Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 10 November to Question 87207 on Local Government: Reorganisation, what democratic safeguards his Department will introduce to ensure that voters are not denied the chance to vote in the 2026 local elections due to their councillors requesting another cancellation.

The Department has received no formal requests to postpone elections from councils in Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock that were invited to submit proposals for unitary local government.

In terms of cancelling elections, I expect the secondary legislation that establishes new unitary councils to replace scheduled elections with elections to the new councils. For Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock I anticipate there will be elections to new unitary councils in May 2027.