Plymouth election results 2022: City council under no overall control

A third of the seats on the 57-seat council were up for election

Plymouth City Council remains under no overall control after elections were held on Thursday.

A third of the seats on the 57-seat council were up for election.

Before the election, Labour had 23 seats, the Conservatives held 22 and there were 12 Independents, nine of whom previously sat as Conservatives and three former Labour councillors.

Now Labour has 24 seats and the Conservatives also have 24, with eight Independents and one Green councillor.

Ian Poyser became the first Green councillor on Plymouth Council, taking the Plympton Chaddlewood seat from the Conservatives with 57.7% of the vote.

Analysis by Martyn Oates, political editor, BBC South West

On the face of it the elections in Plymouth and Exeter bring little change: Labour remains in comfortable control of Exeter while Plymouth remains under no overall control.

But in Plymouth Labour supporters were celebrating as they emerged levelling pegging with the Conservatives - a year earlier Labour had lost six seats to the Tories' nine gains.

Two specific results - one in Plymouth and the other in Exeter - will be of particular concern to the Conservatives.

The wards of Compton (Plymouth) and Topsham (Exeter) had always previously been held by the Conservatives.

Both now have their first ever Labour councillors. It was also a good night for the Green Party in both cities.

The Greens took three seats from Labour in Exeter, taking their total to five, and won their first ever seat on Plymouth City Council - at the expense of the Conservatives.

Plymouth has also elected its first openly transgender councillor.

Dylan Tippetts, 21, helped Labour gain the Compton ward from the Conservatives.

Mr Tippetts told the BBC: "I'm in complete shock. I didn't believe that I would potentially win this seat tonight."

He added: "For me it's a massive honour to be a voice at the table for trans people, it's something I'm not going to take for granted."

Dylan Tippetts won the Compton ward for Labour

Labour group leader Tudor Evans said the party had "bounced back".

He said about the results: "It's a triumph. Labour didn't do very well a year ago, but this year we bounced back, and we bounced back with a vengeance."

Meanwhile Conservative leader Richard Bingley said the party had made some gains and losses in the election.

He said: "Pushing forward, it does look like we can lead some form of administration amongst a tough national climate."

Conservative councillor Vivien Pengelly, for Plymstock Dunstone, addressed the challenges her party faced in the election.

She said: "We heard on the doorstep quite a bit about the government and the MPs who have not behaved themselves properly. People are getting fed up with that sort of thing."

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