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Devon County Council: analysis

Monday, 10 May 2021 17:02

By Daniel Clark, local democracy reporter

Tories win, but majority cut

The Conservatives retained control of Devon County Council last week – but they saw their vote share drop and their majority slightly reduce.

Under John Hart’s leadership, they have been in charge of the council since 2009, and Thursday’s local elections saw them stretch that reign until 2025. Coming into the vote, the Conservatives held 41 of the 60 seats, but they only held on to 39 following the conclusion of the counting on Saturday.

The Liberal Democrats gained three seats to become the official opposition on nine, while Labour gained one seat in Exeter to end on seven.

The Green Party gained a seat in Broadclyst, as well as holding on to Totnes and Dartington, to return two councillors, while three Independents were elected (in Fremington Rural, Otter Valley and Newton Abbot South).

 

Conservatives in control, but national success not repeated in Devon.
Across England, the Conservative Party gained control of 13 extra councils, including Cornwall, and added 235 councillors (a 10 per cent gain), but while they kept control of Devon County Council and added 10,000 votes to their 2017 tally, their vote share fell and they ended up with a reduced majority.

Gains were made in Newton Abbot North and Seaton and Colyton (from Lib Dems and East Devon Alliance), while they took back the Bideford West and Hartland seat from Tony Inch, an Independent an former Tory who left the party when deselected. But they lost one of the two seats in Broadclyst, Barnstaple South, Dawlish, Teignmouth and South Brent and Yealmpton – one to the Greens, and four to the Lib Dems, to end the day down.

Liberal Democrats gained seats, but lost voters
Lib Dems were pleased with the headline figure, winning nine seats, a gain of three, including winning Dawlish and Teignmouth which they lost to the Conservatives in 2017.

They also took both Barnstaple seats – one from the Conservatives – as well as taking South Brent and Yealmpton from the Tories, but saw their votes in Newton Abbot collapse, losing both seats.

Overall, their vote share was down four per cent on 2017, and they got 6,000 fewer votes in 2021 than 2017.

In areas where the Lib Dems were strong, they had a reasonably successful day, and the gain of three seats put them in a better position on the council, but in large parts of Devon, voters drifted away from them.

 

Labour’s vote share increases – but not where they are winning

On a difficult day for Labour nationally where they lost 326 councillors and control of eight councils, including Plymouth, the Labour vote in Devon held up, although they lost a seat on Exeter City Council, ending the day with one extra councillor on Devon County Council (winning a seat that they had won before the member became an Independent).

Labour’s vote share was up 0.7 per cent on the 2017 elections, and in more than half of the wards, they gained a higher percentage of the vote that they did last time – but a closer look at the numbers and things are not quite as rosy.

In the seven seats that they won, only in one of them did their vote share rise from 2017 (Heavitree and Whipton Barton), with the Conservatives and the Green Party respectively gaining ground and narrowing the gap in the other six wards.

Outside Exeter, Labour only came second in three seats, not within 600 votes in any of those seats, including seeing vote share fall in 17 of the seats they didn’t win.

Good day for the Greens
Henry Gent’s win in Broadclyst, where he took a seat from the Conservatives and topped the poll, made it a successful elections for Greens.

They doubled their vote share from 5.5 per cent to 11 per cent and gained vote share in 41 of the 42 equivalent wards – only Northam where they stood in 2021 and 2017 did their vote share fall.

And with Cllr Gent’s win in Broadclyst, in addition to Jacqi Hodgson convincingly retaining her Totnes and Dartington seat with the second highest individual vote of any single member ward, the Green Party now has two councillors on Devon County Council.

Devon County Council now has 39 Conservatives, nine Liberal Democrats, seven from Labour, three Independents and two Greens.

 

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