Devon and Cornwall councils in no overall control after elections
As the dust settles on local elections in Devon and Cornwall, Martyn Oates considers what the results mean for the political picture in the South West.Two councils slipping into 'no overall control' doesn't sound like the most arresting election headline.But that apparently modest development masks 24 hours of enormous upheaval and political drama.When the vote counters stated their work on Friday morning both Cornwall Council and Devon County Council were Conservative-controlled.
By the evening the party had just seven councillors left on either side of the Tamar – down from 47 in Cornwall and 39 in Devon.A party which had started out with no elected councillors at all in the region ended up the largest group on Cornwall Council and the second largest in Devon.Reform shot from zero to 18 in Devon and to 28 in Cornwall.The Tories' traditional rivals in the rural Westcountry, the Liberal Democrats, also made gains - adding 13 seats in Cornwall and 18 in Devon.Labour lost one of their previous five seats in Cornwall but saw all seven of their Devon seats wiped out – with four of them going to Reform.
Conservative and Labour losses
Exactly where the Lib Dems and Reform made gains is almost as interesting as their total number of seats.The former will be very pleased to see a very similar footprint to their parliamentary wins last July – in seats like St Ives, North Cornwall, South Devon and Honiton and Sidmouth.For Labour and the Conservatives the opposite is often the case.Cornish seats Labour won for the first time last July - Camborne and Redruth, St Austell and Newquay and South East Cornwall – proved happy hunting grounds for Reform.And even the great Labour citadel of Exeter – home to a Labour MP through thick and thin since 1997 – has seen all seven of its county councillors turfed out.The Conservatives, meanwhile, will view with dismay the carpet of light blue – Reform blue – now covering the constituency of Torridge and Tavistock.It's not saying much but, as of last July, Torridge and Tavistock was the Tories' safest remaining seat in the two counties.
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