Gordon "Courage" Brown

I have predicted before that this Labour government will not give up what they perceive as the power that is theirs of right, and so a number of electoral scams will be tried during the run-up to the next general election. Remember Stalin's dictum

"It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes,"

Expect to see no extra security on postal voting, despite the recommendations that have been made. As a result expect to see an increase in postal voting especially in marginal seats.

Here's another example:

"Moving the date of English Local Government Elections to the date of the European Parliament Elections in 2009 - Consultation"

That's the title of a consultation document issued by "Communities and Local Government". Sounds odd, well the reasoning, so Paul Waugh writes in The Standard is this:

"Gordon Brown is set to postpone local elections next year in a bid to stave off a leadership challenge that could be triggered by a Labour wipeout....

...I hear that a further key plank in the plan is a move to delay the May local elections next year to coincide with the Euro 2009 elections in June.

By combining both polls, Brown would suffer just one national defeat rather than two and - most important of all - give rebel backbenchers less time to mobilise against him ahead of next year's summer recess.

Consultation on a little-noticed Government document, Moving the Date of the Local Elections, was formally completed last week and ministers are set to move quickly to pass the necessary secondary legislation to allow the postponement.

For the change to go ahead, a Parliamentary order has to be made by early October and so Mr Brown has authorised Communities Secretary Hazel Blears to swing into action as soon as the Commons returns after the conference season.

Labour is braced for a catastrophic defeat in many of its remaining town halls and faces wipeout in the last few redoubts where the party is in control. Labour faces the loss of Lancashire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire County Councils to a Tory tide that will strike fear into the hearts of Labour MPs who hold crucial marginal seats in each area. Ironically, all the Labour counties were held in 2005 because the local elections that year were held on the same day as Tony Blair's general election victory.

Shadow Local Government minister Bob Neill tells me: "Gordon Brown is clearly terrified of a bad beating in the county elections. You can be sure that if he was confident of holding on to Labour seats, he would hold the local and Euro elections on separate days. This is all about protecting Gordon's back."

Neill adds that last year's voting chaos in Scotland stemmed from the fact that the Scottish Parliament and local elections were held at the same time and voters were presented with two different voting systems. "We would have that again in England, with first past the post for local elections and a list system for the Euros," Neill says.

Despite recent speculation that there will be a move to oust Mr Brown this autumn, some MPs believe that David Miliband will have a better chance of taking over after the expected disaster in the May elections.

Some Blairites believe that Mr Brown will buy himself some time with his fightback plan and are very nervous of causing trouble at the time of the Pre-Budget Report. But wipeout next May would trigger a serious move to get a Cabinet consensus that it is time for Mr Brown to go.

There are pros and cons to delaying the May elections. Many councils feel annoyed that the counties get ignored all too often and that merging with the Euros will mean Brussels dominates the political debate. Some worry about the costs and the complexities of holding two polls on the same day.

The Government claims it could boost turnout and even cut costs in some areas. There are precedents for merging elections but given the current climate it's no wonder the Tories see this as a desperate move."

Who said that a drowning man will grasp at any straw? Or should that be Straw?

All replies to the consultation had to be in by 11 August so we are too late to respond now. The next step in the timetable is described thus:

"If we are to make an order moving the date of the local elections in 2009, such an order must be made by 7 November 2008. If following the consideration of the results of this consultation we were to change the date of the local elections, we would lay an order moving the date of the elections before Parliament not later than early October 2008."