A correspondent has pointed out that St Loye’s lies in David Reed’s Exmouth and Exeter East constituency. 

LIBDEM gain but only NINE votes separate the LibDem, Reform and Conservative candidate. Here are both the voting numbers and the party swings.

• Joan Collacott CON 808 (25.34%) -23.23%
• Laila Jhaveri LAB 342 (10.72%) -25.67%
• Chris Owen REFUK 812 (25.46%) +25.46%
• Paul Richards LIBDEM 817 (25.62%) +18.97%
• Chloe Whipple GREEN 410 (12.86%) +4.46%

Turnout: 46.04% = 3,192 ballots among an electorate of 6,933.

4 ballots were rejected.

2026 Exeter City Council St. Loye’s election results – votes cast

2025 Exeter City Council St. Loye’s election results – party vote share change since 2024 elections

Labour has lost overall control of Exeter City Council after 14 years in power.

Likely form a coalition with the Greens? – Owl

Martyn Oates, George Thorpe www.bbc.co.uk

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 – a gain of two compared to 2022 – while the Conservatives lost a seat to have one councillor at the authority. Independents had no change to remain at two councillors.

Update: City council’s deputy leader Laura Wright was the highest-profile casualty of the night.