Reform UK has seized control of Essex County Council in one of the most dramatic results of the 2026 local elections, ending 29 consecutive years of Conservative dominance in a county that had never been won by any other party since the council was created in its current form in 1973.
Of the 43 divisions declared overnight, Reform won 28 — a haul that set the tone for the rest of the count. The elections were held across all 78 electoral divisions of Essex County Council following major boundary reforms that increased the total number of seats from 75 to 78, with any party requiring 40 seats to secure an outright majority.
The scale of the victory left little room for doubt. The Conservatives, who went into the election with an overall majority of 24 and had held the council at every election since 1997, were swept aside across large swathes of the county. Labour and the Liberal Democrats fared little better, with voters turning decisively to Nigel Farage’s party across both traditional Conservative heartlands and former Labour-leaning areas.
Newly elected Essex County Councillor Peter Harris, who also serves as deputy leader of the Reform UK group on Tendring District Council, said the result reflected a county that had simply run out of patience with conventional politics. “What a fantastic result for Reform, and a fantastic result for the people of Essex that have just simply had enough of the old politics,” he said. “People wanted change, and they’ve voted for that. They’ve given us a clear mandate to make the changes necessary now, and we’re absolutely over the moon. People will be waking up today delighted that they’ve got that change.”
Harris acknowledged the weight of expectation that now rests on the party. “Yes, they will hold us to account, and we will rise to that challenge — but we will do what we say we’re going to do, and Essex will have a brighter future.”
The county council elections in Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk had been delayed by one year due to local government reform, which will see all three councils abolished within the next two years and replaced by new unitary councils. The result means Reform will govern Essex through that transition — giving the party significant influence over how the new structures are shaped.
The Essex result is part of a sweeping national picture for Reform. The party also won control of Staffordshire County Council, taking 49 of 62 seats against the Conservatives’ ten — a council the Tories had held since 2009. Across England, the results are pointing to a fundamental realignment of local politics, with Reform establishing itself as the dominant force in county and district council elections at the expense of both major parties.
For the Conservatives, the loss of Essex is a particularly stinging blow — a flagship county that epitomised their English electoral base for three decades, gone in a single night.
