Western Morning News

Councillor­s concerned at safety of May elections across the West

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DEVON councillor­s have expressed concerns about how safe and practical it is for local elections in May to go ahead as planned.

Last Friday, the Government confirmed that the May 6 elections would take place, despite the coronaviru­s pandemic.

It said that the public health response to Covid-19, not least the vaccinatio­n programme, means that it can commit to go ahead with the polls with confidence. Council elections across the South West, plus the election of a Police and Crime Commission­er,

were postponed for a year last May, due to the pandemic.

The Electoral Commission will set out how social distancing and other rules apply specifical­ly to all aspects of the polls, and it will maintain the choice for voters to cast their ballot in person or via a postal vote.

As well as the delayed 2020 local elections in Cornwall, Exeter and Plymouth, and the Police and Crime Commission­er elections, the regularly scheduled 2021 Devon County Council elections will take place, as well as a series of delayed by-elections, and

Neighbourh­ood Plan referendum­s, on May 6.

Councillor Alan Connett, leader of the Liberal Democrat Group and County Councillor for Exminster & Haldon, said he believed elections should go ahead, but the ban on delivering election leaflets by candidates made him think twice. He said: “If it is not safe to campaign, then why is it safe to run the elections?”

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