By-election could produce Devon’s first Reform UK councillor

It will be held this month

A by-election triggered in East Devon could lead to the county’s first Reform candidate being elected.

Cllr Jamie Kemp, a Liberal Democrat, has stepped down from the Exe Valley ward, meaning a poll will be held on Thursday 13 March.

Four candidates are vying for the district council seat: Julie Bennett (Labour), Patsy Hayman (Conservative), Fabian King (Liberal Democrat) and Nat Vanstone (Reform).

If Mr Vanstone is elected, he would be Reform’s first councillor in Devon.

If such a scenario transpired, it would be less than two months until the Devon County Council elections on Thursday 1 May, when other Reform candidates are likely to contest seats.

Whatever the outcome, it will not change the political scales at the district council, given it has 23 independents, 17 Liberal Democrats, 15 Conservatives, two Greens and one Labour member.

It is run by the Democratic Alliance group, which combines the council’s Liberal Democrats with 15 independent members. The remaining eight independent councillors form a separate Independent group.

Cllr Kemp was elected to the district council after a by-election in September 2021, winning 190 votes to beat Labour’s Michael Daniell and the Conservative candidate Kevin Wraight.

Separately, in Cornwall, Kevin Towill has defected from the Conservatives and will contest the elections in that county as a Reform candidate in May.