Is No 10 seeking its own destruction? Why else would it botch its council plans and hand a victory to Farage? | Polly Toynbee

Labour promised ‘ambitious reforms’, but it was fixing things that were not broken. And the moral: focus on what matters and stop making stupid mistakes What were they thinking? Labour inherited the worst of everything, including prisons beyond breaking point, court backlogs as bad as NHS waiting lists, children cast into exceptional destitution, the National Grid unable to cope with demand, reservoirs unbuilt while sewage poured into rivers, high debt, no money and deep public distrust in politics. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves were honest about what they found. So what on earth can have seized them, within months of taking over, to decide this was a good time for a gigantic English council re-disorganisation? Angela Rayner, who was in charge of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government at the time, kicked it off in December 2024. But why, when councils are near-bankrupt and crippled by the ballooning costs of social care and provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities? Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Guardian Newsroom: Can Labour come back from the brink? On Monday 30 April, ahead of the May elections, join Gaby Hinsliff, Zoe Williams, Polly Toynbee and Rafael Behr as they discuss how much threat Labour faces from both the Green party and Reform, and whether Keir Starmer can survive as party leader Book tickets here or at guardian.live Continue reading...

By Polly Toynbee

The fallout from Labour's local elections U-turn is not over yet

Keir Starmer and his team knew last week that delays to council elections would need to be reversed.