Elections will go ahead in May as government rejects Devon’s request for postponement

Devon’s county council elections will go ahead in May after the government rejected a request to postpone them.

The county council’s ruling Conservatives wanted to delay the elections for a year while plans for an overhaul of local government became clearer.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has only agreed to “half the requests” by councils across England, stating that the government’s starting point is “for all elections to go ahead unless there was a strong reason for postponement.”

Ms Rayner says all areas with a two-tier structure of local government, which includes Devon, will be invited to submit proposals for new unitary councils.

Last month, a majority of Devon’s county councillors voted to apply to the government to postpone local elections scheduled for Thursday 1 May.

However, Liberal Democrat councillors objected to the idea.

Martin Wrigley, Lib Dem MP for Newton Abbot, said: “It isn’t difficult to see why they were trying to avoid facing the electorate again after their disastrous general election results.

“Thankfully, the government has clearly seen through this thinly veiled attempt to silence the voices of over a million voters. They have made the right decision in allowing voters to go to the ballot boxes this May.

“After years of chaotic Conservative control, it is time for change. Across the county, Liberal Democrats are working hard to be that change locally, as we have been in Westminster.”

Ministers want to abolish the two-tier system of local government, whereby different services in the same area are carried out by separate councils.

The government wants to create larger councils overseeing populations of at least 500,000 people. These councils would be unitary in style, meaning that all services are conducted by one council.

It has indicated that some exceptions to this size may be allowed. Exeter City Council could be one of those applying to become a unitary authority.

Devon already has two unitary authorities, Torbay and Plymouth. However, in the rest of Devon, the county council is responsible for larger services such as highways, education, and social services, while district councils handle other functions like recycling and planning.

Elsewhere, Ms Rayner named six areas where devolution would begin to progress. In this context, devolution refers to the idea of an elected mayor overseeing multiple new larger unitary councils under something likely to be called a mayoral strategic authority.

Ms Rayner said the outcome of such a process was “simple.”

“It will mean more money in people’s pockets, quicker, better, cheaper transport designed with local people in mind, and politics back in the service of working people,” she said.

She named Devon and Torbay as having “foundational” devolution, meaning that Devon County Council and Torbay Council have created a combined county authority (CCA).

This CCA is designed to give the area greater control over certain aspects, such as transport, but does not involve electing a mayor.

There are some calls for Devon to combine with Cornwall to form a strategic authority under the leadership of an elected mayor. However, Cornwall Council is firmly opposed to the idea. Response across Devon has been more nuanced.

It is likely to be some time before the situation becomes clear.