Labour tightens grip on Plymouth City Council power

They've gained nine extra seats

Labour has strengthened its hold on power after winning 15 of the 19 seats in last night’s Plymouth City Council elections.

The party now has 42 of the 57 seats with the Conservatives down to seven seats, having lost eight.

Leader of the council Tudor Evans called it “a record-breaking night” for Labour.

The party scored gains in Budshead, Compton, Ham, Honicknowle, Peverell, Plymstock Dunstone, Plymstock Radford, Southway and St Budeaux.

The Green Party retained Plympton Chaddlewood and Independent Plympton Erle while in Plympton St Mary the Independents gained a seat from the Conservatives.

The Conservatives won their only seat, the last one to be declared, after a recount, and that was Eggbuckland.

Cllr Evans said: “Voters have made their feelings very clear tonight. Their lives have not changed for the better after 14 years of Conservative government and their carnival of chaos.”

“Only the great wipe out of 1995 stops this being the worst humiliation of the Conservatives in Plymouth.

“Our band of devoted hardworking councillors will stand up for their communities, We are happy and grateful to the voters who have given us a resounding mandate to continue with the progress we have made.”

Leader of the Conservative group Andy Lugger said he was “deeply disappointed” as he had been last year when the Conservatives lost  control of the council to Labour.

“All our candidates worked exceedingly hard. We have pendulum politics in this country, the political tide comes in and out, we are on the ebb tide but we will rebuild and in 2026 it will be a completely different complexion.”

The overall turnout for the elections was 31.6 per cent.

Plymouth City Council has its elections in thirds which mean that a third of the council is elected every year for three years and then there is a “fallow” year which will be 2025.

Votes were verified and counted at Plymouth Life Centre where the count will also take place for the Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly police and crime commissioner at 11am this morning.

The first result to be announced was Plympton Chaddlewood around 2am when Green Party candidate Lauren McLay was re-elected.

Among the Conservatives who lost their seats were Charlotte Carlyle in Compton, Dr John Mahony in Peverell and Natalie Harrison in Plympton St Mary.

The full list of results are as follows:

Budshead – Caroline Bennett (Green) – 148; Nik Brookson (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 25; Jonathan Drean (Con) – 1,065; Alison Mary Simpson, (Labour) – 1448 (ELECTED); Sue Smale (Reform UK) – 313; Jim Spencer (Lib Dem) – 169 (LABOUR GAIN FROM CONSERVATIVE). Turnout: 31.76 per cent.

Compton – Richard Veysey Bray (Lib Dem) – 210; Charlotte Carlyle (Con) – 1,249; Ewan Roy Melling Flavell (Green) – 243; Charlie Robinson-Hodge (Reform UK) –  240; Matt Smith (Lab) – 1708 (ELECTED); Matthew Scott Whitear (Trade Unionist and Socialist)- 34. (LAB GAIN FROM CON). Turnout: 38.67 per cent.

Devonport – Lee Bunker (Reform UK) – 425; James Dyson (Green) – 218;, Anne Freeman (Lab) – 1,573 (ELECTED); Jon Gatward (Con) – 429; Jeffrey Hall (Lib Dem) – 139; Alex Moore (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 556. (LAB HOLD). Turnout: 24.49 per cent.

Efford and Lipson – Bill Bertram (Reform UK) – 361; Pat Bushell (Green) – 263; Ian Thomas Fleming (Con) – 380; Paul Charles McNamara (Lab) – 1,593 (ELECTED); Neil Lewis Prentice (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 24; Alexander Marcus Primmer (Lib Dem) – 140. (LAB HOLD). Turnout 27.27 per cent.

Eggbuckland – Dennis Sidney Draper (Lib Dem) – 233, Clint Jon Jones (Green) – 190; Bethany Laura Lowe (Trade Unionist and Socialist)- 51; Virginia Pike (Lab) – 1,478; Chris Wood (Con) – 1,478 (ELECTED). (CON HOLD). Turnout 34 per cent.

Ham – Leesa Alderton (Green) – 131, Stuart Andrew Bonar (Lib Dem) -134, Charlie Carson (Con) – 409, Edward Jack Evans (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 25, Chris Hudson (Reform UK) – 303, Stephen Hulme (Independent) – 484, Kate Taylor (Lab and Co-operative) -1,404 (ELECTED). (LAB GAIN FROM IND) Turnout: 26.66 per cent.

Honicknowle – Louise Caroline Alldridge (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 49, Margaret Francis Dorothy Boadella (Con) – 447, Shaun Andrew Hooper (Reform UK)- 519, Ray Morton (Lab)- 1,440 (ELECTED), Verity Thong (Green) – 153. (LAB GAIN FROM IND). Turnout: 24.71 per cent

Moor View – Nicky Cooke (Reform UK) – 460, Frank Hartkopf (Green) – 128, Andrea Irene Johnson (Con)- 929, Will Noble (Lab) – 1,622 (ELECTED), Richard John Simpson (Lib Dem)- 135, Arthur Nicholl Watson (Ind) – 74, Andrew James White (Trade Unionist and Socialist)- 21. (LAB HOLD). Turnout: 32.81 per cent.

