Thurrock Council calls on Government to cancel local elections

Thurrock Council has confirmed it will ask the Government to cancel May’s local elections as part of a wider transition to democracy in Essex.

This change would allow the authority, along with the rest of Essex, to join the government’s devolution priority program and could mean the debt-laden council could never hold elections again.

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

Essex could be left with between two and five councils, with the government initially making a final decision about postponing the election for a year.

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

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

“If we are going to meet the government’s extended timetable, which includes holding elections for a new mayor of Greater Essex and new local authorities next May, then this May is not the time to hold an election.”

Most Thurrock councilors agreed on Tuesday that holding elections at a cost of £300,000 for new councilors to serve only one year instead of four was a waste of resources.

But Conservative George Coxshall said he was “not comfortable” canceling the election, telling councilors that “local government reform is not going to happen in two years”.

Essex County Council is meeting on Friday to discuss canceling its local elections. “There will be no further general elections for the councils whose elections have been postponed,” its report said.

The county council is expected to be finished by 2028. Councilors were last elected in 2021, so the changes mean they can serve seven years instead of four.

The Essex Lib Dems and Reform UK have criticized the proposals to cancel the election in May.

All three top-tier Essex authorities – the county council, Southend and Thurrock – need to write to the government by Friday to speed up devolution and postpone the May elections.

There is no election for Southend-on-Sea City Council in 2025.