Council remains committed to holding election in 2026

Council Leader Simon Tagg made his position clear in response to a letter from Alison McGovern, Minister of State for Local Government, in which she invites councils to ask for permission to postpone elections planned for May.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council is scheduled to hold an election on 7 May, 2026, for all its 44 seats. The previous election was in 2022.

Simon Tagg said:

First, the Government forces Local Government Reorganisation on communities when there wasn’t any demand for it, now it suggests delaying scheduled elections while it tries to make the change work.
 

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has not made any move to delay its election and is proceeding as planned for May.”

The council has consistently argued that the forced abolition of Staffordshire’s two-tier system in favour of unitary councils is unjustified, unwelcome and unwanted.

Simon Tagg said:

The Borough Council is already delivering good, cost-effective services, accountable at a local level and supporters of forced reorganisation fail to explain how change will improve on the services residents already receive in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
 

Any reorganisation will bring significant but, as yet, unknown up-front costs as staff and services are transferred, IT systems aligned and places of work reorganised – and the Government has admitted that it has not made a detailed calculation of savings that might arise.
 

I and many other councillors have written to the Ministry making these points and calling on them to bring forward devolution.”