Peverell – Jaime Bannerman (Lab) – 2,916 (ELECTED), Nicolas John Casley (Green) – 365, Steven Guy (Lib Dem)- 158, Peter Robert Hughes (Reform UK) – 218, John Mahony (Con) – 1,295, Duncan Alex Moore (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 45. (LAB GAIN FROM CON). Turnout: 41.24 per cent.

Plympton Chaddlewood – Benjamin John Davy (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 17, Chris Mavin (Lab) – 219, Lauren Elizabeth McLay (Green) – 1,063 (ELECTED), Jacqueline Mary Spencer (Lib Dem) – 46, Vanessa Glynis Tyler (Reform UK) – 217, Ashley Ward (Con) – 437. (GREEN HOLD). Turnout: 32.63 per cent.

Plympton Erle – Peter Endean (Reform UK) – 221, Suzanne Glenie (Con) – 336, Mickey Jakes (Green) – 114, Andrea Victoria Loveridge (Ind) – 896 (ELECTED), Christopher Michael Oram (Lib Dem) -235, Seb Sober (Lab) – 483, Helen Elizabeth Yeo (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 21. (IND HOLD): Turnout: 33.44 per cent.

Plympton St Mary – Marc Stephen John Archer (Reform UK) – 372, Cristina Draper (Lib Dem) – 105, Bryan Driver (Green)- 172, Alan Peter Frost (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 26, Natalie Harrison (Con)- 1,002, Sally Ann Nicholson (Ind) 1,287 (ELECTED), Pete Smith (Lab) – 690. (IND GAIN FROM CON): Turnout: 36.07 per cent.

Plymstock Dunstone – Piers Driver (Green) -117, Peter Edwards (Lib Dem) – 684, Jackie Hilton (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 27, Darryl Christian Ingram (Heritage Party) – 15, Maria Lawson (Lab) – 1,410 (ELECTED) , David Salmon (Con) – 1,226, Grace Stickland (Ind) – 120, Richie Teft (Reform UK) – 317. (LAB GAIN FROM CON): Turnout: 38.50 per cent

Plymstock Radford – Mathew Karl Bligh (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 27, Sara Elizabeth Jennett (Lib Dem) – 166, Glenn Ashley Lindsay (Reform UK) –  420, Bruce Douglas Robinson (Green) – 333, Chaz Singh (Ind) – 463, Daniel Steel (Lab) – 1,452 (ELECTED), Bill Wakeham (Con) – 1,214 (LAB GAIN FROM CON): Turnout: 35.98.

Southway – Tony Bligh (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 53, Will Jones (Con) – 641, Helen McCall (Green) – 163, Katie McManus (Lib Dem) – 179, Carol Ney (Lab) – 1,515 (ELECTED), Jacqueline Sansom (Reform UK) – 556. (LAB GAIN FROM CON). Turnout: 30.30 per cent.

St Budeaux – Rich Bennett (Reform UK) – 246, Terry Deans (Ind) – 104, Stephen John Goldthorp (Lib Dem) – 69, Kyle Lewis (Con) – 465, Josh McCarthy (Lab) – 1,064 (ELECTED), Laurie Joe Moore (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 15, George William Wheeler (Green) – 787. (LAB GAIN FROM CON): Turnout: 28.32 per cent.

St Peter and the Waterfront – Ryan John Aldred (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 96, Lewis Allison (Lab) – 1,777 (ELECTED), Andy Gibbons (Reform UK) – 457, Hugh Janes (Liberal Democrat) – 212, Kevin John Kelway (Con) – 558, Richard Spencer Weston Worrall (Green)- 345 (LAB HOLD). Turnout: 26.34 per cent.

Stoke – Sally Ann Cresswell (Lab) – 1,963 (ELECTED), Ehren Duke (Con) -608, Lesley Faith Duncan (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 94, Michael Roy Gillbard (Lib Dem) – 143, Lucy Mackay (Green) – 342. (LAB HOLD): Turnout: 30.67

Sutton and Mount Gould- Fleur Oliver Stoner Ball (Lib Dem) – 197, Jamie Beale (Reform UK) -252, Chris Cuddihee (Lab) – 1,701 (ELECTED), Sita Dhanipersad (Trade Unionist and Socialist) – 70, Michael Peter Kewish (Green) – 345, Edmund Harold Shillabeer (Con) – 449. (LAB HOLD): Turnout: 29.41.