ELECTIONS for Thurrock's 49 councillors are now back on - after the Labour government announced a U-turn on its plans to cancel them. It seems likely that it will be 'all-out elections' for 49 seats, which ws the original proposal for Thurrock under guidance from its commissioners.

Originally 16 seats were set for elections in May under the council's existing thirds policy.

Ministers today (Monday, 16 February) confirmed that they would be revoking their legislation that would have delayed the polls.

A government spokesperson said: "Following legal advice, the Government has withdrawn its original decision to postpone 30 local elections in May.

"Providing certainty to councils about their local elections is now the most crucial thing and all local elections will now go ahead in May 2026."

The dramatic climbdown by Labour came after a legal challenge by Reform to the move to postpone votes for more than 4.5million people. The government will now pay Reform's legal costs after admitting they got things wrong.

Thurrock Council's cConservative leader Cllr George Coxshall said: "As usual, the Labour Government has u-turned and agreed that it was wholly wrong to attempt to postpone May's local elections.

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"I have never once supported plans to postpone our elections and have been deeply concerned about how openly the Labour Government offered postponement opportunities, despite having no confirmed vision for Local Government Reorganisation.

"From day one, I have said that the timetable for Local Government Reorganisation was not fit for purpose and that it was a weak case for postponing local elections on the grounds of 'capacity concerns.'

"The complete dismissal of the Electoral Commission's concerns has now come home to roost, with today's announcement demonstrating just how weak this Labour Government really is.

"We all know why the Government wanted to postpone elections - it knows it is about to get a pasting and was hiding behind the fig leaf of Local Government Reorganisation.

"Well, you can't escape democracy. Here in Thurrock, the elections would have been cancelled for a second year. I am quite appalled that the Labour Council asked to avoid the ballot box without any clarity about the future."

More to follow.