The 2013 Essex County Council election took place on 2 May 2013 to elect members of Essex County Council in Essex, England. They were held on the same day as other local elections. 75 councillors were elected from 70 electoral divisions, which returned either one or two county councillors each by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office. The electoral divisions were the same as those used at the previous election in 2009. No elections were held in Thurrock or Southend-on-Sea, which are unitary authorities outside the area covered by the County Council.

All locally registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) who were aged 18 or over on Thursday 2 May 2013 were entitled to vote in the local elections. Those who were temporarily away from their ordinary address (for example, away working, on holiday, in student accommodation or in hospital) were also entitled to vote in the local elections, although those who had moved abroad and registered as overseas electors cannot vote in the local elections. It is possible to register to vote at more than one address (such as a university student who had a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) at the discretion of the local Electoral Register Office, but it remains an offence to vote more than once in the same local government election.

Previous composition 2009 election Party Seats 60 12 1 1 1Total75

Composition of council seats before election Party Seats 58 11 2 1 1 1Vacant 1Total75

Changes between elections

In between the 2009 election and the 2013 election, the following council seats changed hands:

Division Date Previous Party New Party Cause Resulting Council Composition Con LDem Lab LRes CInd UKIP IndHarlow West5 May 2011 Conservative incumbent disqualified. Labour won by-election. 59 12 2 1 1 0 0Chelmsford Central9 June 2011 Sitting councillor died. Conservatives won by-election. 60 11 2 1 1 0 0Canvey Island EastNovember 2011 Councillor quit party to sit as an independent member. 60 11 2 1 0 0 1Canvey Island East30 July 2012 Sitting councillor joined UKIP. 60 11 2 1 0 1 0Rochford SouthFebruary 2013 Sitting councillor died.No by-election was held as the death was sufficiently close to the upcoming County election. 59 11 2 1 0 1 0Wickford CrouchFebruary 2013 Councillor quit party to sit as an independent member. 58 11 2 1 0 1 1

Summary The election saw the Conservative Party retain overall control of the council, but their majority fell from twenty-two to four councillors. UKIP, Labour and the Liberal Democrats all won nine seats. Of the three second-placed parties who won nine seats, UKIP gained the largest share of the county-wide vote, more than 10% ahead of the Labour Party. The Liberal Democrats remain as the official Opposition (entitling them to certain expenses and rights to additional speeches) due to incumbency, despite winning fewer votes. The Green Party gained two seats on the council, despite its overall share of the vote falling. The Independent Loughton Residents Association and the Canvey Island Independent Party both returned one member and an Independent candidate was also elected.

Results summary

|-bgcolor=#F6F6F6 | colspan=2 style="text-align: right; margin-right: 1em" | Total | style="text-align: right;" | 75 | colspan=5 | | style="text-align: right;" | 328,435 | style="text-align: right;" |

Election of Group Leaders

David Finch (Hedingham) was elected leader of the Conservative Group, with Kevin Bentley (Stanway and Pyefleet) as his deputy.

Michael Mackrory (Springfield) was re elected leader of the Liberal Democratic Group, with Theresa Higgins (Parsons Heath and East Gates) as his deputy.

Julie Young (Wivenhoe St. Andrew) was re elected leader of the Labour Group, with Ivan Henderson (Harwich) as her deputy.

Roger Lord (Brightlingsea) was elected leader of the UKIP group, with Jamie Huntman (Thundersley) as his deputy.

James Abbott (Witham Northern) was elected leader of the Green group, with Michael Hoy (Rochford West) as his deputy.

Chris Pond (Loughton Central) was elected leader of the Non-Aligned Group with John Lodge (Saffron Walden) as his deputy.

Mid term changes

On 3 September 2014 Lord resigned both as UKIP group leader and from the council after being replaced as that party's candidate for Clacton by Tory defector Douglas Carswell, Huntman succeeded him. Nigel Le Gresley (Wickford Crouch) would in turn replace Huntman, with Andrew Erskine (Tendring Rural East) as his deputy before he resigned from the party in March 2016 with Huntman again replacing him.

In mid 2016 deputy Labour leader Ivan Henderson (Harwich) replaced Young as leader with Michael Danvers (Harlow North) as his deputy.

Election of Leader of the Council

David Finch the leader of the Conservative group was duly elected leader of the council and formed a conservative administration.

