Essex "front of the queue" for devolution
Essex councils have been accepted onto Devolution Priority Programme, meaning this May's local elections have been postponed until 2026
Last updated 5th Feb 2025
The Government has today (5 February 2025) confirmed that Essex County Council, Southend-on-Sea City Council and Thurrock Council have had their request to be part of the Devolution Priority Programme confirmed.
This follows the councils writing to the Government on Friday 10 January requesting inclusion on the programme and committing to local government reorganisation.
The Government confirmed that the elections scheduled for May this year for Essex County Council and Thurrock Council will be suspended.
Leader of Essex County Council, Councillor Kevin Bentley, said: “I am thrilled that our hard work to bring devolution to Essex has paid off and we are a step closer seeing real positive change in our county.
“We welcome the government’s acceptance of our request and eagerly await next steps.
“I truly believe devolution is the best choice for our county’s future. It is the biggest chance we will get to rethink our system and bring more power into the hands of local people. This will mean more opportunities for our residents and businesses that will help them and our whole county flourish.
"With regard to Local Government Reorganisation, we will commit to work together with all councils in Essex to ensure that it delivers the best outcome for our residents and businesses too.”
Leader of Southend-on-Sea City Council, Councillor Daniel Cowan, said: “This is another important milestone as we move towards delivering major change across Southend-on-Sea and the wider county.
“Devolution will be momentous, bringing more powers and funding into the area, and allowing us to deliver major projects, better services, and improve the lives of local people and business. I look forward to continuing to work hard to deliver on this.”
Leader of Thurrock Council, Councillor John Kent said: “This is really exciting news for our county, and I’m looking forward to working with our neighbours in Essex County Council and Southend-on-Sea City Council to flesh out our plans for devolution.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Thurrock to become part of something bigger, and to help shape a future that is right for local people. They deserve better than the failures of the past, and I can’t wait to start work on a plan that makes sense, has our communities at its heart and will help shape excellent services for years to come.”
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner told the commons: "The Government's starting point is for all elections to go ahead unless there is a strong justification for postponement, and the bar is high, and rightly so.
"I am only agreeing to half of the requests that were made. After careful consideration, I've only agreed to postpone elections in places where this is central to our manifesto promise to deliver devolution.
"We're not in the business of holding elections to bodies that won't exist and where we don't know what will replace them. This would be an expensive and irresponsible waste of taxpayers' money and any party calling for these elections to go ahead must explain how this waste would be justifiable.
"To that end, I've agreed to postpone local elections in East Sussex, and West Sussex, Essex, and Thurrock, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight, and Norfolk, and Suffolk.
"We are postponing elections for one year, from May 2025 to May 2026."
The councils will now begin working with each other and the Government as part of the programme.