Covid: Doncaster Council's plea for May elections delay

Doncaster Council's leader says he wants to "put the health of the nation first"

A South Yorkshire council has written to the government asking for local elections to be postponed.

Doncaster Council told the local government secretary to delay the vote unless Covid rates fall significantly.

Yorkshire councils are preparing polling stations and counts for council, mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections on 6 May.

The call comes as the government confirmed that the elections would go ahead as planned.

Following a meeting of Doncaster's Elections and Democratic Structures committee, a cross-party agreement was reached to write to the secretary of state Robert Jenrick asking for a delay.

The chair of the committee Labour councillor Phil Cole said that people had "to be able to vote safely".

"We're asking them to look at postponing the elections, unless the situation dramatically improves," he said

"We have to put the health of the nation first." Mr Cole said that councils would have to spend an "awful lot of money" to make polling station Covid-secure.

They're going ahead but will they be considered fair?

Standing in a small booth with a pencil and a bit of paper in your hand is one of the most important things we do. But will people want to do it?

This year there will be no door knocking, leafleting or rallies.

If your political party can't afford online ads - or getting the Royal Mail to deliver leaflets - are you at a disadvantage? Some of the smaller parties here think so.

Elections will also be a bit more expensive this year. Different venues, cleaning costs and extended time for counting. The people who have to make sure elections in Yorkshire are safe think it's going to be a real challenge.

They're also worried about turnout. It's important as many people as possible have their say. The government is asking people to think about signing up for postal votes and it's extending the rules on proxy voting if people have Covid-19 symptoms on the day.

This election will be like no other.

In West Yorkshire, Leeds City Council said it was anticipating that staging elections safely would cost up to £200,000 more than the normal £1.1m running cost.

The government is expected to published a "detailed plan" to help local authorities, parties and candidates and to make £70m in additional funding available to make the process Covid-secure.

Mr Cole said as well as the logistics of safely running the polling stations he was concerned about a "dramatic drop in turnout".

"We also don't want people so worried about the virus that they don't take part in the elections," he said.

"If it undermines people taking part in the election, because they don't feel safe to go out and vote. Then we get a poorer outcome as a result for the democratic process."

You can see more on this story on Politics North in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Sunday 7 February from 10:00 or find it afterwards on the BBC iPlayer.