Failing Surrey Tories want to cancel May's elections and cling onto power
The Conservative Leader of Surrey County Council is asking the Government to cancel the elections due in May - the end of the current 4-year term. If allowed this would prevent electors in Surrey from holding the Conservative to account.
With so much going wrong with Surrey County Council - from terrible failings in child safeguarding and Special Educational Needs, to our perennially potholed roads - residents deserve the opportunity to hold “the powers that be” to account.
Yet the Tory Leader of Surrey County Council is asking the Government to cancel the elections due this May which would allow the Conservatives to cling onto power without a current mandate.
It would be profoundly undemocratic if the leadership of SCC escaped the scrutiny of the electorate at this critical moment under the guise of local government reform.
Their request comes in response to the Government's White Paper on English Devolution, They claim that this will enable them to implement the changes quickly.
However the Leaders of all the Surrey Boroughs and Districts have written a joint letter with the LibDem MPs in Surrey asking the Government to ensure that the 2025 elections are not cancelled.
See a summary of the Government's Proposals
Read why the elections should go ahead
Read the Surrey Leaders' Group letter