Conservative response to Government announcement on local government reorganisation

Sir James Cleverly MP, Shadow Local Government Secretary, said:

“This is outright gerrymandering from a Labour Government desperate to shore up its collapsing support.

“Reorganisation should be bottom-up, informed by and reflecting local priorities and voices. Instead, Labour are imposing top-down decisions on communities while claiming to be empowering them.

“First Labour sought to deny local democracy by cancelling elections. Now they are engineering council sizes to fit their own partisan political interests, sidestepping the proper process and dodging accountability. Residents deserve better than this – and they will only get it from the Conservatives.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• Labour are making decisions about election boundaries in their local government reorganisation to gerrymander by increasing the size of traditionally Labour areas. Steve Reed has announced his intention to expand the Labour-run local authorities' boundaries of Portsmouth and Southampton, as well as Brighton and Hove. This will increase the size of Labour-run councils while ignoring local identity (Steve Reed, Letter to Leaders in Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton, 25 March 2026, link, Steve Reed, Letter to Leaders of councils in Sussex, 25 March 2026, link).