City's political parties react to May elections

A council leader has admitted she has concerns about how her party will fare after the government's U-turn on delaying May elections.

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed had initially approved delays in 30 council elections in England until 2027.

But the government abandoned plans to postpone the ballots after advice was given that the move could be unlawful. It followed a legal challenge brought by Reform UK.

Shabina Qayyum, the Labour leader of Peterborough City Council, said: "Now we're going to have to manage running elections at the same time as restructuring and organising a new authority."

She added that she was "worried about May", but would "humbly accept the results".

"This Labour-led administration has done some great work for our community, and I respect the diversity that we have. The priorities of the people here in Peterborough are my top aim."

Speaking to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, both Reform UK and the Green Party said they expected to win seats from Labour in Peterborough in May.

Ryan Coogan, Reform's principal spokesperson for Cambridgeshire, said the Labour leadership on the council had wanted to cancel the local elections "because they are worried about losing their seats to Reform".

Reform UK won its first seat on the city council last week.

Imtiaz Ali, chairman of the Green Party in Peterborough, described the reinstatement of the elections as "wonderful news".

"I'm so glad we're in a position where we were able to really push for the local elections to continue," he added.

Ali said as Labour had pushed for the delay, "you really have to ask can they continue to deliver the vital services that they claimed only a couple of weeks ago were at severe risk if we did".

He predicted "absolute carnage for Labour across the country" in the May elections.

The Greens currently have five councillors on the city council, and Ali said he was "never afraid to be bold... success on the night would be for us to double the amount of councillors. If we end up with 10, that's one-sixth of the council."

John Howard, the Conservative councillor for Hargate and Hempsted, said in a statement: "The Peterborough Conservatives have been fighting for the democratic right to hold elections since the possibility of cancelling them was announced.

"The Labour coalition enabled by the Liberal Democrats and Peterborough First will pay a heavy price at the ballot box for trying to deny democracy. We are glad that elections have been restored for the residents of Peterborough."

Christian Hogg, the Liberal Democrat group leader, blamed the Labour government's "inability to properly think through policy before announcing it".

He added: "Despite having a delayed start, we relish the opportunity to remind residents of the work that hard working Liberal Democrat councillors do day in day out."

The BBC has contacted representatives of Peterborough First who have yet to respond.

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