2021 Plymouth City Council election

The 2021 Plymouth City Council election will be held during 2021 to elect members of Plymouth City Council in England.

2021 Plymouth City Council election
TBC
19 of the 57 seats to Plymouth City Council
29 seats needed for a majority
 
Leader Tudor Evans Nick Kelly None
Party Labour Conservative Independent
Leader's seat Ham Compton
Last election 31 25 1
Current seats 30 17 10
Incumbent Council control

Labour

The Labour Party took control of the council after the 2018 election, with thirty-one members and a working majority that they held in the 2019 election. Labour will defend eleven seats and the Conservatives will defend eight seats. The election was originally due to take place in May 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

Background

Plymouth City Council will hold local elections, along with councils across England as part of the 2021 local elections. The council elects its councillors in thirds, with a third of seats being up for election every year for three years, with no election each fourth year to correspond with councillors' four-year terms.[2][3] Councillors defending their seats in this election were previously elected in 2016. In that election, eleven Labour candidates and eight Conservative candidates were elected.

Following the 2018 Plymouth City Council election, the council has been controlled by the Labour Party, initially with thirty-one councillors.

Kevin Neil, who was elected in 2018, was suspended from the Labour Party when a police investigation was launched into him. He continues to sit as an independent following the closure of the police investigation, pending an internal investigation by the party.[4] Chaz Singh, who was first elected in 2011, left the Labour Party in September 2019 saying that his party membership was incompatible with his Sikh faith. The Labour group leader Tudor Evans said that Singh's resignation followed a conversation about Singh's conduct.[5] Margaret Corvid, who was first elected in 2018, was suspended from the Labour Party in December 2019 over accusations of anti-semitism over comments she made in 2007 about "Zionist collaboration with the Nazis".[6] She was reinstated in February 2020 after apologising and saying that her views had changed, pointing to her speech in support of the Working Definition of Antisemitism developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in June 2018.[7]

An internal Labour Party report in March 2020 predicted that the party would lose control of Plymouth City Council in the May election.[8] In the same month, Nick Kelly replaced Ian Bowyer as leader of the Conservative group on the council.[9] Former Conservative group leader Ian Bowyer and Tony Carson resigned from the Conservative group in October 2020 after being investigated for publishing a press release advocating a reduction in the speed limit on the A38 road through the city.[10] Six other Conservative councillors, Lynda Bowyer, Heath Cook, Richard Ball, Andrea Johnson, Nigel Churchill and Kathy Watkin also resigned from the group in protest, with the eight to sit as independent Conservatives.[11][12][13] Kelly said that they left the group because they "couldn’t always get their own way all of the time".[14]

Council composition

After the previous election, the composition of the council was:

↓
31 25 1
Labour Conservative Ind

Ahead of this election, the composition of the council was:

↓
30 17 10
Labour Conservative Independent

References
  1. "Local elections postponed for a year over coronavirus". BBC News. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  2. "Local government structure and elections". GOV.UK. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  3. "Election Timetable in England" (PDF).
  4. Eve, Carl (25 September 2018). "Police investigation into suspended Labour councillor dropped". plymouthherald. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  5. Oldfield, Edward (23 September 2019). "Chaz Singh quit Labour after 'discussion about his conduct'". plymouthherald. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  6. "Labour suspend councillor over 'anti-Semitism'". BBC News. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  7. Oldfield, Edward (26 June 2020). "Councillor suspended over alleged anti-semitism is reinstated". plymouthherald. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  8. Preston-Ellis, Rom (3 March 2020). "Labour predicts losing Plymouth in May, according to leaked report". plymouthherald. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  9. Oldfield, Edward (11 March 2020). "Plymouth has a new Tory leader - and he wants to reopen the airport". plymouthherald. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  10. Oldfield, Edward (9 October 2020). "Senior councillors quit Tory group and criticise leadership". PlymouthLive. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  11. Oldfield, Edward (12 October 2020). "Four councillors have now quit Plymouth Conservative group". PlymouthLive. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  12. Oldfield, Edward (14 October 2020). "Two more councillors quit Plymouth Tory group taking total to six". PlymouthLive. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  13. Watson, Eve (16 October 2020). "Two more councillors quit Tory group taking total to eight". PlymouthLive. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  14. Oldfield, Edward (15 October 2020). "Senior Tories defend group leadership after resignations". PlymouthLive. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
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