Results by District

Basildon

District Summary

PartySeats+/-Votes%+/-UKIP 3 3 17,863 33.4 +22.9Conservative 3 6 17,229 32.2 −11.2Labour 3 3 12,645 23.7 +7.7Liberal Democrat 0 2,772 5.2 −9.9Green 0 1,458 2.7+2.7Independent 0 1,109 2.1 +2.1National Front 0 304 0.6 −13.3TUSC 0 73 0.1 +0.1

Division Results

Braintree

District Summary

PartySeats+/-Votes%+/-Conservative 6 2 12,107 37.8 −6.5UKIP 1 1 8,704 27.2 +19.8Green 1 1 2,601 10.3−2.4Labour 0 6,945 21.7 +7.9Liberal Democrat 0 1,424 4.5 −8.4BNP 0 223 0.7 −6.1

Division Results

Brentwood

District Summary

PartySeats+/-Votes%+/-Conservative 2 6,186 36.7 −12.6Liberal Democrat 2 4,282 25.4 −4.5UKIP 0 4,336 25.7 +20.2Labour 0 1,541 9.1 +1.8Green 0 500 3.0+3.0English Democrat 0 31 0.2 −0.6

Division Results

Castle Point

District Summary

PartySeats+/-Votes%+/-UKIP 2 2 6,466 34.0 +26.0Conservative 2 2 6,404 33.8 −11.7CIIP 1 2,777 15.6 +1.7Labour 0 2,574 13.6 +2.3Liberal Democrat 0 316 1.8 −5.0Green 0 250 1.3−3.4BNP 0 214 1.1 −9.9Independent 0 185 1.0 +1.0

Division Results

Chelmsford

District Summary

PartySeats+/-Votes%+/-Conservative 6 2 12,982 35.7 −8.6Liberal Democrat 3 2 7,701 21.2 −10.5UKIP 0 9,328 25.6 +24.0Labour 0 4,157 8.8 +4.7Green 0 1,472 4.0−3.0SWFCTA 0 757 2.1−0.1English Democrat 0 51 0.1 +0.1

Division Results

Colchester

District Summary

PartySeats+/-Votes%+/-Conservative 4 10,597 29.5 −5.5Liberal Democrat 3 1 7,705 21.5 −12.7Labour 2 1 7,127 19.9 +7.6UKIP 0 8,058 22.5 +20.3Green 0 2,394 6.7 −3.6

Division Results

Epping Forest

District Summary

PartySeats+/-Votes%+/-Conservative 6 15,695 41.8 −8.0Loughton Residents 1 3,286 15.5 +5.7Liberal Democrat 1 2,431 11.5 −9.1UKIP 0 6,589 31.1 +22.5Labour 0 2,092 9.9 +1.5Green 0 1,061 5.0 −1.7Independent 0 148 0.6 +0.1English Democrat 0 93 0.4 −1.0BNP 0 87 0.4 −10.1Young People's Party 0 21 0.1 +0.1

Division Results

Harlow

District Summary

PartySeats+/-Votes%+/-Labour 3 3 8,531 36.5 +10.4Conservative 1 3 6,218 26.6 −8.7UKIP 0 6,747 28.8 +28.8Liberal Democrat 0 853 3.7 −13.9Green 0 685 2.9 −3.7TUSC 0 358 1.5 +1.5

Division Results

Maldon

District Summary

PartySeats+/-Votes%+/-Conservative 3 6,138 44.5 −6.3UKIP 0 4,059 29.5 +29.5Labour 0 2,039 14.8+5.6Green 0 1,163 8.4 −2.6BNP 0 385 2.8 −6.0

Division Results

Rochford

District Summary

PartySeats+/-Votes%+/-Conservative 3 2 6,360 34.9 −14.2UKIP 1 1 5,127 28.2+26.4Green 1 1 1,615 8.9+4.1Labour 0 2,384 13.1+5.5Liberal Democrat 0 2,059 8.9−7.3English Democrat 0 660 3.6 −2.9

Division Results

Tendring

District Summary

PartySeats+/-Votes%+/-Conservative 4 4 10,310 30.8−10.0UKIP 2 2 9,774 29.2+27.1Labour 1 1 5,545 16.6+5.4Tendring First 1 1 4,093 12.2−1.8Liberal Democrat 0 2,661 8.0 −3.5Green 0 1,066 3.2−3.9CRP 0 204 0.6 −3.1Independent 0 128 0.4 +0.4

Division Results

Uttlesford

District Summary

PartySeats+/-Votes%+/-Conservative 3 1 8,858 42.7−11.8Independent 1 1 2,079 10.0+10.0UKIP 0 3,741 18.0+15.9Liberal Democrat 0 3,447 16.6−8.8Labour 0 1,710 8.2+4.8Green 0 922 4.4−6.5

Division Results

By-elections Summary

By-election Date Incumbent party Winning partyBrightlingsea9 October 2014 Bocking5 March 2015 Clacton East31 March 2016 Laindon Park and Fryerns9 June 2016

Results Brightlingsea

Bocking

Laindon Park and Fryerns

Clacton East

Notes

References

External links Results by election ward 2013