The county’s leadership is hanging in the balance as elections are set to sweep in – here’s everything you need to know before heading out to vote.
All of Suffolk County Council’s 70 seats, as well as a third of Ipswich Borough Council’s 48 seats, will be up for grabs.
The county council is currently controlled by the Conservatives as the largest, with 44 members, followed by the Greens (9), Reform UK (6), Independents (5), Labour (5), the Lib Dems (5) and the West Suffolk Independents (1).
In Ipswich, the council is controlled by Labour, with 38 members, followed by the Conservatives (7) and the Lib Dems (3) – with only a third of seats available, this means there is no chance of it changing hands.
In West Suffolk, there will also be a by-election for a vacant seat for the district council’s Abbeygate ward.
Voting for all of these will take place tomorrow, May 7, with polling stations set to open between 7am and 10pm.
The tallying up of the ballots will then be done on Friday, May 8.
Registered voters heading out to cast their ballot in person will need to show a valid form of photo identification, unless they have successfully applied for a free Voter Authority Certificate (VAC).
Valid forms of ID include:
• Passports issued by the UK, any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, or a British Overseas Territory.
• A driving licence, including provisional, issued by the UK, any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, or an EEA state.
• A blue badge.
• An older or disabled person’s bus pass funded by the UK Government.
More information on what counts as a valid form of ID can be found on the Electoral Commission’s website.
A full list of all candidates standing for Suffolk County Council can be found here.
The hopefuls for Ipswich Borough Council can be found here, and those for the West Suffolk by-election can be found here.
Those elected will represent their respective authorities for the next two years as the county prepares to be split into three as part of the Government’s plans for local government reform.
The plans will see all of Suffolk county, district and borough councils replaced with three unitary authorities with more powers.
Elections for so-called shadow authorities for these new unitaries will take place in May 2027.
The shadow authorities will exist under the current structure for a year, while the transition takes place, until they formally take over responsibilities in May 2028.
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