Angela Rayner has revealed that nine council districts will not hold local elections in May.
As part of England's transition from two-tier to unitary local administration, the Deputy PM announced that new elections would instead be held in 2026.
The regions include Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex, Essex, and Thurrock.
"The government's starting point is for all elections to go ahead unless there is strong justification for postponement," the secretary of housing, communities, and local government told the Commons. The bar is set high, and with good reason. Only half of the requests are acceptable to me.
"After giving it some thought, I have decided to only postpone elections in areas where delivering devolution is a key component of our platform promise.
"Electing bodies that won't exist and whose successors we don't know will be in charge is not our business.
"This would be an expensive and irresponsible waste of taxpayers' money. Any party calling for these elections to go ahead must explain how this waste could be justifiable."
All but one of the councils are controlled by the Conservatives, while Reform had been expected to perform well in Essex and Thurrock.
Nigel Farage charged "collusion" between the Tory-controlled councils and the Labour government.
He stated to The Times: "I thought that only dictators cancelled elections but what I see today is collusion to stave off the threat of Reform UK on May 1."
In the meantime, Labour was charged by the Conservatives with "massively rushing this whole exercise."
Shadow communities secretary Kevin Hollinrake said: "There has been no attempt to gather consensus within two-tier areas. Local residents have not been consulted. Council leaders have a 'gun to their head' from the Labour Government.
"This whole process should be considered in slower time, with proper and open consultation, and not imposed from Whitehall on your town hall.
"Last year, we set out five key tests that any restructuring should meet - and Labour have failed at every hurdle. This mass postponement of elections is unprecedented and entirely wrong.
"Conservatives favor increased collaboration and more robust local responsibility. Local government should be 'local' to the people and respect local identities, although there are a variety of approaches to do this. No council should be coerced or threatened into reorganizing its local government.
"A view to mayoral elections in May 2026" is another of the six new possible devolution regions that Ms. Rayner announced for England.
These regions include Greater Essex, Hampshire and Solent, Sussex and Brighton, Cumbria, Cheshire and Warrington, and Norfolk and Suffolk.
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