Frustration over cancelled Exeter elections

Opponents unite to demand Exeter elections

Parties at opposite ends of the political spectrum have united in Exeter in a bid to overturn a decision to scrap the city’s 2026 council elections.

Earlier this week members of the city council’s ruling Labour group backed a move to get their leader Phil Bialyk (Exwick) to write to the government explaining his view that the polls should be called off.

A lengthy city council meeting heard that by not having the proposed elections for 13 seats on the council – eight of them Labour seats – the city would save a quarter of a million pounds and free up officers to prepare for local government reorganisation (LGR).

But furious opposition councillors – Greens, Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, Independents and Reform UK – said the move was undemocratic and denied the people of Exeter their right to elect their councillors.

Some also said the Labour group was ‘running scared’ of the elections, having done badly in the Devon County Council polls last year.

Leader of the Green group, Cllr Diana Moore (St Davids), said: “There must be something very wrong with the Labour leadership that opposition groups holding such a wide spectrum of views and political differences can unite to speak out against this unjustified assault on democracy in Exeter.”

The joint letter says the opposition parties have ‘low confidence’ that Cllr Bialyk will adequately express their views in his letter to local government minister Alison McGovern.

It goes on: “We have never once, since the wheels of LGR were set in motion, been presented with a single report to suggest that Exeter City Council lacked the resources to deliver both the May 2026 elections and a comprehensive LGR programme. 

“The decision by the leader to ask for a postponement is, in our view, not evidence based and appears to place the interests of the Labour Party above the need for the council going forward to have a democratic mandate.

“Residents in Exeter expect to be able to vote every year – that’s the way our system works. So annual elections are a right, not a privilege, for our residents. The whole episode is a disgraceful disregard of democracy.”

Other councils including Devon County Council and Teignbridge District Council have stepped up since Exeter announced its decision to offer help with running the 2026 elections if needed.

As part of the opposition’s joint letter Conservative leader Cllr Peter Holland (St Loyes) said: “There are no compelling reasons – at this time – as to why the elections should be cancelled. It is my view, which is shared by the wider Conservative group here in the city, that it is morally and ethically wrong to cancel what are residents’ democratic rights to vote on a four-year cycle – outside of a national emergency such as war or a pandemic.”