Council to ask for elections to be cancelled

Thurrock Council has confirmed it will ask the government to cancel May’s local elections as part of a large-scale shakeup of democracy in Essex.

The change would allow the authority, with the rest of Essex, to join the government’s devolution priority programme and could mean the indebted council may never hold elections again.

The plans include a new combined authority with a directly elected mayor for 1.8 million people in Essex and a radical reorganisation of the 15 district, unitary and county councils that would abolish and merge them into fewer unitary authorities.

Essex could be left with between two and five councils, with the government to take the final decision about postponing elections initially for one year.

Elections for the first greater Essex mayor are expected in May 2026 but for the new councils their inaugural elections might not take place until 2027 or later.

John Kent, Labour leader of Thurrock Council, told the BBC: “There will be no more Basildon, Rochford, Castle Point, no more Uttlesford. The face of local government across Essex will change fundamentally.

“If we are going to meet the government’s stretching timetable, which is to have elections for the new mayor of greater Essex next May and the new local authorities, then there simply isn’t time to hold elections this May.”

Most Thurrock councillors agreed on Tuesday that holding elections costing £300,000 for new councillors to serve just one year rather than four was a waste of resources.

But Conservative George Coxshall said he was “not comfortable” with cancelling the elections, telling councillors “local government reform isn’t going to be done in two years”.

Essex County Council is meeting on Friday and will discuss cancelling its local elections. Its report states “there will be no further ordinary elections to those councils whose elections are postponed”.

The county council expects to be abolished by 2028. Councillors were last elected in 2021 so the changes mean they could serve seven years rather than four.

Essex Lib Dems and Reform UK have criticised proposals to cancel elections in May.

All three top tier Essex authorities – the county council, Southend and Thurrock – need to write to the government by Friday to be fast-tracked for devolution and to postpone May’s elections.

Southend-on-Sea City Council has no elections in 2025.