The significant outcome from this election might not be what you expect

Comment: 'The changing of the guard politically is undeniably noteworthy'

The political shift is undeniable.

A significant Conservative majority has been roundly overturned but the rise of the Liberal Democrats hasn’t been stratospheric enough to earn them outright control.

Although the Lib Dems are now the largest party in Devon County Council with 27 of the 60 seats, they are likely to need the assistance of non-Lib Dem councillors to secure control.

Reform UK, the second largest party with 18 seats having started the election with none, will no doubt provide a loud voice of opposition, which could be amplified by the seven Conservative members if those two parties form some kind of alliance.

It was also a successful day for the Greens, who finished with six councillors – four more than they began the campaign with.

But while the shift is clear, it hasn’t produced a unanimous result.

Looking closely at the numbers, there were 12 seats where the margin of victory was only double digits – so less than 100 votes.

How exactly power gets distributed could be vital in terms of which services are prioritised.

And, perhaps most importantly, what this means for the effective dissolution of the county council also remains unclear.

This is likely to be the last administration of Devon County Council because the government wants to reorganise how local government works.

It wants to ditch the system that exists in Devon now – where the county council is responsible for some services and the district councils for others – in favour of unitary councils where all services are controlled under one roof.

Plymouth and Torbay already operate in this way.

Much of the political debate in recent months has involved the Conservative-led county council trying to create a raft of proposals for how Devon should be reshaped.

The mostly Lib Dem-led districts have favoured turning Devon’s 11 councils into three unitary ones, but the county council offered a much wider range of possibilities.

With the Lib Dems now the largest party at County Hall, they may well try to get the council to coalesce around the ideas being championed by the Lib Dem districts.

That could be the most significant outcome from this election.