

Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf told GB News on Wednesday that the party was ready to mount a judicial review in the High Court to try to force the Government to over-rule the councils’ requests.

Mr Yusuf said: “Reform’s lawyers are coming at them with everything we’ve got.”

READ THE FULL STORY HERE