Keir Starmer has been condemned by the elections watchdog over his latest bid to dodge a Labour council bloodbath.

The Electoral Commission has taken the rare step of rebuking the government after 63 local authorities were invited to postpone contests from May.

The votes are widely seen as a critical test of the PM’s teetering leadership, with Reform expected to make major gains.

The government argued that more time is needed to complete a controversial overhaul of devolution.

Up to 10 million voters could be affected, many of whom have already had their democratic moment postponed by a year.

Electoral Commission chief executive Vijay Rangarajan said: ‘We are disappointed by both the timing and substance of the statement. Scheduled elections should as a rule go ahead as planned, and only be postponed in exceptional circumstances.’

The commission is concerned by the prospect of elections being delayed, and even more so at the possibility of those already deferred from 2025 being further postponed, he said.

‘As a matter of principle, we do not think that capacity constraints are a legitimate reason for delaying long-planned elections.

‘Extending existing mandates risks affecting the legitimacy of local decision-making and damaging public confidence.

‘There is a clear conflict of interest in asking existing councils to decide how long it will be before they are answerable to voters,’ he said.

He also noted that new decisions on delaying polls will be taken only months before voting is due to take place.

‘This uncertainty is unprecedented and will not help campaigners and administrators who need time to prepare for their important roles,’ Mr Rangarajan said.

‘We very much recognise the pressures on local government, but these late changes do not help administrators. Parties and candidates have already been preparing for some time, and will be understandably concerned.’

In an extraordinary move last night, ministers invited 63 councils to postpone the contests – widely seen as a critical test of Keir Starmer’s (pictured) teetering leadership

Councils have been signalling they will take advantage of the government’s offer to delay elections despite Reform fury.

Local authorities in East and West Sussex are among those backing pushing back votes from May to 2027, while Thurrock is also considering the move.

Around a third of the town halls are controlled by Labour and they are the biggest party on others, meaning Sir Keir could dramatically limit his potential losses.

Eleven of the councils are run by the Conservatives, and 13 by the Lib Dems.

Reform does not hold any of the affected councils but was looking to make deep inroads against Labour and the Tories in May.

The latest YouGov opinion poll on national voting intention, published this week, showed Reform with a 10 point lead over Labour, with the Tories and Greens a point further behind.

Ministers want to abolish the two-tier system of county and district councils in favour of new unitary authorities, which are expected to be up and running in 2028.

The 63 local councils have been given until the middle of next month to lodge a request for a 12-month-delay to their elections scheduled for 2026.

This includes county councils in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hampshire, East Sussex and West Sussex, who previously postponed elections from this May to next year.

The leaders of Essex and Hampshire CCs have said they intend to go ahead with elections, while others such as Norfolk are still considering.

Labour’s leader of Thurrock Council, Lynn Worrall, hinted it could support a delay. The authority is due to be merged with others in Essex.

‘The Government will be aware of the complexities around local government reorganisation and devolution, which previously led to them postponing this year’s elections in some areas including Thurrock,’ she told the local newspaper.

‘It is for them to weigh up the arguments for and against holding local elections for councils that will not exist in two years’ time.’

A spokesman for East Sussex County Council – which is run by a minority Conservative bloc – told the Local Government Chronicle it had ‘argued for the postponement’.

It said ministers were ‘listening to local leaders and has heard the case for focusing our resources on delivery in East Sussex, particularly with devolution and reorganisation of local government, as well as delivering services to residents’.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has likened the move to the actions of a ‘dictator’.

‘Only a banana republic bans elections, that’s what we have under Starmer,’ he said.

Fellow Reform MP Lee Anderson said the Prime Minister was ‘frit’.

Tory elections spokesman Sir James Cleverly said Labour was ‘running scared of the voters’, adding: ‘They thought they could completely overhaul local government and stack the deck in their favour. They were wrong.

‘Earlier this month, Labour cancelled mayoral elections and now they are at it again with council elections, fiddling the democratic process to serve their own political interests.’

Richard Wright, chairman of the District Councils Network, said the normal four-year election cycle ‘should be broken only in the most exceptional circumstances’.

He added: ‘This has the potential to undermine faith in our cherished local democracy.’

Allies of Sir Keir fear he could face a leadership coup within days of the elections if the results are as bad as polls suggest.

It emerged yesterday that the King’s Speech could happen the week after the contests, which might hamper a leadership challenge by Labour rivals.

The proposals for delay follow a series of other measures branded authoritarian by critics, such as scrapping jury trials for many offences and introducing digital ID cards.

Downing Street is also facing a bitter backlash for axing briefings for Lobby journalists, in an apparent attempt to control media coverage of the government.

The PM’s spokesman defended the idea of more election delays, saying councils were struggling to cope with elections at the same time as a massive reorganisation of local government started by Labour last year.

Dozens of councils are set to be abolished or merged as part of a push towards more unitary authorities.

Local government minister Alison McGovern told MPs last night: ‘Many councils across the country, and of all stripes, have expressed… concerns about the time and energy spent managing elections to bodies that won’t shortly exist, only to run an election a year later.’