THE upcoming Slough by-election has been postponed until next year because of Coronavirus.

The government announced on Friday that all local, mayoral and police and crime commissioner (PCC) elections in England due to take place this May have been delayed until May 2021 because of COVID-19.

The decision to postpone the elections was taken following advice from the government’s medical experts in relations to the response to the Coronavirus and advice of those delivering elections.

READ MORE: Slough Borough Council's statement on coronavirus case

The by-election was due to be held on May 7 with a candidate list being announced in April where electors vote a third of Slough councillors.

Elections in Slough take place three out of four years where no plans for an election were due to take place next year.

This year will now be a fallow year.

The Slough Conservatives have announced they will suspend all door-to-door campaign activity from this weekend.

Councillor Wayne Strutton (Conservative: Haymill and Lynch Hill), leader of the Tories who was due to stand this year, said: “We took the decision last night at local officer level as we believed it was in the best interest of Slough residents, our campaign team and the their families.

“We will be continuing to be available to talk and help the residents of Slough through other lines of communications, phone, email and social media.”

READ MORE: Slough councillor won't stand at upcoming election

The PCC for the Thames Valley Police, Anthony Stansfeld, was due to step down this year, but will now have to stay on for another year.

Councillor Madhuri Bedi (Labour: Foxborough) recently announced she will be stepping down as councillor but will also have to stay on until next year.