2026 Exeter City Council election

2026 Exeter City Council election
← 2024 7 May 2026 None planned →
14 out of 39 seats to Exeter City Council; 20 seats needed for a majority
Incumbent Leader; Philip Bialyk; Labour Co-op	; ;

The 2026 Exeter City Council election will take place on 7 May 2026 to elect members of Exeter City Council in Devon, England.^[2] This is on the same day as other local elections.

Quick facts 14 out of 39 seats to Exeter City Council 20 seats needed for a majority, Leader ...

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Under current plans, the elections will be the last ever to the city council, as it is planned to be abolished in 2028 and replaced with a unitary authority. Elections will be held in 2027 to its replacement authority.^[3]

The elections were initially cancelled alongside others to 29 other authorities similarly planned to be replaced, however in February 2026 it was announced that the elections would go ahead as normal following filings by Reform UK for judicial review of the cancellation.^[4]

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After 2024 election			Before 2026 election
Party		Seats	Party		Seats
	Labour	24		Labour	22
	Green	7		Green	6
	Liberal Democrats	4		Liberal Democrats	4
	Conservative	3		Conservative	2
	Reform	0		Reform	2
	Independent	1		Independent	2

2026 Exeter City Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
Party		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Labour				14
	Green				5
	Liberal Democrats				3
	Conservative				1
	Independent				2
	Reform				1

Ward	Incumbent councillor		Re-standing
Alphington	Bob Foale	Labour	No
Duryard & St James	Kevin Mitchell	Liberal Democrats	Yes
Exwick	Paul Knott	Labour	Yes
Heavitree	Catherine Rees	Green	No
Mincinglake & Whipton	Tony Payne^[d]	Reform	Yes
Newton & St Leonard's	Matthew Vizard	Labour	Yes
Pennsylvania	Josie Parkhouse	Labour Co-op	No
Pinhoe	Duncan Wood	Labour Co-op	Yes
Priory	Marina Asvachin	Labour	Yes
St David's	Tess Read	Green	No
St Loyes	Peter Holland	Conservative	No
St Thomas	Laura Wright	Labour Co-op	Yes
Topsham	James Cookson^[e]	Labour	Yes

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Lucy Findlay
	Conservative	Kayleigh Luscombe
	Reform	Jayden Palmer
	Liberal Democrats	JJ Pickin
	Green	Greg Wotton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jonathan Hawke
	Reform	David Hodge
	Green	Mithal Ishakoglu
	Liberal Democrats	Kevin Mitchell*
	Conservative	Sebastian Stanwell-Wise

2026 Exeter City Council election

Summary

Council composition

Election result

Incumbents

Candidates

Alphington

Duryard & St. James

Exwick

Heavitree

Mincinglake & Whipton

Newtown & St. Leonard's

Pennsylvania

Pinhoe

Priory

St. David's

St. Loye's

St. Thomas

Topsham

Notes

References

Related Articles

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	Lee Gillett
	Liberal Democrats	Jamie Horner
	Labour Co-op	Paul Knott*
	Green	Kalkidan Legesse
	Conservative	David Luscombe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	Tina Beer
	Liberal Democrats	Philip Brock
	Labour	Dave Mutton
	Conservative	Katherine New
	Independent	Jordan Newbery
	Reform	Lisa Norris
	Green	Stella Smith
	Labour	Rachel Sutton
	Green	Helen Terry
	Conservative	Colin Trudgeon
	Liberal Democrats	Nigel Williams

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Martin Ayres
	Labour Co-op	Steve Casemore
	Reform	Anthony Payne*
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Payne
	Conservative	David Thompson

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Bernadette Chelvanayagam
	Liberal Democrats	Jonny Pye
	Conservative	Ruth Smith
	Labour	Matthew Vizard*
	Reform	Jo Westlake

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Will Aczel
	Green	Gill Baker
	Reform	Michael Battershill
	Labour Co-op	Paula Black
	Conservative	Rob Hannaford
	TUSC	Myles Hatcher

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Mark Allen
	Conservative	Ian Baldwin
	Liberal Democrats	Christine Campion
	Reform	Ashton Messer
	Labour Co-op	Duncan Wood*

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Marina Asvachin*
	Conservative	Rob Newby
	Liberal Democrats	Philip Thomas
	Green	Jack Vickers
	Reform	Nicholas Williams

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Yasmine Al-Saket
	Reform	Susan Clow
	Liberal Democrats	Charles Curnock
	Labour Co-op	Rose Lelliott
	Green	Brian Rappert

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Joan Collacott
	Labour	Laila Jhaveri
	Reform	Christopher Owen
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Richards
	Green	Chloe Whipple

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	Robert-James Cockburn
	Liberal Democrats	Vanessa Newcombe
	Green	Jack Reed
	Conservative	Caroline Stone
	Labour Co-op	Laura Wright*

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Cookson*
	Reform	Sue Davies
	Liberal Democrats	Tim Gainsford
	Green	Ann Keen
	Conservative	Cynthia Thompson