Local elections 'should go ahead in May'

Matthew Hicks said "ministers have been clear that elections will go ahead unless there are strong justifications otherwise"

County council elections will go ahead in Suffolk in 2026 "unless there is strong justification otherwise", the government has said.

The Conservative-run authority voted to postpone this year's elections so that local government reorganisation plans could be put on a fast track, with proposals for unitary councils and a mayor's office for Suffolk and Norfolk.

Elections for Suffolk County Council are due in May and council leader Matthew Hicks said "decisions on the timing of local elections sit entirely with government".

All opposition parties at the council support an election for May 2026.

Full county council elections were last held in Suffolk in 2021, and are meant to take place every four years

Last January, the authority voted by a majority to apply to be part of the government's Devolution Priority Programme (DPP).

The application was successful and a spokesperson for the Ministry for Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) told the BBC "we intend for elections for a new Norfolk and Suffolk Mayoral Strategic Authority to take place in May 2026".

Political parties have already started the process of selecting candidates.

The question now is whether the county council elections will go ahead as the government is also looking to reorganise local councils, scrapping them and replacing them with larger, single-tier authorities that would replace the county and district council set up in both counties.

The MHCLG is currently deciding how Suffolk would look — a choice between a single authority or three separate unitary/single tier authorities.

If elections do go ahead next May for Suffolk County Council it would be for a council which would no longer exist by 2028.

Mr Hicks said: "Ministers have been clear that elections will go ahead unless there are strong justifications otherwise. This is all that we have been told."

Andrew Stringer said it was "clear" elections must go ahead

The leader of a county council opposition group comprising the Greens, Liberal Democrats and Independents, Andrew Stringer, said: "Elections must go ahead for Suffolk County Council in 2026 — this is quite clear."

Reform UK county councillor Martin Robinson agreed: "The only justification not to have them would be the cost, but frankly that is not justification enough because democracy needs to operate."

Sandy Martin, leader of the county council's Labour group said: "There's a lot of change coming. Voters ought to be involved in these changes.

"That means that we'll have elections in 2026 and in 2027, but that's the only way to be sure that the mayor and councillors will have the support of the people they represent."

Ipswich Borough Council elections

Ipswich Borough Council is due to have a third of its 48 seats up for election in May 2026, and the Labour-run authority has told the BBC it expects them to go ahead.

There are 16 wards in Ipswich and each ward has three councillors - so each ward will elect one of its councillors in one year, then one more the next year and another the year after, with no elections in the fourth year. All councillors serve a four-year term.

Suffolk's four other district councils (Babergh, East Suffolk, Mid Suffolk and West Suffolk) elect all their councillors in one go, and are not due to hold elections in 2026.