A council leader in Staffordshire has criticised the decision to cancel local elections in Cannock and Tamworth.

The leader of Newcastle Borough Council has said there was 'no reason' to scrap elections and confirmed that elections in Newcastle would go ahead as planned

Earlier this year, Tamworth Borough Council and Cannock Chase District Council announced plans not to hold their scheduled May elections.

Both councils cited pressures and demands from impending local government reorganisation.

Simon Tagg, Leader of Newcastle Borough Council said: "Our elections will go ahead in May. There's no reason to cancel those because at the moment we are awaiting the results of what the government wants to do with local government reorganisation. 

"It will only be in the Summer when we know whether they wish to proceed with local government reorganisation, what the unitary boundaries will be or if there is a delay. The work of this council will then kick in as it will for all councils."

A public consultation started last week into the five proposals put forward on the future of local government in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.

The consultation closes on 26 March 2026 and the government aims that a final decision on reorganisation will be made by Summer 2026. 

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At a recent cabinet meeting, councillors agreed to establish a cabinet-led inquiry to guide the authority's response to the government's reorganisation proposals.

The cross-party group will be looking at detail and evidence from a range of people, including local MPs, to understand how the proposals will affect residents.

The council leader continued: "It was quite shocking when we saw locally Labour councils in Tamworth and Cannock had applied to have their elections to be cancelled for reasons of they were under so much work and pressure from local government reorganisation that they couldn't possibly hold elections.

"Well I, when the government before Christmas put out that offer to cancel elections I sat down with our chief executive and we went through what work was required for local government reorganisation and none of it would be impacting on the elections or vice versa.

"There was no reason to cancel those elections – we have reached the end of our four year terms in May and it's quite right we ask the people of Newcastle to elect us again."

The consultation website for local government reorganisation can be accessed here.