Statement from Suffolk’s Green council leaders on Suffolk being accepted on fast-track devolution programme
The announcement today by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner to cancel May’s local elections in Suffolk is very disappointing.
We support the principle of devolution which should mean powers and funding moving out from Westminster and closer to residents.
It is therefore alarming that the first step in the process is for the government, aided and abetted by the Conservative administration at Suffolk County Council, to take away a democratic opportunity for Suffolk’s residents to express their views at the ballot box.
The Deputy Prime Minister stated that going ahead with May’s elections would be an unacceptable cost and a waste of public money and stressed that elections would only be postponed by one year.
Whilst we accept that a mayoral election will happen in May 2026, we have seen no realistic timetable showing that elections to new unitary authorities could happen at the same time. Therefore, elections will inevitably be postponed by more than one year. It is completely unacceptable democratically if Suffolk county councillors were sitting for two or possibly three years longer than their initial term, which could be seven years in total.
The creation of mega councils of 500,000 people will break the connection between communities and the councillors who live and work within them. Wards will be much bigger, and councillors will not have the in-depth local knowledge to draw on when decisions are called for. Councils will become more remote from the people they serve.
There is no evidence to suggest that large councils are better councils. What evidence does Councillor Hicks have for saying that local government reorganisation will “deliver efficiency, accountability and streamlined services?” Not from unitary Somerset where the council leader has just said two-tier areas need to “think very carefully” before reorganising and he “can’t imagine” how other areas would reorganise to make way for devolution at the pace set by the government.
The Green leaders of Babergh, East and Mid Suffolk councils have not been consulted by either central government or the county about these changes, but we assure our residents that we will fight to protect their communities, services, and their democratic rights.
We welcome change and will engage with the process of developing the shape of future local government in Suffolk, but we are very concerned that in practice, powers and funding will be drawn up into the mayoral authority, further away from our residents, this would be the opposite of devolution.