2025 Essex County Council election

Last updated
2025 Essex County Council election
Flag of Essex.svg
  2021 1 May 2025 (2025-05-01)2029 

All 78 seats to Essex County Council
40 seats needed for a majority
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Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Labour
Last election52 seats, 48.8%8 seats, 13.8%5 seats, 17.1%
Current seats5186

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Party Independent R4U CIIP
Last election3 seats, 5.9%2 seats, 2.4%2 seats, 1.0%
Current seats322

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Party Green Loughton Residents Rochford Resident
Last election1 seat, 5.6%1 seat, 1.2%1 seat, 1.1%
Current seats111

Essex UK electoral division map 2025 (blank).svg
Map showing the new pattern of electoral divisions for the Essex County Council area.

Incumbent Leader

Kevin Bentley
Conservative



The 2025 Essex County Council election is due to take place on 1 May 2025 to elect members to Essex County Council in Essex, England. [1] This will be on the same day as other local elections.

Contents

Background

At the 2021 election, the Conservatives won an outright majority of seats on the council, maintaining overall control of the authority for second 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. [2]

Possible cancellation

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. [3] [4] 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.

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References

  1. "Election timetable in England". Electoral Commission. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  2. "New electoral arrangements for Essex County Council - Final Recommendations" (PDF). LGBCE. July 2024. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  3. "Essex calls to scrap elections and reform councils". Simon Dedman. BBC News. 10 January 2025. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
  4. "Full council meeting - 10 January 2025". ECC Democracy. 10 January 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2025.