Name: 英國政府放棄延遲 30 場地方議會選舉的計畫！ | BBC News (UK government abandons plans to delay 30 council elections | BBC News)
Uploaded: 2026-02-17T21:39:34.000Z
Duration: 5 min 44 s

情態助動詞 B1

Now, here in the uk, local election administrators have warned that councils face an uphill struggle to be ready in time for the May local elections after the Government reversed its plan to delay some votes.

英國地方選舉官員警告，在政府推翻了延遲部分投票的計劃後，議會將面臨艱難的挑戰，才能及時為五月的議會選舉做好準備。

情態副詞

Local government secretary Steve Reid had initially approved delays in 30 council elections in England until 2027, affecting four and a half million people.

地方政府祕書 Steve Reid 最初核准了英格蘭 30 場議會選舉的延遲，直到 2027 年，影響了四百五十萬人。

轉承詞

The Government argued some councils were worried about the cost of running elections for authorities, which are due to be abolished in a major reorganisation of local government.

政府認為，一些議會擔心舉辦選舉的成本，因為這些當局將在地方政府的重大重組中被取消。

But following legal advice, the government abandoned its.

但在收到法律意見後，政府放棄了其。

After a legal challenge brought by Reform uk, our political correspondent Joe pike explains why the Government's changed position has been very embarrassing from the government.

在 Reform UK 提出的法律挑戰之後，我們的政治記者 Joe Pike 解釋了為何政府改變立場，對政府來說非常令人尷尬。

Speaking to some of those involved in Whitehall over the past few hours, they seem downbeat, they seem frustrated, annoyed.

過去幾個小時，與白廳的一些相關人士交談，他們似乎情緒低落、沮喪、惱火。

Their argument, though, is when the legal advice changes, you need to change your position.

不過，他們的論點是，當法律意見改變時，你就需要改變立場。

And of course, by reversing their position yesterday afternoon, they have avoided what could have been a pretty embarrassing High Court battle with Reform uk.

當然，透過昨天下午推翻他們的立場，他們避免了可能與 Reform UK 展開的非常令人尷尬的高等法院訴訟。

We could have seen the Government's argument being picked apart by lawyers on the other side and we could potentially seen a judge make some painful conclusions for the government.

我們可能會看到政府的論點被對方的律師逐一駁斥，我們也可能看到法官對政府做出一些痛苦的結論。

Their argument has always been that this postponement of elections was necessary because why hold elections to councils that may not exist in one or two years?

他們的論點一直都是，延遲選舉是必要的，因為為什麼要舉辦那些可能在一兩年內就不存在的議會選舉呢？

Government ministers deny that they were postponing elections to avoid elections that they might lose.

政府部長否認他們延遲選舉是為了避免可能輸掉的選舉。

But certainly there would have seemingly been an advantage to the Labour Party because of these 30 councils we're talking about, Karen, 21 of them are held by Labour.

但對工黨來說，肯定會有優勢，因為我們談到的這 30 個議會，有 21 個是由工黨掌控的，凱倫。

And certainly if we look at the opinion polls where Reform UK are doing Basildon and thoroughly could be councils that that party might be interested in.

而且，如果我們看看民意調查，Reform UK 在 Basildon 和其他地方表現不錯，這些地方的議會可能會引起該黨的興趣。

Actually, there are areas of the country, perhaps Norfolk and Suffolk, that can be Badenoch's party have traditionally held that may be under threat from Reform or other parties.

事實上，國家有些地區，例如諾福克和薩福克，這些地方傳統上由 Badenoch 的黨派持有，但可能會受到 Reform 或其他黨派的威脅。

As I say, Labour have denied that their own personal and political interests were the reason behind this legal position.

正如我所說，工黨否認他們自身的個人和政治利益是造成這種法律立場的原因。

Joe pike well, the Care Minister, Stephen Kinnock, says although this u turn is not ideal, the Government's always followed legal advice.

喬·派克，衛生部長史蒂芬·金諾克說，雖然這次 U 型轉彎並非理想，但政府始終遵循法律意見。

I'm not going to stand here and pretend that it's ideal that the legal advice has changed, but

我不會在這裡假裝法律意見的改變是理想的，但是

we are a government that works on the basis of legal advice.

我們是個依循法律意見行事的政府。

We will always respect the rule of law and when the legal advice changes, we are obliged to change our position.

我們會永遠尊重法治，當法律意見改變時，我們有義務改變我們的立場。

But I think that what really matters to people out there in the country is that we are delivering public services, from housing to adult social care to parks and recreation to local libraries, all of Those vitally important local services, we should be delivering them in the most streamlined and effective and efficient way possible.

