Eastbourne MP calls for assurances for county council elections to go ahead after suspension proposal

County council leaders are requesting local elections be suspended, as part of a bid to become one of the first areas to go through a major reorganisation process.

On Thursday (January 9), East Sussex County Council’s cabinet agreed to write to the government and express the council’s commitment to aid in the creation of the new unitary and mayoral authorities set out in a recent policy announcement.

This will involve applying to join the government’s Devolution Priority Programme — a scheme intended to fast track the establishment of mayoral authorities. Locally, this is expected to see a new mayor, who would represent the entirety of Sussex, take on devolved powers from central government.

The council also committed to be involved in developing a proposal for unitary council in East Sussex.

Despite the proposal submitted by the council, Eastbourne’s MP Josh Babarinde has called for assurances that the County Council Elections will go-ahead as planned believing that suspending the election would ‘deny Eastbourne residents their democratic right to hold their elected representatives to account’.

Mr Babarinde said: “I am deeply concerned to hear that the Conservative leadership of East Sussex County Council have proposed to postpone the upcoming local elections”.

“I believe that suspending these elections is fundamentally wrong and would deny Eastbourne residents their democratic right to hold their elected representatives to account and to have a say in the future of Local Government in our county”.

“While the Leader of the County Council is able to request the postponement, the final decision ultimately lies with the Government. With that in mind, I have written a joint letter to the Minister asking them to reject the County Council’s proposal and uphold the democratic rights of our constituents”.

During the meeting held on December 9, Conservative cabinet members agreed to write to the government on three measures.

This includes bidding to be part of the government’s Devolution Priority Programme on the basis of creating a new mayoral combined authority for the Sussex area. This proposal also saw support from West Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove Council during similar meetings held the same day.

The Eastbourne Conservatives have backed the proposal to merge the Borough Council and other county county councils across East Sussex.

A spokesperson for Eastbourne Conservatives said: "Eastbourne Conservatives fully support the proposals to merge the functions of Eastbourne Borough and East Sussex County Councils into a single East Sussex unitary council.

“These plans have the potential to return power from Whitehall to local communities, allow the excessive number of local councillors to be reduced and put Eastbourne’s finances on a far more sustainable footing.

"It is for the Labour government alone to decide if postponing this year‘s County Council elections until 2026 is necessary to enable these plans to be implemented successfully.

"We had been looking forward to making our case to the electorate in May this year and would still fully welcome this opportunity if the government considers that elections can take place without disrupting these important plans.”