DEVON’S Conservative leader James McInnes won’t be standing in May’s elections, paving the way for a new head of the party.

Cllr McInnes, member for Hatherliegh and Chagford, only became leader in May last year when his longstanding predecessor, Cllr John Hart, stood down after 15 years in the role.

Retired farmer Cllr McInnes was first elected to Devon County Council in 2005, meaning he will have held a seat on the council continuously for 20 years.

The formal announcement came during Devon’s full council meeting this week, which was convened to discuss the council’s budget for the next financial year.

Cllr McInnes said it would be ‘both my first and last budget speech as leader’.

‘It has been a pleasure and an honour to be your leader,’ he said.

‘If a week is a long time in politics, then seven months since the general election is an eternity,’ he said.

‘It seems like every week there has been a major new announcement affecting local government and the services we provide to residents.’

On his time as leader, Cllr McInnes said: ‘As a council we have voiced our very strong concerns about the removal of the winter fuel payment from some of our most vulnerable elderly people in Devon, and we have fully supported our family farmers in their battle against Labour’s decision to land them with inheritance tax and the potential loss of homes and land which have been passed down over the generations.’

He claimed that Devon’s economy is more reliant than most on small businesses and hospitality, and that the additional National Insurance employers will pay from April could be an issue.

‘The government’s decision to impose extra national insurance contributions on employers will do nothing to promote growth in these vital Devon businesses,’ he added.

‘I have voiced my concerns too about the government’s decision to – once again – consign adult social care reform to the long grass with a review that will be published just months before the next general election.’

Cllr McInnes’s decision to stand down comes just weeks after the council’s request to delay May’s county council elections was refused.

In January, Cllr McInnes’s party voted in favour of trying to get those elections delayed for a year, in line with government proposals for local government reorganisation.

Deputy prime minster Angela Rayner wants fewer, larger councils, and the government had invited areas with elections due this May the opportunity to delay them if doing so could help them create a reorganisation plan.

However, Ms Rayner told parliament this month she had approved delays for nine councils. fewer than half of the requests.

Devon’s must go ahead as planned.

Elsewhere, Cllr McInnes welcomed the recent confirmation of the Devon/Torbay combined county authority (CCA), a new structure created to give the area more decision-making powers over aspects including adult education and transport.

However, it is unclear how this structure fits with the government’s devolution plans. Devon has 11 councils at present, but this could be reduced to three according to one emerging proposal.