The 2026 Colchester City Council election was held on 7 May 2026 to elect members of Colchester City Council in Essex, England. A third of the seats on the council were up for election. This was on the same day as other local elections and the 2026 Essex County Council election (at which Colchester elected nine county councillors).

Prior to the election, the council was under no overall control; the Conservatives were the largest party but the council was being run by a Liberal Democrat and Labour coalition, led by Liberal Democrat councillor David King. After the election, the council remained under no overall control, with the Conservatives remaining the largest party. A new Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition subsequently formed, led by Conservative councillor Paul Dundas, who was appointed as leader of the council at a meeting on 3 June 2026.

Due to ongoing local government reorganisation, this will be the final election to Colchester City Council before it is abolished and replaced by a successor unitary authority. Elections to the successor authority are due to take place in 2027.

Summary

Background

Following the conclusion of the previous election, the council stayed under no overall control, with the Conservatives the largest party, but seven seats short of an overall majority. For the 2024-2025 period, a Liberal Democrat minority ran the council, with informal support from Labour and the Greens. David King (Mile End) continued as council leader.

A few weeks after the previous election, Lesley Scott-Boutell (Stanway) left the Liberal Democrats group to sit as an Independent, becoming the first Independent councillor on the council since 2022. This change put the Liberal Democrats and Labour on the same number of seats (14 each).

On 21 May 2025, a coalition was formed between the Liberal Democrats and Labour groups for the 2025-2026 period, with King being reconfirmed as council leader at the Annual Council Meeting on the same day.

Election result

Four parties stood a full slate of 17 candidates, one in each ward. Unusually, the Conservatives stood only 16 candidates, with no candidate standing for the party in St Anne's & St John's. The recently formed Your Party failed to stand any candidates. Two Independent candidates also stood, one each in New Town & Christ Church and Stanway respectively.

Incumbents

Ward Incumbent councillorParty Re-standing Berechurch Martyn Warnes Labour Co-op Yes Castle Amy Kirkby-Taylor Green Yes Greenstead Elizabeth Alake-Akinyemi Labour Yes Highwoods Jocelyn Law Labour Co-op Yes Lexden & Braiswick Sara Naylor Conservative Yes Marks Tey & Layer Jackie Maclean Conservative Yes Mersea & Pyefleet Robert Davidson Conservative Yes Mile End David King Liberal Democrats Yes New Town & Christ Church Kayleigh Rippingale Labour Yes Old Heath & The Hythe Lee Scordis Labour Co-op Yes Prettygate Roger Buston Conservative No Rural North William Sunnucks Conservative Yes Shrub End Mick Spindler Liberal Democrats Yes St. Anne's & St. John's Paul Smith Liberal Democrats Yes Stanway Tracey Arnold Liberal Democrats No Tiptree Rhys Smithson Conservative Yes Wivenhoe Andrea Luxford-Vaughan Liberal Democrats Yes

Aftermath

Results

Following the election, the council remained in no overall control. Reform emerged as the strongest party in the popular vote, coming first with a lead of 9% over the second-placed Conservatives and gaining five seats from each of the three traditional parties. Labour, having won the popular vote at 2024 election, experienced an electoral collapse, coming fifth in the popular vote and taking unprecedented losses across all wards. Their city-wide vote share decreased by over 50% from the previous election and they lost two seats to Reform. This included the former safe seat of Greenstead, which the party had previously won at every local election since the council's inaugural election in 1973.

Similarly to Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives both had dismal results, with each party losing seats to Reform and recording the worst-ever city-wide popular vote share for their parties in the council's 53-year history. The Greens had their best-ever result, surpassing Labour for the first time in a Colchester election, coming fourth in the popular vote. Although they failed to win any additional seats, they made significant advances in their top targets of New Town & Christ Church and Wivenhoe, and held their seat in Castle by a wide margin.

The turnout at the 2026 election was significantly higher than usual, at 41.3%, a notable increase from the 2024 election with the city recording the highest turnout since the 2011 election.

Affiliation changes

On 27 May 2026, three sitting Labour councillors, Martyn Warnes (Berechurch), Chris Pearson (Berechurch), and Sam McLean (New Town & Christ Church) announced they were leaving the Labour group to sit as Independents. The three councillors subsequently formed the Progressive Independent Alliance group with former Liberal Democrat councillor Lesley Scott-Boutell (Stanway), becoming the fifth-largest grouping on the council with four seats. This change left the Labour group with nine seats, the lowest number of councillors for the party since the conclusion of the 2014 election.

Administration formation

At the election, the Liberal Democrat–Labour coalition lost its majority on the council, holding a combined 24-out-of-51 seats, two short of an overall majority. This was further reduced to 21 seats (short of a majority of five seats) after the departure of three councillors from the Labour group.

At the council's Annual General Meeting on 27 May 2026, incumbent Liberal Democrat council leader David King (Mile End) was nominated to continue in the role. However, he failed to secure re-election, with 22 votes for and 26 against. All-but-one Liberal Democrat, all Labour, and all Green councillors supported his re-election, with the Conservatives, the Independent Progressive Alliance, and Reform councillors all voting against.

A second vote nominating Conservative leader Paul Dundas (Tiptree) for council leader was then held, but also failed, with 18 votes for and 29 voting against - only the Conservative group, along with a sole Liberal Democrat councillor, Sean Kelly (Wivenhoe), voting in favour of Dundas. The meeting concluded without being able to elect a leader and cabinet, with a further meeting to break the impasse scheduled for the following week. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats subsequently agreed a coalition deal. At the next council meeting on 3 June 2026, David King stood aside and Paul Dundas was appointed as leader of the council.

Cabinet composition

Following ratification of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition arrangement, a cabinet was formed consisting of 4 Conservative and 4 Liberal Democrat councillors.

Portfolio CouncillorParty Strategy Paul Dundas Conservative Communities & Public Protection David King Liberal Democrats Culture, Heritage & Environment Darius Laws Conservative Economic Growth, Transformation & Digital Alison Jay Liberal Democrats Housing Rhys Smithson Conservative Planning & Sustainable Development Andrea Luxford-Vaughan Liberal Democrats Resources & Assets William Sunnucks Conservative Waste, Neighbourhoods & Leisure Martin Goss Liberal Democrats

Ward results

The Statement of Persons Nominated, which details the official candidates standing in each ward at the election, was released following the close of nominations at 4:00pm on 10 April 2026.

Incumbent councillors standing for re-election are marked with an asterisk (*).

Berechurch

Castle

Greenstead

Highwoods

Lexden & Braiswick

Marks Tey & Layer

Mersea & Pyefleet

Mile End

New Town & Christ Church

Old Heath & The Hythe

Prettygate

Rural North

Shrub End

St Anne's & St John's

Stanway

Tiptree

Wivenhoe

References