Focus now on how county council will be run

THE Liberal Democrats have hailed their rise to become the biggest party in County Hall, overturning 16 years of Conservative rule, in a shake-up at County Hall, where 40 of the 60 members were Tory prior to the election, a number which has now dropped to seven.

- by STAFF REPORTERS

The Lib Dems secured 27 seats out of 60, making it the largest single party but not giving it an overall majority. Reform have 18, the Conservatives seven, the Greens six and there are two independent members.

Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Caroline Leaver, who held her Barnstaple South seat, said the “numbers were clear that the people of Devon have put their trust in us”.

“I’m so very proud to have been elected and it is a privilege, and we will do the very best to serve the people of Devon,” she said.

Asked whether her party would create a formal coalition with another party to help create an overall majority, she said it was “too early to speculate”.

But the leader of the Green Party group, Cllr Jacqi Hodgson, who held her Totnes and Dartington seat, thought her party could be key for the new administration.

“Multiplying our numbers by three - from two councillors to six — is excellent and it means a real opportunity to be much more effective as a group, and I think we will be invited to negotiations with the Lib Dems so see if we can be part of the group that forms the governing administration,” she said.