{"id":68252,"date":"2026-01-06T15:05:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T15:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/?p=68252"},"modified":"2026-01-06T15:05:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T15:05:54","slug":"councillors-asked-to-put-democracy-first-ahead-of-political-self-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/councillors-asked-to-put-democracy-first-ahead-of-political-self-interest\/","title":{"rendered":"Councillors asked to put democracy first ahead of political self-interest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Devon County Councillors will on Friday (9 January) debate the government’s proposal to delay this year\u2019s elections in up to 64 local councils.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposal, announced last month, was met with sharp criticism and described by the county council as undemocratic and \u2018incredibly dangerous\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cancelling the opportunity for people to have their say in elections, is \u201cright out of the Putin school of politics,\u201d warned council leader, Julian Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Government Ministers are putting political self-interest first, rather than democracy,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The reason, the Government gives, is because of concerns about, ‘capacity to deliver a smooth and safe transition to new councils, alongside running resource-intensive elections to councils who may be shortly abolished.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De-coded, that means giving councils that are currently caught in the headlights of local government reorganisation, that otherwise have elections already scheduled and planned for this year, space if they want it to focus just on reorganisation.<\/p>\n\n\n

\r\n\t
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But that\u2019s poppycock, says Councillor Brazil.<\/p><\/div>\r\n \t\t

\u201cThe Government says delaying elections will free up resource to work on reorganisation, but councils \u2013 in Devon, that\u2019s Plymouth City Council and Exeter City Council – have elections almost every year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are routine and resourced for, unlike reorganisation, which is rushed, wasting millions of pounds, and disrupting services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\t<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t\"Councillor\r\n
\r\n Councillor Julian Brazil, Leader of the Council<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n <\/figure>\r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\n\n\n

Plymouth City Council said before Christmas that its elections will still go ahead this May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Councillors are elected to office for a specific term and should not seek to extend that without a mandate,” says Councillor Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Plymouth councillors have done the right thing in holding true to their electorate. It would be a disgrace if Exeter residents were deprived of the chance to choose who represents them in the Civic Centre.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

County Councillors from across the political groups will debate the matter at a special meeting of its full council this Friday at County Hall, Exeter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s hoped there will be consensus across the groups, which includes members who are also Exeter City Councillors, to stand united in opposition to the Government’s proposal to delay the May elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Jacqi Hodgson, Leader of the Green and Independent Group, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Democracy which lies at the heart of managing our public services, can only be truly representative by a fair election process.  Changing the rules to simply suit a government\u2019s whim undermines public faith in politics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These elections in Exeter and Plymouth need to go ahead as scheduled.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Michael Fife-Cook, leader of the Reform group, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe first duty of any government in a civilised country is to govern with the will and hopefully the respect of the people, that can only happen when those in power have the courage to ask the people who they wish to lead them, if those in power are the ones who decide when the public should be asked, then we are no longer living in a democracy, we are in a dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Andrew Leadbetter, Leader of the council\u2019s Conservative group, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI stand firmly with Cllr Brazil on this matter and completely agree with him – the elections need to go ahead. There is no justification for postponing them and denying our citizens their democratic right to have a say on who runs their  Council.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The meeting will take place in the Council Chamber, County Hall, Exeter, from 11am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be recorded and available to watch live, or archived until later, on the council\u2019s website. Agenda for Council on Friday, 9th January, 2026, 11.00 am – Democracy in Devon<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":62947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[24,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dcc-homepage","category-democracy"],"acf":[],"featured_image":{"ID":62947,"title":"Council Chamber","alt":"Devon County Council's council 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