Keir Starmer said the decision to postpone dozens of May council elections had been “locally led” as he defended the UK government’s U-turn on the plans after further legal advice.
Votes in 30 English councils had been postponed to help town halls through a major reorganisation of local government.
But the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on Monday reinstated the elections after receiving advice from lawyers following a legal challenge by Reform UK.
The British prime minister appeared to suggest responsibility for the original decisions to postpone the votes lay with the local authorities, when he was asked during a visit to South Wales about councils now being left scrambling to organise polls at short notice due to his government’s change of mind.
Starmer said: “Well, I think it’s important to remind ourselves that the decision to cancel was a locally led decision, in the sense that each authority could decide.
“And, yes, Labour authorities came forward to say, ‘please delay’, but so did Tory authorities, so did Lib Dem authorities.
“In relation to the position, we took further legal advice and, as you would expect as a Government, having got further legal advice, we followed that legal advice.”