The Council elections in Exeter and Norwich, which should have taken place on May 6 will finally proceed. New Labour cancelled the elections in anticipation of their plans for unitary status.
Labour are indignant that the democratic process will belatedly be taking place in these two cities. Labour MP Ben Bradshaw says it is "barmy." Shadow communities secretary John Denham thinks "it's a ridiculous decision.
They complain that holding the elections will involve extra cost. They have a cheek. It was the Labour Government which cancelled the elections which had they been held on the same day as the General Election would have cost far less. We did warn them cancelling the elections was a bad idea.
Local Government Minister Bob Neill says:
"We welcomed the court's conclusion. That this means there will be extra costs and disruption,
is just one more unfortunate result of the reckless and wasteful decision of the previous administration to try to press on with the unitary proposals for these cities."
Tory MP for East Devon Hugo Swire says:
"This is the price we are paying for this chaos that has been caused by the Labour government
pursuing a naked political agenda in the face of advice from their top civil servant and others."
At present Norwich has a minority Labour administration. Exeter has a minority Lib Dem administration.