A COUNCIL meeting descended into chaos as furious residents and campaigners demanded that cancelled elections go ahead.

Residents, who were treated with "disregard", queued in the rain to attend the extraordinary meeting at Basildon Borough Council on Thursday (January 29) to hear a debate on elections being postponed.

Many protesters also had to stand outside because there was no space left inside the council chamber.

The campaigners, armed with placards, signs and banners, heckled councillors and chanted "We want our vote" during the heated meeting. They shouted "shame on you" while waving signs and placards.

Reform councillor Sam Journet made an angry and impassioned speech to the meeting - which he then posted on social media.

It comes after Basildon Council wrote to the Government asking for May's elections to be postponed as part of the "largest restructure of local Government in Essex since 1974".

All Essex councils will be scrapped and replaced with larger authorities with a wider range of services.

Basildon Council leader Cllr Gavin Callaghan said: "This is not a minor administrative exercise, it is the largest restructure of local Government in Essex since 1974, and the risks are not abstract.

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"Against that backdrop, the Government has repeatedly recognised across multiple reorganisations that election postponement may be necessary to preserve capacity.

"Residents will vote again in 2027 for the councils that will actually exercise long-term power; what the secretary of state has done is postponed a single election to a council that is already scheduled for abolition. What has been preserved is the ability to deliver a lawful, safe and cost-effective transition."

Harlow District Council and Thurrock Council are the only other councils in Essex that have already postponed their elections.

The Basildon Conservatives have gathered a petition against the decision to postpone the elections. A second meeting due to be held on the night was postponed due to "general disturbance."

Andy Barnes, leader of the Basildon Conservatives, said it was felt there was "significant public concern."

He said: "The decision tonight is not legally binding, but it does have significant moral and political weight. It's easier to talk about shiny new services and replacing the Essex County Council than to admit you are taking people's democratic rights away.

"Elections are not something politicians should be able to allow when it's politically convenient.

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"They are an essential part of the democratic system that we live in. It is undeniable if you look at the polls that if elections were to take place, they would produce a different result, that means inevitably councillors will stay on this council who otherwise would have been voted out."

The public gallery repeatedly broke into applause during speeches by Mr Barnes and other Conservative members.