Labour lose overall control in Plymouth council elections
The Conservatives have seen significant gains and holds
Last updated 8th May 2021
Plymouth Tories have made significant gains in this year's local council elections.
The Conservative Party now hold 26 seats, with Labour retaining 24, and the remaining seven going to Independent members.
Familiar faces lost their positions as the votes were declared today, including deputy leader Pete Smith who was unseated in Honicknowle.
The Tories also claimed Ham, the ward which Labour leader Tudor Evans represents.
The losses for Labour did not stop there: Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Chris Mavin, lost his seat in Moor View, as did Deputy Lord Mayor, Darren Winter, in St Budeaux.
The city's education chief, Jon Taylor, has also been replaced, with Mark Shayer now taking over Budshead.
The leader of the Conservative Party in Plymouth, Nick Kelly, says he is "delighted" with the result.
The Tories have just fallen short of taking total control of the council - they needed 29 seats to take over fully.
They will now be looking to the local authorities' Independents in order to move forward and take control of administration.
What is a hung council?
A hung council is one in which no single political party holds a majority of the council seats, but in which the majority of councillors belong to a political party - which is the case for Plymouth City Council now.
Typically, if no party achieves overall control of a council, the largest grouping will form alliances to create an ad hoc governing coalition. Often local authorities have larger proportions of smaller party and independent members than the House of Commons, and when there is no overall control this often results in minor groups having more influence than their numbers alone would suggest.