The 2026 Thurrock Council election is due to take place on 7 May 2026 to elect members to Thurrock Council in Essex, England.[1] 49 seats will be elected. This will be on the same day as other local elections.
Originally scheduled for 2026, the election was brought forward by a year to 2025 after the government intervened in the council after it declared bankruptcy, with a new electoral system installed where all 49 seats to the council would be up for a term of four years.[2] In February 2025, elections in the borough were brought back to 2026, ahead of local government reorganisation and devolution.[3] The 2026 election was due to be cancelled ahead of local government reorganisation, but in February it was reinstated.[4]
Background
The 2026 election will be held under new ward boundaries.[5] The council is switching to all-out elections, having previously elected by thirds, as a result of a period of government intervention in the running of the council's finances.[6]
At the last election in 2024, the Labour Party led by John Kent won an overall majority with 27 seats. The Conservatives led by Andrew Jefferies won a total of 13 seats, leaving the council administration and entering opposition. Independent politicians won 9 seats, five of whom were aligned with the Non-Political Alliance of Independent Councillors (NPAIC) led by Neil Speight. By July 2024, eight of the nine independents had joined the alliance. Alex Anderson, the unaffiliated independent, joined Reform UK in September 2024, becoming Reform's first councillor in Thurrock. In October 2024, NPAIC councillor John Allen left the NPAIC to sit as an unaffiliated independent, as he was considering standing for Reform UK in the 2025 council election, leaving the NPAIC with seven independents.
In January 2025, Ockendon councillor Ryan Polston of the Labour Party resigned his seat ahead of a career move.[7] He was followed in March by fellow ward councillor Andrew Jefferies, the leader of the Conservative group, who resigned for personal reasons.[8] Reform UK won both seats at the subsequent by-election in May 2025.[9] Ahead of the by-election, Labour leader John Kent resigned from the leadership to make way for his deputy Lynn Worrall ahead of devolution and local government reorganisation negotiations.[10] Later that year, NPAIC members Gary Byrne and Ross Byrne left the group to sit as unaffiliated independents, which left the council with 26 Labour members, 12 Conservatives, five NPAIC members, three unaffiliated independents and three Reform UK members.[11]
Notes
↑Leader and spokesman of the Non-Political Alliance of Independent Councillors, which represents the majority of independent councillors on the council.
↑Including five members of the Non-Political Alliance of Independent Councillors and four unaffiliated independents.
↑Including seven members of the Non-Political Alliance of Independent Councillors and one unaffiliated independent.
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