The decision to replace Hertfordshire's existing councils with four unitary authorities was Labour "gerrymandering", it has been suggested.

Paul de Kort, the Liberal Democrat leader of St Albans City & District Council, told a meeting earlier this month that there is "a widely held opinion" that the decision was "a conspiracy by, at least, the East of England Labour Party, to gerrymander the boundaries" in its favour.

Hertfordshire's existing councils had put forward three options for local government reorganisation, which will see the current county council and district and borough councils abolished, to be replaced with two, three or four new unitary authorities.

The Government announced in July that it had decided to implement the four-unitary option, though it said yesterday (Thursday, October 29) that it had "withdrawn" that decision and will now reconsider it.

Cllr de Kort said that the four-unitary option would create "very strange boundaries" that would "seem to somehow prop up the Central Hertfordshire authority as a potential bastion for the rump of the Labour party".

The Central Hertfordshire authority would have been made up of three areas with Labour leaders – North Herts, Stevenage and Welwyn Hatfield – but with some wards, including those in Royston as well as Ermine and Weston & Sandon, moved into a new Eastern Hertfordshire authority.

Electoral projections conducted by Hertfordshire County Council, revealed through a Freedom of Information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, suggest that Labour would be the largest party in the Central Hertfordshire authority under the four-unitary model, while the party would not be the largest in any authority under the two- or three-unitary models.

A further document obtained through a freedom of information request shows that Labour East organised a briefing for party members in November last year on "the Labour proposal" for local government reorganisation in Hertfordshire, with Labour council leaders in the county asked to give "a show of unity" at that briefing.

Every Labour group in Hertfordshire that voted for their preferred number of unitaries backed the four-unitary model, whereas other parties were split across the county.

A separate document shows that Labour MPs and council group leaders in Hertfordshire, as well as Labour East representatives, were invited to a meeting at Parliament in February 2025 to discuss local government reorganisation.

Peter Robbins, who was a special adviser to the prime minister and leading on local government reorganisation, was also invited to the meeting.

Liam Morrell Phillips, leader of the Reform UK opposition group at Stevenage Borough Council, said the documents raise "serious questions" for the Labour Party about the Government's council shake-up.

Speaking before the Government's announcement yesterday, he said: "Why were Labour council leaders being briefed on 'the Labour proposal' and asked for 'a show of unity' before residents had properly had their say?

"And why does the model Labour backed happen to be the only one that would make them the largest party on any of the new councils?

"If the case for four unitaries stands up on its own merits, Labour should have nothing to hide. They should publish everything that shaped this decision."

Ruth Brown, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group at North Herts Council, suggested the "evidence is pretty strong" to support the opinion quoted by Cllr de Kort, and added that she believed there were "some members of the Labour group in North Herts who were not very comfortable with the four-unitary option".

Both Cllr Brown and Cllr de Kort believe that the Government "did not follow its own guidance" on new unitary councils and, in September, the Lib Dem-led county council issued a Pre-Action Protocol letter to the Government asking for it to provide evidence behind its previous decision to back the four-unitary model.

Government criteria for the local government reorganisation said that new councils should "aim for a population of 500,000 or more," though there was room for exceptions.

Hertfordshire has a population of around 1.2 million and, under the four-unitary model, the Hertfordshire authorities would have ranged in size from 285,000 to 321,000.

The Government also said that there would "need to be a strong public services and financial sustainability-related justification for any proposals that involve boundary changes".

Concerns had also been expressed about the financial viability of the proposed Central Hertfordshire authority, with county council leader Steve Jarvis warning that a projected £22m budget deficit in its first year could leave it "bankrupt".

Labour figures have previously emphasised the limits of the financial modelling showing the predicted deficit and noted that it was carried out before the outcome of the Government's fair funding review for councils was known.

The leader of the Conservative group at North Herts Council, Ralph Muncer, has also raised concerns about the decision-making process on local government reorganisation.

He said the four-unitary option would "benefit [Labour] the most politically, even though it doesn't make sense from any other perspective or angle," and added: "I don't believe it is unreasonable to suggest that Labour are engaged in gerrymandering."

Labour East did not answer a series of questions put to them by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, but provided this statement: "The Labour Party regularly provides training and support and facilitates discussions between stakeholders and party members on a wide range of issues.

"The four unitary council proposal for Hertfordshire was put forward by the majority of councils in Hertfordshire, including Conservative-run Broxbourne and Lib Dem-run Dacorum."

Dacorum's Liberal Democrat cabinet had wanted to back the two-unitary model, but were outvoted at a full council meeting by opposition groups supporting four unitaries. The authority's leader, Sally Symington, decided to go with the vote of full council, rather than the preference of her own cabinet.

Labour council leaders in Hertfordshire have previously denied claims that they faced pressure from Labour East to back the four-unitary model, and said that they came to their own conclusions as to which option would best serve the residents they represent.

And, in other areas within the Labour East region, including Essex and Cambridgeshire, Labour-led councils did back different options for local government reorganisation.

In Hertfordshire, the four-unitary model was officially backed by six of the 11 councils, compared to three for the three-unitary model and two for the two-unitary model.

But in North Herts and Welwyn Hatfield, Labour council leaders were forced out after they backed the four-unitary model against the wishes of full council meetings.

In North Herts, Daniel Allen led a minority administration and was removed by the opposition Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups after his cabinet backed the four-unitary model despite councillors as a whole voting for the two-unitary option.

And, in Welwyn Hatfield, Max Holloway was removed as leader of a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition after his party used its majority in cabinet to override their Lib Dem partners and back the four-unitary model instead of councillors' preference for three unitaries.