First meetings for shadow councils after elections

Surrey's two shadow authorities are to meet for the first time to elect its leaders and install its cabinet members.

East Surrey and West Surrey shadow authorities, which will become East Surrey Council and West Surrey Council, are due to meet on Wednesday and Thursday, following the election of councillors in May.

The meetings are expected see Steve Wotton, in East Surrey, and Paul Follows, in West Surrey, elected as leaders after they were chosen as the heads of the majority Liberal Democrat administrations.

Both authorities will sit as a shadow authority for a year before officially coming into power in April 2027.

Liberal Democrats will hold a majority on both councils, winning 40 of 72 seats in East Surrey and 56 of 90 seats in West Surrey in the 7 May election.

Previously, Surrey County Council was run by the Conservatives, who remain the second largest party on both shadow authorities.

The meetings will also see a deputy leader and shadow executive named, alongside leaders and deputy leaders of each of the political groups on the council.

Last week, the Conservative opposition groups announced that David Lewis and Jane Austin would lead in East and West Surrey respectively.

During the next year, both authorities will work on preparing for how they will govern from 2027 onwards.

Other milestones in the year ahead include setting up scrutiny meetings for each local authority, which will take place in this week's meetings, and agreeing the councils' first budgets, due in February 2027.

The move to two unitary authorities is part of wider local government reorganisation which will also see lower tier borough and district councils abolished in favour of a single tier of local governance.

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