Labour party picks its ‘winnable’ seats

Five Devon constituencies feature on leaked 'non-priority' list

The Labour Party won’t plough resources into trying to beat Tory Kevin Foster in Torbay at the next general election, according to a leaked document.

The bay is one of five of Devon’s parliamentary constituencies to appear on the list of ‘non-priority’ seats for the party. The others are Honiton and Sidmouth; Tiverton and Minehead; Torridge and Tavistock and North Devon.

It means the party has effectively conceded that it can’t win in much of Devon, however well it is doing in the national polls.

The county’s political map will change significantly the next time the country goes to the polls, when existing boundaries for a number of constituencies change, along with some of their names.

The Totnes constituency, for instance, will be known as South Devon to reflect the fact that it includes towns such as Brixham, Dartmouth and Kingsbridge.

There will also be changes elsewhere in the county, where unfamiliar names on voting papers will include Honiton and Sidmouth; Exmouth and East Exeter; Tiverton and Minehead and  Torridge and Tavistock.

The list indicates Labour doesn’t think five seats are winnable, and therefore will not receive large amounts of central campaign funding.

Labour is currently leading in national opinion polls. The decision not to focus on the five leaked seats means more vigorous Labour campaigning could be expected in Central Devon; Exeter; Exeter East and Exmouth; Newton Abbot; Plymouth Moor View; Plymouth Sutton and Devonport; South Devon and South West Devon.

The next general election has to take place by 28 January 2025. While no official announcement has been made, it is considered possible that the election could take place on Thursday 2 May next year.

Currently Devon has two Labour MPs – Sir Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) and Luke Pollard (Plymouth Sutton and Devonport) – one Liberal Democrat – Richard Foord (Tiverton and Honiton) and nine Conservative MPs.

They are Selaine Saxby (North Devon), Kevin Foster (Torbay), Simon Jupp (East Devon), Anthony Mangnall (Totnes), Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot), Sir Gary Streeter (South West Devon), Mel Stride (Central Devon) and Johnny Mercer (Plymouth Moor View) and Sir Geoffrey Cox (Torridge).