It was the Greens who celebrated the loudest and the longest as the results of the 2026 Exeter City Council elections were read out, reports Guy Henderson.
Fourteen seats on the council were up for grabs in polls that almost didn’t take place at all.
Exeter’s Labour administration had asked the government for permission to postpone the polls, saying there was no point electing members of a ‘zombie’ council which will be wiped out soon by a nationwide shake-up of councils.
Not having elections would save time and money, it said, and the government agreed, only to change its mind under threat of a legal challenge and reinstate the polls.
Labour remained the largest party on the council but lost four seats – three of them to the Greens, who are the second-largest group on the council with 10 seats.
Jack Reed celebrates his election with Green Party colleagues(Image: Guy Henderson)
Among the Green winners was Jack Reed, who usurped Exeter’s deputy council leader Laura Wright – the night’s highest-profile Labour casualty.
He said he had been campaigning since December, and now couldn’t wait to get started in the council chamber.
“There’s a lot to do,” he said. “But I’ve got a lot of energy, so let’s do it!”
He pledged to bring honesty and integrity to his new role and added: “I want to make sure I bring the voices of St Thomas residents to the council. I think we’ve lost that recently.”
And, he added, beating Cllr Wright by nearly 800 votes was a wider margin than anticipated.
“We did not expect it to be that big a margin,” he added.
“Maybe 10 or 20 votes, but this was huge, with the Labour Party in fourth place.
“The people of St Thomas have spoken. They want a hard-working Green councillor, and I’m ready to do that.”
The Reform UK surge which some pundits had predicted failed to materialise in terms of Exeter council seats, although the party did poll significant numbers of votes.
In the wards it did not win, it placed second six times.
There was drama and a recount in St Loyes, where the top three candidates were covered by just nine votes. Liberal Democrat Paul Richards topped the poll with 817 votes, taking the seat previously held by retiring Conservative group leader Peter Holland. Second was Reform’s Christopher Owen on 812 and third was Conservative Joan Collacott on 808.
Turnouts were noticeably high, too, with the highest being 53.72 per cent in Heavitree.
After the results had all been called, council leader Phil Bialyk (Lab, Exwick) said: “I am so pleased that we have not been thrown to the wolves.
“We have got stable leadership here for the next two years, and we will need that as we become a unitary authority. We want to transition in a way that is best for Exeter and the 49 parishes around it.
“Exeter has got everything to look forward to.”