AFTER a meeting in front of a packed public gallery, with dozens of other watchers in an adjacent room and hundreds more online, Basildon Council's cabinet has agreed to write to the government saying it does not believe the authority has the capacity to manage elections in May 2026 and deliver what the government wants it to do for local government reorganisation (LGR) at the same time.

Basildon and 14 other councils are due to be abolished in 2028 and replaced with a new raft of up to five unitary authorities.

At times last night's (Thurday, 8 January) cabinet meeting became heated with some frosty exchanges between councillors who asked to speak and council leader Cllr Gavin Callaghan.

After every councillor who wanted to speak, or ask a question, was heard Cllr Callaghan, who had spent close to an hour going through the 13 reasons why Basildon officers believed the authority does not have capacity to cope with elections and LGR at the same time, called for a vote from his cabinet supporting sending a message to government.

He received unanimous support. Cllr Callaghan repeatedly made the point that the decision whether or not to cancel the scheduled elections was not his, the cabinet's or the council's but was the government's.

He and Labour were responding to a request from local government minister Alison McGovern.

Opposition groups have criticised Cllr Callaghan, including Conservative group leader Andy Barnes, who said the decision made it a "dark day for democracy".

Cllr Callaghan said the end result was going to bring "one big, powerful council".

"We are removing the inefficiency, the bureaucracy, the duplication that exists every single day with the two-tier system," he added.

 "We are talking about life and death decisions. We can't get it wrong.

"Children, vulnerable adults, disabled people - they are counting on their council to be able to reorganise and safely transition to these new authorities."

Cllr Barnes said it was "a dark day for democracy and an absolutely disgraceful decision".

Fourteen out of the council's 42 seats were due to be decided at an election in May.