"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 & 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 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 confi"
Labour lost overall control of Exeter City Council after 14 years in power. Labour remained the largest group but fell to 18 councillors, two below the majority mark, after losing five seats compared with the 2022 election. The Green Party gained three seats to reach 10 councillors and stayed as the second-largest group. The Liberal Democrats gained one seat to total five, while Reform UK finished with three seats and the Conservatives dropped to one. Independents remained at two. The Greens won in Newtown & St Leonards, Pennsylvania, and St Thomas, and retained seats in Heavitree and St David's. Jack Reed won in St Thomas, pushing deputy leader Laura Wright into fourth place behind Lib Dem and Reform candidates. Labour retained Alphington, Exwick, Pinhoe, and Topsham.
Read at www.bbc.com
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