但我認為，對國家裡的人們真正重要的是，我們正在提供公共服務，從住房到成人社福照護，再到公園與休閒設施，還有地方圖書館，所有這些至關重要的在地服務，我們都應該以最精簡、最有效率的方式來提供。

That is the spirit of the reforms that we're pushing forward.

這就是我們正在推動的改革精神。

And those reforms will be pushed forward.

And in two to three years, I think people will really see the benefits of the changes that we're making.

我認為兩到三年後，大家會真正看到我們所做改變的好處。

Reform uk Zia Yousef brought the legal challenge to the government's postponement of those local elections.

Reform UK 的 Zia Yousef 對政府延遲地方選舉提出了法律挑戰。

Look, yesterday was a historic day for the country because four and a half million people who would otherwise have been denied their right to vote, their democratic right, that's what Starmer's government, in collusion with several Tory councils, were trying to do.

聽著，昨天對國家來說是歷史性的一天，因為四百五十萬原本被剝奪投票權、被剝奪民主權利的人，這就是 Starmer 的政府，與幾個保守黨議會勾結，試圖做的事。

Reform uk Nigel's instruction had launched a judicial review.

Reform UK Nigel 的訓示已經啟動了司法審查。

That High Court hearing was supposed to begin in two days and yesterday was.

該高等法院聽證會本應在兩天後開始，而昨天是。

Was the deadline the judge had given the government to submit its defense.

是法官給予政府提交其辯護的最後期限。

Instead they threw in the towel, waved the white flag and said, yep, fine, kicking and screaming.

相反，他們認輸了，揮舞著白旗說，好吧，不情不願地。

Now they're being dragged into allowing these elections to go ahead.

現在他們被迫允許這些選舉繼續進行。

And it was really interesting that in the letter it said that this decision was made as a result of, quote, new legal advice.

令人非常有趣的是，信中提到這項決定是根據「新的法律意見」做出的。

I can tell you what I think that legal advice told them, which is that they were about to lose and lose handsomely in court.

我可以告訴你我認為那份法律意見告訴他們什麼，那就是他們即將在法庭上慘敗。

So it's a great day for democracy, great day for everybody, all of those four and a half million people, regardless whom they're going to vote for.

所以這是民主的一大勝利，也是每個人的大日子，所有那四百五十萬人，無論他們將投票給誰。

不過說真的，我們也要誠實一點。

The reason why the government was doing this is because, as the Telegraph independently published, north of 80% of the seats the polling suggests reform were going to win.

政府之所以這麼做，是因為《每日電訊報》獨立報導指出，民調顯示改革派將贏得超過八成的席次。

So I think this is another catastrophic U turn from Starmer's government.

所以我認為這是 Starmer 政府又一次災難性的 U 型轉彎。

Shame on the Tory councils who colluded with him to try to prevent democracy.

那些與他勾結、試圖阻止民主的保守黨議會也該感到羞恥。

The government argued why hold elections in councils, councils that are due to be abolished in a year or two.

政府爭辯說，為何要在即將在一兩年內被取消的議會裡舉行選舉。

The government now has to find £63 million to do that.

政府現在必須為此找出六千三百萬英鎊。

Are you comfortable with the financial implications?

The notion that we can't have democracy and people should be denied their right to vote because we can't afford it is an extraordinarily draconian and frankly, terrifying argument.

我們不能擁有民主，人們應該被剝奪投票權，因為我們負擔不起，這種說法極其嚴苛，坦白說，令人不寒而慄。

It is unprecedented in the history of this country for.

在這個國家的歷史上，從未發生過。

For millions of people to be denied their right to vote two years running.

數百萬人連續兩年被剝奪投票權。

That has never happened without primary legislation, that is MPs in the House of Commons voting for legislation and they're accountable to their electorates.

這從未在沒有主要立法的情況下發生，也就是國會議員投票通過立法，而他們對選民負責。

And that's one of the reasons why even the Electoral Commission had come out and said, this is an independent body, of course, had said they saw absolutely no justification for this.

這也是為什麼連選舉委員會都出來說，當然，這是一個獨立機構，他們說這完全沒有任何理由。

所以這是一個站不住腳的論點。

It's simply not acceptable to just allow elected officials, when all the polling, by the way, saying they're about to lose their seats, just decide that they don't think it's worth spending the money on an election.

讓民選官員，在所有民調都顯示他們即將輸掉席位時，就決定他們認為花錢辦選舉不值得，這根本是不可接受的。

That's the sort of thing the banana republic does.