Why some council elections could be cancelled this year

Three councils in Essex have written to the government to request to cancel their elections due to be held on 7 May.

Conservative-led Harlow Council, Labour-led Basildon Borough Council and Labour-led Thurrock Council said they would struggle to deliver on No 10's plans for a major overhaul of local government structures if they had to hold elections as well.

Reform UK, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party argue the elections should go ahead regardless of the local government reform that is under way.

Six other councils in Essex with elections scheduled this year have told the government they do not want them to be cancelled. So why is this happening?

The planned local government reorganisation (LGR) will impact the daily lives of all residents.

The current 15 councils in Essex and the two-tier structure - where district councils pick up residents' bins, clean streets, maintain parks and the county council processes household waste and is responsible for potholes and social care - will be abolished in 2028.

These will be replaced by three to five unitary councils, which will provide all the services in their area.

Dan Swords, the Conservative leader of Harlow Council, said in his letter to the government that LGR has an "exceptionally ambitious timetable", which was "unprecedented in its scale, pace, and complexity".

Councils would be going through "a fundamental restructuring", which Swords said involved "the comprehensive redesign of governance, financial, workforce, ICT, legal, contract, landlord, and democratic functions responsible for stewarding billions of pounds of public expenditure each year".

Basildon Borough Council highlighted that this "complex organisational change must happen alongside the continued provision of essential statutory services".

But other councils have argued that the May elections should go ahead.

David King, the Liberal Democrat leader of Colchester City Council, said: "We also recognise the changes that may follow elections may be disruptive to preparation for LGR.

"But we believe elections scheduled for May 2026 should go ahead as planned."

Colchester City Council, along with Southend-on-Sea City Council, Rochford Council and Brentwood Council voted unanimously - including Labour and Conservative councillors - for elections to go ahead.

Yes, Essex County Council's elections were scheduled to take place last May, but were postponed until 2026. This was to allow the authority to focus on the restructure and a devolution deal that would see voters elect a mayor for Greater Essex.

The mayoral election was going to take place in May 2026 but has been postponed until 2028.

Thurrock Council was going to have a special all-out election last year but it was postponed. The council is effectively bankrupt and receiving government support after it borrowed hundreds of millions of pounds to invest in solar energy that went wrong.

From 2019 to 2022, English council elections have been cancelled in areas going through LGR including Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Cumbria and Somerset. The Covid pandemic was a factor as well in some areas.

The main argument is that councils do not have the capacity to hold the elections, provide services and deliver the new councils and abolish themselves by 2028.

Basildon Council argued holding elections "would remove approximately 27% of the remaining time available" to make key decisions.

Lynn Worrall, the Labour leader of Thurrock Council, said holding elections this year would mean "we stop the work of this council in March and not resume it until late July, or even September".

Essex County Council said their elections would cost about £3m and most district elections would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. These councillors would serve less than two years of the four-year term they were elected.

The counter-argument would be that sitting councillors would serve longer than the term they were originally elected. County councillors could serve seven years rather than four.

Vijay Rangarajan, CEO of the Electoral Commission, said: "We do not think that capacity constraints are a legitimate reason for delaying long-planned elections.

"Extending existing mandates risks affecting the legitimacy of local decision making and damaging public confidence. There is a clear conflict of interest in asking existing councils to decide how long it will be before they are answerable to voters."

Peter Harris, Reform UK's candidate for Greater Essex mayor, told the BBC: "We all know the real reason they are cancelling this election is because they are fearful of Reform winning."

Worrall, leader of Thurrock Council, denied this, adding: "We are not frightened of Reform. This council has changed administration many, many times."

A Thurrock Council report warns "political changes" after May's elections "would almost certainly create a delay to the LGR and devolution timetable in the post-election period".

Harris said Reform UK would deliver LGR if they took control of Essex councils and he supports the five-council model for Essex.

Privately some senior councillors admitted they were concerned about the challenge from Reform UK and the impact it could have on delivering the biggest change to local government in 50 years.

Labour-led Southend-on-Sea City Council unanimously backed elections going ahead as all political parties did on Colchester City Council, Brentwood Council and Rochford Council.

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has the power to postpone elections to another year rather than cancel them outright.

Yet the word "cancelled" is being used as they would not be happening on the day they are supposed to be held.

The expectation is that next May's elections will take place for the new councils in Essex.

This means that after this year, it is highly likely elections will never take place again for the current councils as they will cease to exist in April 2028.

Councils themselves cannot postpone or cancel elections.

Alison McGovern, minister of state for local government and English devolution, previously said: "If a council voices genuine concerns, we will take these issues seriously, and would be minded to grant a delay in those areas."

McGovern also told Parliament that "should a council say that it has no reason to delay its elections, there will be no delay".

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "The position remains that all elections should go ahead unless there is strong, evidence-based justification for a temporary delay."

Basildon, Harlow and Thurrock council have provided detailed letters to government and expect that their elections will not go ahead.

About half the 63 English councils going through LGR have asked to cancel this year's elections.

Based on what the government has said elections could still go ahead for Essex County, Colchester, Southend, Brentwood, Rochford and Epping Forest councils.

But some senior councillors do not see the logic in cancelling some elections in Essex and not all when every authority is working on LGR.

The government said it will make a decision in a few weeks.

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