Labour maintain majority on Exeter City Council

Duryard & St James Ward

Image: Twitter, @electionmapsuk (Used with permission)

THE May local elections for Exeter City Council returned a similar makeup to the council in previous years: a Labour-majority administration with representation from the other three major political parties: the Greens, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.

The May 4th elections saw an election of a single councillor from all thirteen of Exeter City Council’s wards, contributing the election of one third of the body’s 39-member membership. The new councillors will work with the existing council to deal with the local issues of Exeter’s population such as housing, planning services and bin collection among other local services.

Unlike across much of the country where council’s saw dramatic swings from one council to another, Exeter saw only modest changes — most notably the continuing expansion of the Green Party who added a net gain of two seats. The Green Party are now the largest opposition party to the Labour administration, at six seats overall, and achieved a vote share of 22 per cent. Previously, the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats formed an opposition coalition called The Progressive Front. The party stood on building “decent affordable homes” which are “built in the right places and to the highest environmental standards.” They also “want communities to have a better say in shaping Exeter’s future development plans.”

Exeter saw only modest changes — most notably the continuing expansion of the Green Party

The Green Party also focused on issues important to voters of their local ward. Dr Andy Ketchin, who won the Newtown and St. Leonard’s Ward from Labour, stood on creating safer crossings around the roundabout which contains many popular locations in Exeter’s city centre such as the St. Sidwell’s Point leisure centre, the bus station and Vue Cinema. Ketchin described the existing crossings as “dangerous”, particularly to more vulnerable pedestrians such as older children walking by themselves, the elderly and those with limited mobility.

In a press release from the Green Party in response to their successful election results, Ketchin has said: “Together, we will work tirelessly for a fairer, greener community for everyone”. However, there will be little change to the existing Labour-run administration as the party has only had a net loss of one seat, bringing them to 25 seats overall. The party stood on four key themes: “A net zero carbon city, our communities and homes, a healthy and active city and well-run council.”

The Duryard and St James ward, in which Stretham campus was situated, saw the return of Liberal Democrat councillor Michael Mitchell while the party saw a net gain of one seat citywide to make three seats overall. The Conservative Party meanwhile lost one seat for a new total of four seats on the council.

Nationwide, the Conservative Party suffered large losses across England, losing 1000 councillors overall. In the North of England, the Labour Party countered their losses in the so-called 'Red Wall' of historically Labour-won areas by gaining control of councils such as Middlesborough and York. Labour also made significant gains in Hartlepool, where the party was short of a majority by one seat. In the South of England, Liberal Democrats and the Greens were mainly responsible for Conservative losses, gaining 407 and 241 seats respectively.

In Windsor and Maidenhead Council, the Liberal Democrats won a majority from the Conservatives, gaining 13 seats, while the Greens took control of their first council in Mid Suffolk, and became the largest party in other councils like East Herts. While there is limited reliability in using these local election results to predict the 2024 General Election, one concerning trend for the Conservatives is the rise of tactical voting where voters are electing against the Conservatives rather than voting for any specific opposition party. This was particularly clear in Bracknell Forest where a pact between the Labour and Liberal Democrats saw only one opposition candidate from either party stand in each ward. Labour took control of the council from the Conservatives, who lost 27 of their 37 seats. Exeposé have reached out for comment from the Exeter Green Party and Cllr. Mitchell.