Local and mayoral elections postponed until 2021 due to coronavirus

This year’s local and mayoral elections, due to take place in May, have been postponed until next year due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Voters were due to go to the polls in 118 English councils, as well as London for their Assembly and mayoral elections, and seven other English regions electing their mayor.

However, Downing Street deemed it impractical to hold the elections as planned in May, as it would likely coincide with the peak of the spread of COVID-19.

The move is only the second time UK elections have been delayed since the Second World War – the first being in 2001, when local elections were delayed due to the foot and mouth outbreak.

The decision comes a day after the Electoral Commission called on the government to postpone the election until the autumn of this year.

We’ve written to the UK Government to recommend that the May polls be postponed until the autumn as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This is due to growing risks to the delivery of the polls & to mitigate the impact on voters, campaigners & electoral administrators.

— Electoral Commission (@ElectoralCommUK) March 12, 2020

Earlier this week, Labour announced they will cancel their special conference on April 4, where it was due to announce the result of its leadership election. The event will now take place behind closed doors.

Spring conferences for the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the Green Party, the Scottish Conservatives and Welsh Labour have also been either postponed or cancelled.