Another Government U-Turn | Chinese New Year
Cheat Sheet with Ridge & Frost
Sky News
4.0 • 224 Ratings
🗓️ 17 February 2026
⏱️ 6 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Thirty local councils face a scramble to organise elections in less than three months’ time after the latest government U-turn.
Sir Keir Starmer had attempted to delay some council elections in May, ahead of planned local government reorganisation.
However, he’s been forced to abandon those plans after legal advice suggested a delay could be unlawful.
Reform UK is now demanding that legal advice is published.
More than 200 people have been arrested in the past four weeks as part of a phone theft crackdown in London.
Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has called on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to testify before Congress over the Epstein files.
Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall has died at the age of 95.
And finally, today marks the start of the Chinese New Year, with millions welcoming the Year of the Fire Horse.
Gareth has the day's news in just 10 minutes.
Transcript
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| 0:32.1 | Sky News, the full story first. |
| 0:48.7 | Music The Full Story First Hello, you're listening to Cheat Sheet and here is everything you need to know today on Tuesday, February the 17th. |
| 0:49.4 | I'm Garys V. |
| 0:58.1 | 30 local councils now face a scramble to organise elections in just two months' time after the government's latest U-term. |
| 1:04.6 | Sarkir Stama had attempted a delay to some local council elections in May ahead of planned local government reorganisation. |
| 1:13.2 | However, he's been forced to abandon those plans after legal advice suggested a delay could be unlawful. Reform UK is now demanding that legal advice is published. It was Nigel Farage's party who first mounted the legal challenge to the |
| 1:19.1 | plan delay. The hearing had been due in the High Court this Thursday. The government has said |
| 1:23.8 | it will pay for reform's legal costs, which Sky News understands to be a six-figure sum. |
| 1:29.2 | Local Government Secretary Steve Reid had approved the delays to local council elections until |
| 1:33.3 | 2027. They claimed that some councils were worried about the costs of running elections for |
| 1:38.8 | authorities which are due to be abolished in a major reorganisation of local government. |
| 1:44.1 | Leader of Reform UK Nig Nigel Farage, |
| 1:46.2 | has described this as a victory for his party and called on Steve Reed to resign. |
| 1:50.7 | 4.6 million people denied the vote. In some cases, Norfolk, Suffolk, East and West Sussex, |
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