(No overall control)

Labour has a huge majority on Plymouth City Council and will still be in charge whatever happens on 7 May.

By contrast, the party’s longstanding control of Exeter City Council is now vulnerable.

With Labour holding 22 of the total 39 seats, a few losses would see the council slip into no overall control. 

Thirteen seats are up for election in Exeter. Eight of the 13 seats are currently held by Labour councillors, five of them ‘portfolio holders’ at the heart of the council. They also include the ward of deputy leader Laura Wright (St Thomas).

Two of the seats are currently held by Green councillors and one each by the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Reform UK.

South West local elections 2026: All you need to know

Martyn Oates www.bbc.co.uk

You need to look very carefully at the map to find somewhere in south-west England with an election this May.

This is the biggest set of elections since Labour swept to power in Westminster in the 2024 general election.

Voters will have their say on the make-up of the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments and 5,000 council seats across the country.

Both councils in the South West with elections are currently controlled by Labour, but the two administrations are in very different positions going into this election.

Labour has a huge majority on Plymouth City Council and will still be in charge whatever happens on 7 May.

By contrast, the party’s longstanding control of Exeter City Council is now vulnerable.

With Labour holding 22 of the total 39 seats, a few losses would see the council slip into no overall control.

The dramatic upheaval in last year’s Devon County Council elections has given Labour much food for thought.

All seven of its county seats in Exeter were lost – four to Reform UK and three to the Green Party.

The Greens have also been making inroads in city council elections for some time and currently hold six seats.

Reform won a seat in a by-election last year and have another councillor who was formerly a Conservative.

The Conservatives themselves have just two seats while the Liberal Democrats hold four.

While there is no prospect of regime change in Plymouth, the parties’ fortunes will be keenly watched.

The Conservatives – Labour’s traditional rivals in Plymouth – are now reduced to seven seats.

There are also five Independents and two Greens.

Reform and the Lib Dems have one councillor each – although both were originally elected for other parties.

Indeed, while the Lib Dems dominate much of the region, it is decades since one was elected to Plymouth City Council.

What does the future hold?

These elections almost certainly mark the end of an era.

The government is redrawing the local government map of Devon to replace the county and district councils with new unitary authorities.

The future shape of the county’s local government is due to be announced in the summer with the first elections to the new authorities expected next year.

Exeter City Council is a district council so is bound to disappear.

As an existing unitary authority Plymouth could conceivably continue with its present boundaries – or it may be subsumed into something new and bigger.