He told Leicestershire Live:
"People have a right to go and vote in May’s elections. Cancelling them is just a way for the county council’s Conservative leadership to try and rush through their plans to see boroughs and districts abolished.
"To create a huge super authority, containing most of Leicestershire and possibly Rutland too, would see decision making taken further away from people’s lives. These plans are not about devolving power to local communities, they are about centralising power and making it more remote from people.
“It’s also about avoiding an election where the Conservatives were likely to lose a lot of seats and possibly the control of Leicestershire County Council.”
Abolishing the county's district councils was the ambition of the county council's former Toru leader Nick Rushton. (He is currently taking a back seat for health reasons - I wish him well.) But the plan was always vocally opposed by Leicestershire's Tory MPs.
This time we have heard nothing from them. Too few? Too insignificant? Too busy on social media?
If it's because the Tories are afraid of doing badly in May, this seems shortsighted - no party wins every round of local elections. Still, it's typical of our new government's adroitness that they have given their main opponents the chance to make that choice.
Oh, and what will happen to Rutland?
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