Today’s headlines are full of talk about a humiliating Labour climbdown after ministers confirmed council elections will go ahead in areas where they had planned to postpone them.
But calling it a simple “U-turn” misses two crucial facts.
First, the postponements were proposed for a reason. The government is in the middle of reorganising local government in parts of England – merging councils and moving towards larger unitary authorities. Holding elections for bodies that may be abolished or fundamentally reshaped within months risks wasting money and creating confusion for voters and staff alike. That was the original logic.
Second, reversing course isn’t free. Estimates suggest running these elections at short notice will cost around £64 million – public money that could otherwise have gone to local services in some of the country’s most deprived areas.
Nigel Farage and Reform UK are being praised in some quarters for forcing the government’s hand through legal action. But the reality is more complicated. The government backed down largely because of legal risk, not political pressure – and taxpayers will now foot the bill.
Democracy matters. But so does context.
What’s happened isn’t simply a Labour humiliation. It’s a reminder that political point-scoring can come with a very real price tag – and this time it’s tens of millions of pounds.