Alison Bennett and Ben Dempsey condemn election delay announcement

Alison Bennett, Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Sussex, and Ben Dempsey, the Lib Dem candidate for Sussex Mayor, have condemned to the Government's statement on allowing County Councils to request the cancellation of elections in Sussex.

If Conservative-run West Sussex County Council request a postponement, it would be the third delayed election in our area. It would follow the cancellation of the 2026 vote for Mayor of Sussex and the cancellation of the County Council elections for 2025.

The local Liberal Democrats have launched a petition against the cancellation.

Responding to the Government's announcement, Alison Bennett, Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Sussex said:

"This is an anti-democratic stitch up between a failing Labour government and a failing Tory council. 

"It’s chaotic, undemocratic, and dangerous. Elected councillors should never be given the decision over whether they face the electorate or not, and any government giving them this choice should be deeply, deeply ashamed.

"Two weeks ago, Labour cancelled the election for a Sussex Mayor. The Conservative mayoral candidate said this decision was 'authoritarian'. Today the Conservative MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton said, ‘this is a disgraceful decision that damages our democracy’.

"The ball is now in the West Sussex Conservatives' court: are they going to stand up for voters' rights and allow these elections to happen in May? Or are they going to cling onto power in Chichester for a further year?”

Ben Dempsey, Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of Sussex, said:

"This is a democratic farce. The government is essentially asking Conservative council leaders if they would like to grant themselves an extra year in power. It is like a teacher asking a student if they’d prefer to skip their exams because they aren’t ready.

"The whole process has been an utter shambles. First, the May 2025 county elections were delayed with the promise of a new Mayor. Then, the government cancelled those Mayoral elections. Now, they are inviting the Sussex Tories to help them finish the job by 'requesting' a further delay to the county elections.

"At a time when trust in politics is already dangerously low, this further corrodes it by treating Sussex voters with contempt. It is simply unacceptable for unpopular Labour and Tory officials to collude in this way to deny the public their democratic right to vote.

"The government must stop looking for excuses, stop asking the councillors beyond their mandate for permission to hold elections, and simply allow the people of Sussex to have their say."