No surprises then. 

Will reorganisation really be in place within a year and just how many councillors will they have – 39 or only nine as in the current county level divisions? (Currently Exeter City council comprises 39 councillors, representing 13 wards with three councillors per ward).

Will they have to ask for cancellation next year as well?- Owl

Exeter City Council will ask to cancel May elections

Miles Davis www.bbc.co.uk

Exeter City Council will ask the government to cancel elections that were due to take place in May.

City council members took part in a heated debate over whether to hold the elections after the government said it would consider requests for postponements from councils involved in a massive local government reorganisation.

A report prepared by the Labour-run authority said cancelling the elections would free up financial resources for “the work required to prepare for the transition to new unitary councils”.

Opposition parties were heavily critical of any possible cancellation but the council leader said he would be writing to the government to request a postponement.

In the reorganisation of local government, all district and county councils are being abolished with plans for new unitary authorities to come into existence from May 2028.

Michael Mitchell, Liberal Democrat group leader, spoke in favour of holding the election.

He said the government was offering the Labour Party in Exeter a “get-out-of-jail-free card” to avoid defeat in the elections which it should refuse.

Conservative group leader and member for St Loyes, Peter Holland, said it would be “morally and ethically wrong to cancel residents’ democratic rights”.

Diana Moore, Green Party leader, said people expected elections to take place and they were “not a privilege but a right”.

Reform member Alison Sheridan said Labour were “wiped out” in Exeter in the Devon County Council elections in 2025 and claimed Labour members were afraid of suffering the same fate in elections in May.

But postponing the elections in May “is not about denying democracy”, said Duncan Wood, a Labour cabinet member. “It is about ensuring when residents vote, they are voting for a council that will actually exist and will have the power to shape and deliver their services.”

Council leader Phil Bialyk said he had listened to the views of all councillors but wanted to request postponement to focus resources on the transition to new unitary authorities.

Members voted by 21 for, nine against and seven abstentions, to approve a recommendation to note the minister’s letter and make a response by 15 January.

The elections on 7 May would have been for 13 of the 39 Exeter City Council seats.

The council is currently controlled by Labour with 22 seats but power could have changed hands if elections go ahead.

The Green Party has seven seats and the Liberal Democrats have four, with the Conservatives, Independents and Reform UK all having two members each.

Of the 13 seats up for election in May, eight are held by Labour, two by the Greens and one each by the Liberal Democrats, The Conservatives and Reform UK.

Plymouth City Council could also have requested the cancellation of elections but chose not to.

Whatever the result of May elections, for a third of the seats in Plymouth, Labour will retain control of the council.