2026 Essex County Council election

←  2021 7 May 2026 (2026-05-07) 2027 (TBD) →
All 78 seats to Essex County Council 40 seats needed for a majority
Leader Kevin Bentley Michael Mackrory [a] Ivan Henderson Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Labour Last election 52 seats, 48.8% 8 seats, 13.8% 5 seats, 17.1% Current seats 50 [b] 7 6   Leader Michael Mackrory [a] / Chris Pond [c] Chris Pond [c] Chris Pond [c] Party Independent R4U CIIP Last election 3 seats, 5.9% 2 seats, 2.4% 2 seats, 1.0% Current seats 5 2 2   Leader Michael Mackrory [a] Chris Pond [c] Party Green Loughton Residents Reform Last election 1 seat, 5.6% 1 seat, 1.2% 0 seats, 0.6% Current seats 1 1 1
Map showing the new pattern of electoral divisions for the Essex County Council area.
Incumbent Leader Kevin Bentley Conservative

The 2026 Essex County Council election will take place on 7 May 2026 to elect members to Essex County Council in Essex, England. This will be on the same day as other local elections.

Contents

• Background
• Boundary changes
• Delay
• Summary
• Election result
• Candidates by local authority
• Basildon
• Braintree
• Brentwood
• Castle Point
• Chelmsford
• Colchester
• Epping Forest
• Harlow
• Maldon
• Rochford
• Tendring
• Uttlesford
• References

Background

At the 2021 election, the Conservatives won an outright majority of seats on the council, maintaining overall control of the authority for a seventh consecutive term. Kevin Bentley (Stanway & Pyefleet), leader of the Conservative group, was appointed leader of the council and formed a Conservative administration.

Boundary changes

Following a local government boundary review, there will be an increase in the number of councillors from 75 to 78, and a new pattern of electoral division boundaries will be used. As part of the changes, all two-member divisions will be abolished, meaning all divisions will now elect only one councillor each. ^[1]

Delay

The general election of councillors was due to take place on 1 May 2025. However, following the publication of the English Devolution White Paper, the majority of the members of Essex County Council voted in favour of asking the government to cancel the planned 2025 elections. The Conservative and Labour groups, in addition to the sole Loughton Residents Association councillor, voted in favour of the motion of the Conservative administration to request both that Essex County Council take part in the local government reorganisation and that the elections be delayed. The Liberal Democrat, Canvey Island Independent Party, and Residents for Uttlesford groups voted against the motion, as did the sole councillors for Reform UK and for the Rochford District Residents. ^{[2] [3]} The Liberal Democrat group put an amendment that would have removed the request for an election delay from the motion as a whole, but this was voted down by a show of hands without a roll call vote.

The May 2025 local elections that would have taken place were cancelled. ^[4] It was announced on 22 January 2026 that the election would go ahead on 7 May 2026. ^[5]

Summary

Candidates by local authority

References

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