The results are in for yesterday’s Southend Council election. Following my earlier Southend May 7 2026 Local Elections (see here) blog that looked forward to the election, I offer this sequel to go over what happened, and some personal reflections.

This is how parties did …

This is how each ward went …

BELFAIRS WARD: Oscar Wood (Reform UK: GAIN)

BLENHEIM PARK WARD: Craig Watt (Reform UK: GAIN)

WEST LEIGH WARD: Alexander Shaw (Conservative: HOLD)

KURSAAL WARD: Matt Dent (Labour: HOLD)

LEIGH WARD: Anita Forde (Green Party: GAIN)

MILTON WARD: Maxine Sadza (Labour: HOLD)

PRITTLEWELL WARD: Michael Heaver (Reform UK: GAIN)

SHOEBURYNESS WARD: Alex Moyies (Reform UK: GAIN)

EASTWOOD PARK WARD: Robert McMullian (Liberal Democrats: HOLD)

CHALKWELL WARD: Kay Mitchell (Green Party: GAIN)

WESTBOROUGH WARD: Kevin Robinson (Labour: HOLD)

ST LAURENCE WARD: Frankie Bird (Reform UK: GAIN)

WEST SHOEBURY WARD: Steve Harvey (Reform UK: GAIN)

SOUTHCHURCH WARD: Martin Bright (Conservative: GAIN)

ST LUKE’S WARD: James O’Rourke (Reform UK: GAIN)

THORPE WARD: John Corrigan (Reform UK: GAIN)

VICTORIA WARD: Margaret Borton (Labour: HOLD)

In fact, the results have been in for some time. When I woke up in the early hours of this morning, I decided to check out my Facebook page to find out what happened and what people thought etc. One my fellow political nerd friends, Del Thomas, had already posted the results for each of the 17 wards (thanks Del). AI tells me: The voter turnout for the 2026 was 43.1%, interestingly, an improvement on the turnout for 2022, which was 31.1%.

As I check out the BBC website, it tells us how voting across the whole country has gone (at time of posting, 1450, with many more results still to come). The pattern seen nationally of Reform doing very well, Greens doing significantly well, LibDems doing a bit better than last time, Conservatives doing badly and Labour very badly is nearly the same in Southend (although in Southend’s case, Labour lost 3 seats and Conservative lost 4 seats).

While Labour will want to lead the next administration, having done so up to now and still with more seats on the Council than any other party, they would still need support from other parties to do so: i.e., LibDems, Greens and Independents. We can well imagine, behind closed doors, wheeling and dealing taking place, as Conservative and Reform, both with 11 seats, could also form an administration if they can get 4 other councillors to support them or agree not to oppose them. Looks as if, once again, Independents will take on the role of king makers. We await developments and soon we will know!   

Nerdy stuff over – now for my reactions which is a mixture of unsurprise, disappointment and relief. Let me explain. The pundits where generally in agreement that Reform and Greens will do well and Labour and Conservative not well – nationally and locally, as once again the tendency of voters locally doing so on how they view parties nationally (the 3 veteran Labourites that got re-elected will no doubt breathe a sigh of relief and the 8 Reform councillors that have come from almost nowhere feeling somewhat jubilant).

 My disappointment is that none of the seven I praised in my earlier election blog, along with a few more old friends I would have liked to be returned as councillors, all who would have served well, all failed to get in. Sorry guys, it seems my kiss of death has come into play again! I was also disappointed that Confelicity did as poorly as they did. I voted for Lizzie, my Prittlewell Confelicity candidate, because of her community spirit! I would have loved to have seen Lee, the Kursaal Confelicity candidate, winning for the same reasons! Interestingly, both my new ward and my previous one, St. Lukes, were won by Reform – a paradigm shift to how things once were!

About Reform, I do prefer them over the other main parties, so I am sort of happy as it may help lead to a recovery from Labour madness that has become increasingly evident since they won the last General Election, and hold back on Green madness (whose local support is ominous), who are looking to replace them. I won’t do a deep dive on my reservations – read my political blogs or ask me nicely if you want my reasons. I just re-read the leaflet by the Reform chap, voted in for my ward. Regrettably, hardly anything on ward or city issues!

I end by offering congratulations to the winners – may you serve well and remember you have been voted in to serve the ward/city you represent. I also offer commiserations to the losers, especially those who campaigned hard and had something worthwhile to offer.