Nigel Farage has vowed to scrap the law that allowed Sir Keir Starmer to cancel local elections for 4.6 million people.
Reform UK’s next manifesto would include a commitment to remove the clause from the Local Government Act that gives ministers power to delay local authority elections, Mr Farage pledged.
The Reform UK leader has previously called Sir Keir a “dictator” after his Government decided to cancel 30 local elections that were due to take place on May 7.
The Telegraph has launched its Campaign for Democracy, which calls for ministers to be stripped of their legal powers to cancel local elections without a full vote in Parliament.
Opposition leaders have backed the campaign for a change in the law to prevent ministers being able to cancel local elections “at the stroke of a pen”.
Mr Farage said: “Reform UK will commit – in its manifesto – to removing section 87 from the 2000 Local Government Act.”
If Reform UK is elected and the change is made, it would prevent future governments from cancelling elections and depriving voters of their right to choose.
Next week, a team of lawyers acting on behalf of Reform UK will attempt to defeat the Government in the High Court in an attempt to overturn the decision to cancel local elections.
The legal challenge will be heard on Feb 19 and 20, with a decision expected in time for the postponed elections to go ahead if the Government is defeated.
Ministers have argued councils cannot afford to hold elections and prepare for local government reorganisation at the same time.
At the court hearing next week, lawyers representing the Government are expected to argue that its decision was justified because of the “exceptional circumstances” whereby councils have said they are “struggling to prepare for resource-intensive elections”.
The cancellations mean that in some parts of the country, households will have no say over who controls their local services and council tax for up to seven years.
Steve Reed, the Local Government Secretary, was able to cancel the elections thanks to an obscure clause in the Local Government Act 2000 that grants secretaries of state the power to delay local elections.
It was supposed to be used in extreme circumstances, and was previously deployed during the Covid pandemic, but critics argue Labour has weaponised it to scrap ballots the party expected to lose.
Speaking at a rally in Birmingham on Monday, Mr Farage told supporters that Reform UK was on a “general election war footing” and would be ready to fight an election within two months.
Mr Farage said: “I do today put this party on a general election war footing. We will make sure that it is, that we are ready in every way to fight, and we’re fighting because we want and need a proud, independent country that stands up on its own two feet.”
He called the May 7 elections a “crucial” contest and likened them to the midterms in the US.
But he added: “I’m not going to wait until after May 7 for the next phase, because things are moving rather quickly out there. I will, within the next few days, start to unveil the first people who will act as our spokesmen and act as our shadow cabinet ministers.”
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The Telegraph is aware of a string of councillors who are awaiting the outcome of the judicial review before deciding whether to step down in protest over the Government’s decision to cancel elections.
A wave of protest resignations would trigger a string of by-elections across the country.
Norfolk county council has already been hit by a series of resignations from furious councillors in revolt against the Tory leader’s decision to postpone its election.
And a small but growing group of voters is withholding their council tax payments. They argue there should be no taxation without the chance to elect representatives.
