Background
At the last election in May 2024, the council stayed under no overall control with the Labour Party led by Daniel Cowan overtaking Tony Cox's Conservative Party to win the most seats but falling short of a majority. [1] The council had 20 Labour councillors, 18 Conservatives, seven independents, four Liberal Democrats and two Greens. [2] The Labour Party then formed a majority coalition with the independent group and Liberal Democrats, with Cowan elected to succeed Cox as leader of the council. [3]
Shortly after the election, suspended Labour councillor Kathy Murthy resigned from the party to serve as an independent, raising concerns that the party was "not a safe space for socialists and those with left leaning views". [4] She later formed a new group with the two Green councillors, which would be led by Green councillor Stuart Allen. [5] [6] In July 2024, Labour defended a by-election in the Kursaal ward after the resignation of incumbent Labour councillor Gabriel Leroy, which resulted in a successful hold for the party. [7]
In August 2024, Cox and fellow Conservative councillor Darryl Jones defected to Reform UK, which made them the party's first councillors in Southend and South Essex. [8] This came after other Conservative councillors challenged Cox's leadership over recent electoral losses amid accusations of bullying and misconduct in the party. [9] [10] James Courtenay was elected by the Conservative group to succeed Cox, pledging to "reform" and unite the party. [10]
In 2025, two more Conservative councillors defected to Reform UK, including its former deputy leader Daniel Nelson and the former city mayor Judith McMahon, over opposition to green belt developments and what was seen as poor leadership by the national Conservative Party. [11] After these defections, Reform UK's national leader Nigel Farage said it was negotiating with other Conservative councillors to defect to the party. [12]
In January 2025, the council submitted a joint bid with Essex County Council and Thurrock Council to join the Labour government's Devolution Priority Programme for its ongoing English devolution and local government reorganisation reforms, which would result in the three councils being abolished and replaced with two to five new unitary authorities across Essex. [13] The government accepted them onto the programme in February. [14] This came with an offer to delay the next local elections in 2026 to 2027, which led to local concerns that the already scheduled local elections for Southend in May 2026 would not take place, which critics believed would be undemocratic. [15] However, unlike other councils in the region, the council's ruling administration confirmed in December 2025 that elections in Southend would still take place as scheduled in May 2026. [16] On local government reorganisation, Cowan's coalition administration has pursued the creation of a new "Greater Southend" unitary authority through the merger of Southend, Castle Point and Rochford, a long-held ambition of the council. [17] [18]
Electoral system
The election is scheduled to take place on 7 May 2026, the same day as other local elections across England. Local elections will be held under the first-past-the-post voting system. [19] Southend-on-Sea City Council has 51 seats across 17 electoral wards which are elected annually in thirds every three in four years; one councillor is elected to represent a seat from each ward on four-year term with 17 seats elected at each election. [20] [21] Under this system, the fourth year is a "fallow year" where no election is held, so there was no election scheduled for 2025, with the most recent being the 2024 council election. [20] [15] The seats up for election this year were last contended in the 2022 council election, with the exception of those with intervening vacancies filled through by-elections. [22]
All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in Southend-on-Sea aged 18 or over are entitled to vote in the election. People who live at two addresses in different councils, such as university students with different term-time and holiday addresses, are entitled to be registered for and vote in elections in both local authorities. Voting in-person at polling stations takes place from 7:00 to 22:00 on election day, and voters are able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election. [20] [23]
In 2024, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England initiated a review of Southend-on-Sea City Council's electoral arrangements and ward boundaries, which were last reviewed in 2000. It recommended that the number of wards and seats remain the same at 17 wards and 51 seats respectively, but was unable to make the rest of its recommendations before the review was put on hold because of the government's ongoing local government reorganisation in 2025. [24] Under the current reorganisation plans, Southend-on-Sea City Council will instead be abolished and merged with other neighbouring areas to form a new unitary authority, with the first elections to this authority scheduled to take place in May 2027 ahead of its formal establishment in 2028, with serving councillors in Southend remaining in post until the transfer of power in 2028. As such, this election is expected to be the last local election to Southend-on-Sea City Council before its abolition. [22] [25]
Campaign
In October 2025, the Southend Green Party announced its first round of candidates for the 2026 local elections, covering the west of the city; this was followed by a second announcement for the rest of their candidates in the east in November. [26] [27] The Southend Confelicity Party also announced its candidates and unveiled its election manifesto, running on a localist platform opposed to local government reorganisation and the creation of a Greater Southend "super-council". [28]
In 2025, Confelicity's leader James Miller launched a public petition calling on local elections to take place as scheduled in 2026 amid fears of a potential postponement which secured the support of the Conservatives and Reform UK, despite the ruling administration's confirmation that it was planning for elections to take place in 2026. [29] Labour leader Daniel Cowan said his party looked forward to standing "on our record of building a city to be proud of in May 2026" while Liberal Democrat leader Paul Collins, one of Labour's two junior coalition partners, said there was "no justification" to postpone elections and that any attempts to do so would be the "act of an authoritarian regime". [16] [30]
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