Plymouth and Cornwall brace for ‘interesting’ relationship after Labor wins

The leader of Labour-run Plymouth City Council says his relationship with Cornwall could be “potentially very interesting” now that the county has four Labor MPs.

Cllr Tudor Evans (Lab, Ham) claims the council will have a greater ability to influence Westminster with an additional Labor MP in the city and the changing political landscape in Cornwall.

In last week’s general election, Labor MP Fred Thomas unseated Tory Johnny Mercer, the former veterans minister, in the Plymouth Moor View constituency, which saw a 32% drop in the Tory vote. He joins Labour’s Luke Pollard in parliament, who was elected for a third term in the Plymouth Sutton and Devonport seats with a greatly increased majority.

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Cornwall went from blue overnight to red and orange as its six Tory MPs lost four seats to Labor and two to the Liberal Democrats.

Plymouth City Council and Cornwall Council have a close working relationship as they jointly own and operate the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry, which carry around 18 million vehicles a year, and are responsible for the strategic management and control of Mount Edgecumbe House and Country Park .

Speaking to cabinet members at the first meeting since the election, Cllr Evans said he was writing to three Plymouth MPs, including Rebecca Smith, a city councillor, who won the South West Devon seat for the Tories, to encourage cross-party meetings with the parties. the political leadership of the council.

Miss Smith, who represents Plymstock Radford on the council, replaces Sir Gary Streeter, who was MP for Plymouth for more than 30 years. She beat Labour’s Sarah Allen by 2,112 votes.

Cllr Evans congratulated new MPs Mr Pollard and Cllr Allen who “almost pulled off a shock victory” after entering the race late in the day.

He said: “I want to resume the things that used to happen regularly at this council and because of the personalities that could not happen in the last few years. That will change now, I’m sure. I want to work across the island for the benefit of Plymouth.”

He said Labor now has more MPs than any other party in the South West – 24. He added: “Next in Cornwall where there used to be six Tory MPs, there are now none, there are four Labor and two Lib Dems doing relationships with our Next Door Neighbors can be very interesting with what we might want to do. This means that our ability to influence and at least be heard will change.”

Cllr Evans has written personally to First Minister Sir Keir Starmer, inviting him to Plymouth and setting out the city’s ambition to establish an ongoing dialogue with the new government.

“We will waste no time in making sure we have a foot in the door with our new government so we can be part of their future plans,” he said, adding that three of the five Labor missions he is focusing on council are inclusive economic growth, housing and net zero.

“All of this is really important to us in trying to provide clear evidence of change for our people here,” he said.

“There are a lot of people in Plymouth who need a pay rise, they need new jobs, they need new perspectives, they need to plan homes, all of which are being put out of reach for too many of our citizens for too many a long time. I hope that the change in the leadership of our country will change the fortunes of the local people as well as the fortunes of this council”.