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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the (1) district council, (2) delayed county council, and (3) existing unitary council, elections scheduled for May 2026 in the Greater Essex area will be cancelled; and if so, whether they will be replaced with (a) a Mayoral Combined County Authority election in May 2026, or (b) a new unitary council election in May 2027.

The government’s starting point is for all elections to go ahead, unless there is strong justification. In May 2026, we intend that mayoral elections for new strategic authorities will take place, subject to parliamentary approval for the necessary legislation, alongside those district and unitary elections already scheduled and elections postponed from May 2025. The government will work with areas to hold elections for new unitary councils as soon as possible as is the usual arrangement in the process of local government reorganisation. We anticipate elections to new unitary authorities in May 2027.