The 2026 Thurrock Council election took place on 7 May 2026 to elect members to Thurrock Council in Essex, England. 49 seats were elected, on the same day as the UK's 2026 local elections.
Originally scheduled for 2025, the election was postponed by a year to 2026 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. In February 2025, elections in the borough were brought back to 2026, ahead of local government reorganisation and devolution. The 2026 election was due to be cancelled ahead of local government reorganisation, but in February it was reinstated.
Prior to the election, the council was under Labour majority control. The election saw Reform UK win 45 of the 49 seats on the council. The Labour leader of the council prior to the election, Lynn Worrall, lost her seat. After the election, Reform chose as its new leader Richard Bingley, who had formerly been a Conservative leader of Plymouth City Council. He was formally appointed as leader of Thurrock Council at the subsequent annual council meeting on 27 May 2026.
Thurrock Council is soon to be abolished under the plans of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill and will be merged with Basildon Council to form a new South West Essex Unitary Authority.
Background The 2026 election will be held under new ward boundaries. 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.
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. He was followed in March by fellow ward councillor Andrew Jefferies, the leader of the Conservative group, who resigned for personal reasons. Reform UK won both seats at the subsequent by-election in May 2025. 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. 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.
Campaign The Conservatives, Labour, and Reform all stood a full slate of 49 candidates in Thurrock. The Green Party, for the first time, stood at least one candidate in every ward. There were also six Independent and two Liberal Democrat candidates.
Candidates by party
Election result
Ward results
Aveley
Belhus
Chadwell St Mary
Chafford Hundred East
Chafford Hundred West
Corringham & Fobbing
East Tilbury, Linford & West Tilbury
Grays Riverside
Grays Town
Little Thurrock Blackshots
Little Thurrock Rectory
Ockendon
Orsett, Horndon & Bulphan
Purfleet-on-Thames
Stanford-le-Hope South
Stifford
The Homesteads & Stanford-le-Hope North
Tilbury Riverside
Tilbury St Chads
West Thurrock & South Stifford
Post-election changes
By-elections
Grays Town
Grays Riverside
Notes
References
See also Thurrock Council elections