By Graham Smith

The verification of votes cast in the Cornwall Council elections is now well underway at Bodmin, Truro and Carn Brea.  

I’m sticking with my forecast that Bodmin’s Liberal Democrat Leigh Frost will be the next leader of the council (although so far not a single vote has been actually counted.)

Whoever gets elected today as a Liberal Democrat councillor will take part in an online meeting tomorrow (Saturday) to elect their group leader.  I expect that person to be Mr Frost and I am still tipping the Lib Dems to be the largest group.

There will then be days, possibly weeks, of wrangling to establish some sort of functioning coalition.

I think Reform UK are doing well - possibly better than expected - and the Conservatives are doing very badly.  One Tory activist told me he doubted there would be half a dozen Conservative councillors in Cornwall by this evening.

Labour is just about holding on in areas where it was well organised but some well-known and long-serving Independents have suffered at the hands of Reform.

The verification of votes is underway at Bodmin

Mebyon Kernow will hold what it had and might gain a few in the china clay country.  The Green Party has failed to carry any momentum from its 2021 gains.

grahamsmith@cornwallreports.co.uk