Voters in thurrock went to the polls for the 2026 local elections, with all 49 Thurrock Council seats up for grabs under a four-year cycle introduced after a 2025 change. Polls closed at 10pm on Thursday, May 7, and the count took place on Friday, May 8.
The first results for Thurrock were due from 3pm, with the outcome set to show how the unitary authority’s control shifts after Labour entered the election with 26 seats. Thurrock Council runs education, social care, highways, transport, planning and recycling across the borough.
Thurrock wards in play
Two seats were being contested in Chafford Hundred East, Chafford Hundred West, East Tilbury, Linford & West Tilbury, Little Thurrock Blackshots, Little Thurrock Rectory, Orsett, Horndon & Bulphan, Purfleet-on-Thames, Stifford, Tilbury Riverside, Tilbury St Chads and West Thurrock & South Stifford. Three seats were up in Aveley, Belhus, Chadwell St Mary, Corringham & Fobbing, Grays Riverside, Grays Town, Ockendon, Stanford-le-Hope South and The Homesteads & Stanford-le-Hope North.
That made it an all-out contest across the borough, with every council seat on the ballot at once. For residents, the count would determine who holds responsibility for the services Thurrock Council provides and whether Labour keeps the lead it held before polling day.
Friday, May 8 count
The count was scheduled for Friday, May 8, after polling ended at 10pm the previous night. Results from Thurrock were due from 3pm, placing the first declared numbers among the key local outcomes of the day.
Across England, more than 5,000 council seats were being contested in 136 local authorities, with mayoral elections also taking place in six areas. Thurrock’s vote sat inside that wider set of local contests, but its 49-seat council ballot was the borough-wide decision that mattered most to local control.
