A third of Exeter's council seats up for grabs

Thirteen of the 39 places on Exeter City Council to be contested on Thursday

Exeter has been run by Labour since 2010, following a short period in which the Liberal Democrats had minority control. Labour currently holds 29 of the seats, the Conservatives have eight, and the Lib Dems and Greens have one each. The Green candidate was originally elected after standing as a Labour candidate, but switched horses part way through his term.

On Thursday, elections are being held for a third of the seats, covering 13 wards. City councillors serve for four years, and a third are elected each year. Once every four years, the city doesn't have local elections.

Because of the current make-up, the Tory group would have to take 11 of the 13 seats off Labour for control to change, and even then the Conservatives would only have a minority administration. If they won 12 seats from Labour, they'd have a majority. With the minority Conservative government having a tough week, with the Home Secretary falling on her sword on Sunday night, it's thought the Tories will have a tough time in local elections. So it's unlikely, but not mathematically impossible, that they'll be in charge of Exeter after Thursday.

To see the full list of candidates, click here: https://exeter.gov.uk/media/3889/candidate-summary-3-may-2018.pdf