Angela Rayner has denied Reform it’s best chance of winning in local elections (Image: GETTY)
has denied Reform UK its best chance of winning its first council after delaying some local elections, according to a pollster.
Polling expert and Tory peer Lord Hayward said ‘s party, which is leading some national opinion polls, would have been likely to take Labour-run Thurrock if the ballot had gone ahead.
It is as part of a major overhaul of local government.
Lord Hayward told The Telegraph: “Thurrock has been Reform’s number one target, and is one of the reasons that the party kicked up such a fuss when the postponements were announced.
“It is an area in which Ukip has done extremely well in the past, and would have been a very strong base for Reform had the elections gone ahead.
“By delaying this election, has ensured that a high-profile Labour defeat will not dominate the headlines in May.”
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Thurrock currently has 27 Labour seats, 13 Tory and nine independents, and every councillor would have been up for election.
Reform has already had electoral success in the area with James McMurdock elected as the party’s MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock in last year’s general election.
The insurgent party came second in the Thurrock constituency, which covers the rest of the council area.
But Thurrock council is expected to be merged into other parts of Essex to create a new unitary authority after it went bankrupt last year.
Ms Rayner on Wednesday announced plans for local elections to be delayed in nine council areas.
Those affected are East Sussex, West Sussex, Essex, Thurrock, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Norfolk, Suffolk and Surrey.
The Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary told the Commons: “For certain areas, a significant amount of work is needed to unlock devolution and deliver reorganisation. For this reason, some areas requested to postpone their elections until May 2026.
“The Government’s starting point is for all elections to go ahead unless there’s a strong justification for postponement, and the bar is high, and rightly so.
“I am only agreeing to half of the requests that were made. After careful consideration, I have only agreed to postpone elections in places where this is central to our manifesto promise to deliver devolution.
“We’re not in the business of holding elections to bodies that won’t exist and where we don’t know what will replace them. This would be an expensive and irresponsible waste of taxpayers’ money, and any party calling for these elections to go ahead must explain how this waste would be justifiable.”
But Reform leader has accused the Government of “sheer cowardice” over the move.