At the previous council election in May 2023, the Labour opposition led by John Kent made gains against the incumbent Conservative administration led by Mark Coxshall.[1][2] Labour gained five seats, increasing its total share of seats in the council to 19. The Conservatives, now having 26 seats, retained control of the council but saw their majority reduced to three. The Thurrock Independents lost two seats but held one, leaving them with a single councillor. The election also returned three independents not affiliated to any party.[3][4] Coxshall lost his seat in the election, and later in the month the council elected Conservative Andrew Jefferies as the new leader of the council.[2][5] The election followed the council's declaration of effective bankruptcy in September 2022, which left it in £1.5 billion of debt.[4][6]
In July 2023, Conservative councillor Sue Sammons left her party to become an independent in protest of its decision to cut local bus services. This action left the Conservatives with a majority of two on the council.[7] In the same month, the Thurrock Independents de-registered as a political party.[8] The make-up of the council now consisted of five seats being held by independents, 19 held by Labour and 25 held by the Conservatives.[7] The independents in the council later organised themselves into a single group, the Non-Political Alliance of Independent Councillors (NPAIC),[9][10] with councillor Neil Speight as their leader[11] and spokesman.[12][13] NPAIC candidates are running in this election as independents.[14]
In February 2024, it was revealed that the Conservative administration was considering an increase in
The Conservative administration put forward its economic proposals in its budget for 2024–2025, which was voted on by councillors in March 2024. Conservative councillors were
Under Thurrock Council's current electoral system, elections to the council are held annually every three in four years, with a third of its 49 councillors elected to represent one of its 20 wards for a term of four years at each election.[23] As such, three wards will not be contested this year, including Stifford Clays, Little Thurrock Rectory, and Tilbury Riverside and Thurrock Park. This will be the last election held under this system, as all 49 seats will be contested in elections every four years from May 2025 onwards. This reform has been implemented by the government as part of its ongoing intervention in the council following its effective bankruptcy in 2022.[24][25]
Campaign
The Labour Party and the Conservative Party will stand in every ward at the election.
North Stifford and Chafford Hundred; according to independent councillor Fraser Massey this council election has the most independent candidates in Thurrock's recent history.[26] The ward of Orsett, traditionally a safe seat for the Conservatives, has also attracted attention for a three-way contest between former Conservative councillor David Van Day, former Labour mayor and councillor Carl Morris and independent councillor Jack Duffin, who was expelled from the Conservative Party earlier in the year and has secured the support of prominent local Conservative activist Brian Little.[33]
Pollster YouGov identified Thurrock Council as one of sixteen key battleground local authorities in the 2024 local elections, possibly indicative of results in the rest of England and Wales, and therefore used multi-level regression and post-stratification (MRP) polling to gauge voting intention in the borough ahead of the election.[34][35] A poll conducted from 14 April to 29 April and published on 30 April projected significant gains for the Labour Party in the borough, with the overall outcome of the election considered too close to call to predict which party would win control of the council.[34][36]
Ward results
The Statement of Persons Nominated, which details the candidates standing in each ward, was released by Thurrock Council following the close of nominations on 5 April 2023.[24][14] One candidate will be elected per ward.[22] The final results are expected to be declared overnight at around 3AM on 3 May 2024.[37]
^Leader and spokesman of the Non-Political Alliance of Independent Councillors, which represents the majority of independent councillors at the time of this election.
^Including five members of the Non-Political Alliance of Independent Councillors and two unaffiliated independents.
.svg){kind=spacer}
