There are three main reasons why the 2025 Council elections should not be cancelled.
Lack of democratic mandate
Since the last County Council elections in 2021, electoral support for the Conservatives in Surrey has dropped. They have lost control of most of the District/ Borough Councils and since the 2024 General Election, more than half of Surrey's population now have Liberal Democrat MPs.
It seems very unlikely that the transfer to Unitary Authorities would be completed before 2028, so the effect of cancelling May's elections would be to enforce three more years when the County is controlled by councillors without a current mandate.
It would also mean that the transition to the new Unitary authorities is overseen by a principal authority without the authority of a current mandate.
Lack of local consultation
Cancellation of the elections will put Surrey on a fast-track to re-organisation of the Districts and Boroughs into Unitary Authorities. However these Councils need to look closely at how to integrate their services - many of which are already run jointly by Councils to deliver the best outcome for residents.
The fast-track approach will not allow adequate time for meaningful consultation with these Councils, nor with the residents who will be affected.
Too many uncertainties
The prospect of cancelling 2025 elections is being made to areas which will be in a position to hold Mayoral elections in 2026. In the case of Surrey there are numerous factors which argue against such a rushed series of decisions:
- Surrey County Council itself has stated that it needs time to liaise with its neighbours on the appropriate definitions of Strategic Authorities;
- it has also stated that needs time to work out how Surrey's finances would be allocated to its successor authorities; given the financial straits of many local authorities this is likely to be complex;
- it is unclear whether Surrey has the scale to be a Strategic Authority on its own; it falls below the Government's guideline population;
- early agreement to Surrey becoming a Strategic Authority on its own would set the pattern for fragmentation of the South-East into minimum-sized Strategic Authorities each of which might struggle to meet the Government’s vision;
- without consensus on the best make-up of Unitary Authorities in Surrey, their creation is unlikely before 2028;
- a rushed transition to Unitary Authorities would not allow time for consistent ward boundaries to be created, forcing adoption of multi-member wards following the existing large Surrey County Council divisions;
- many communities in Surrey will need time to consider how they handle “hyper-local” issues.