Labour loses control of Exeter after 14 years

Labour has lost overall control of Exeter City Council after 14 years in power.

While the party remains the largest group at the authority, it lost five councillors from the previous time the seats were up for election in 2022, taking its overall number down to 18 - two below the majority mark.

The Green Party gained three seats to move to 10 seats overall and remains the second largest group at the authority while the Liberal Democrats gained a seat - taking their total to five.

Reform UK ended the night with three seats while the Conservatives lost a seat to have one councillor at the authority. Independents had no change to remain at two councillors.

The Greens gained seats in the Newtown and St Leonards, Pennsylvania and St Thomas wards along with retaining seats in Heavitree - where two seats were available following Carol Bennett's resignation in March - and St David's.

Jack Reed won in St Thomas, a seat which the council's deputy leader Laura Wright was defending but ended up being pushed into fourth place for behind Lib Dem and Reform candidates.

Reed said: "We knew that St Thomas was super Green, especially the lower part of St Thomas where most houses seemed to be voting for the Green Party.

"However, in upper St Thomas, there were lots of votes for the Lib Dems and Reform.

"But we knew the lower part was super strong and we've been focusing on that area with people on the doorsteps being super friendly, super Green and it means they've turned out to vote, which is amazing."

Labour held on to Alphington, Exwick, Pinhoe and Topsham.

Philip Bialyk, Labour group leader at the council, said despite losing overall control, he felt the results showed people had not given up completely on his party.

"I think it's been quite interesting the voting here in Exeter," he added.

"It's not been quite the way people have expected - a wipeout for Labour in Exeter, on the contrary.

"I still regarded it as a vote of reasonable confidence with 18 seats taking the council forward."

Speaking to John Acres on BBC Radio Devon, Bialyk said the plan was for Labour to put forward proposals for leadership of the council when the annual meeting is held on 20 May.

Bialyk said whatever the council leadership group ended up being, he felt the different parties had worked together before at the authority.

"Yes, we differ on things but I think we have a common interest to provide the best thing for Exeter," he said.

Sebastian Stanwell-Wise, the Conservative candidate in the Duryard & St James, said he thought there would be a period of fewer councillors from his party but remained optimistic for the future.

Stanwell-Wise, a first-year University of Exeter student, came last in the ward with 117 votes as Kevin Mitchell held his seat for the Lib Dems.

He said: "I think we've just hit a turbulence and we need a restructure from where we are.

"I think Kemi Badenoch is moving us in the correct direction and is redefining who we are."

The Greens have the biggest cause for celebration in Exeter taking three seats from Labour, while Reform UK took a fourth.

Labour lost its slim majority on the council, bringing the curtain down on 14 years of Labour rule in Exeter.

But Labour managed to hold onto half of the seats they were defending, avoiding a re-run of their performance in the Devon County Council elections, which saw them lose all of their Exeter seats to a combination of Reform and the Greens.

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