Politics LIVE: Labour MPs rage at Keir Starmer as election U-turn forces party to face voters' wrath

Labour MPs have voiced their fury at Sir Keir Starmer's local elections U-turn amid fears their party will suffer in May.

The Prime Minister was yesterday forced to abandon his plan to cancel local elections for 4.5 million voters after Nigel Farage launched legal action in the High Court.

In response, Mr Farage said believed voters in areas previously denied a poll would "punish" Labour - with Sir Keir's own MPs agreeing.

"Councillors feel like the rug has been taken from underneath them," one Labour MP told The Guardian. "Now they will have to face angry electors."

Another revealed most councillors in their area were "devastated" by the move.

"Many didn't want to cancel the elections," the MP said. "They felt pressurised into it and didn’t feel they had the resources to deliver the planned local government reorganisation too."

On Monday afternoon, Mr Farage told GB News the U-turn was a "victory for our party, but above all, it's a victory for freedom and democracy".

He then joined the Tories in calling for Local Government Secretary Steve Reed to resign.

“Democracy isn't always convenient," he later wrote in The Telegraph. "Nor does it always throw up the result you would like. That's why it matters."

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'Labour's attempt to hide from voters will be costly' warns Tory peer

Lord Pickles, the Local Government Secretary from 2010 to 2015, said it will be an "expensive rush" for the 30 councils affected by Monday's U-turn to put elections back on.

"The department within local authorities is traditionally small; additional resources will have to be applied to ensure the necessary administration is carried out in relation to the various notices," he said.

"Political parties will be in a scramble to contest every seat and raise money to do so. Labour's attempt to hide from the voters will be costly in every sense of the word."

Councils face race against time to hold elections as Kemi Badenoch laments 'predictable chaos'

Thirty councils which suddenly have to face voters are now facing a race against time to hold elections on May 7.

The group representing ballot organisers has said election staff had lost "months" of planning time under the assumption that votes would not go ahead.

City councils in Lincoln, Exeter, Norwich, Peterborough and Preston had been among those where ballots were not to take place in May, alongside districts such as Cannock Chase, Harlow, Welwyn Hatfield and West Lancashire.

Polling day had also been postponed for county council voters in East Sussex, West Sussex, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Some £63million will now be made available to local authorities which are being reorganised as part of Labour's plans.

The leader of one Labour-run council in Reform UK heartland Thurrock, Lynn Worrall, said it was "disappointing that this decision has been reversed so late in the day".

Tory councillor Richard Wright, the chairman of the District Councils' Network, said council officers, councillors and local electorates "will be bewildered by the unrelenting changes to the electoral timetable".

Mr Wright added: "The councils affected face an unnecessary race against time to ensure elections proceed smoothly and fairly, with polling stations booked and electoral staff available."

His party leader, Kemi Badenoch, added that the U-turn was "predictable chaos from a useless Government that cannot make basic decisions".