Government rejects Reform call for binding referendum on council scrappage and mayoral plans

The government has said it is up to Lancashire to decide whether to hold a referendum on a controversial plan to scrap all of the county's councils - but suggested that the outcome will not be legally binding if it does.

- by Paul Faulkner

The message came in a letter to the Reform UK leader of Lancashire County Council, Stephen Atkinson, from local government minister Jim McMahon.

It followed a meeting between the pair late last month during which it is understood they discussed a request from County Coun Atkinson for referendums both on the government-ordered council shakeup-which will see the number of local authorities in the area slashed - and the prospect of Lancashire getting a directly-elected mayor.

He had pledged to pursue public votes, estimated to cost a total £2.5m, on the two politically thorny issues in the run-up to the local elections in May-and says he is "disappointed" by the government's now declared stance on the status of any poll about council reorganisation.

The correspondence - which has been circulated to other senior local authority figures in the county and seen by the Post - is silent on the possibility of holding a vote to survey public opinion on a mayor, pending submission of a formal proposal this autumn regarding an expansion of Lancashire's devolution deal.