Cllr David Thomas is the Leader of Torbay Council

With the local elections now firmly set for May 2027, the political focus in Torbay will inevitably begin to turn towards what happens next.

For Conservatives, we should approach those elections with confidence, but not complacency. We won in 2023 and residents gave us responsibility for running Torbay Council. That changes the campaign we need to fight next year.

We cannot campaign as the opposition. We have been running the Council, making decisions and setting priorities. Our campaign therefore has to answer a simple question: what have we done with the trust residents placed in us four years ago?

I believe we have a strong story to tell. We have secured major investment for Torbay, moved regeneration projects forward, invested in our seafronts and town centres and protected important local services. There is more to do, but there is a real record of delivery on which we can campaign.

The challenge between now and May is making sure people know about it.

One mistake any administration can make is believing that because something has been delivered, residents automatically know who delivered it. They don’t. We need to explain what we inherited, what we have changed, what has been achieved and what comes next.

But 2027 cannot simply be a Torbay-wide campaign about the Council’s record. I believe local elections are won locally, which means our campaign must ultimately be fought ward by ward, street by street.

The issues that matter in Paignton will not necessarily be the same as those in Brixham or Torquay. Every Conservative team should identify the small number of issues that really matter in their ward and build their campaign around them. Those issues need to come from conversations with residents.

That brings me to what remains the most effective campaigning tool we have: knocking on doors. Social media is important. Good literature matters. Digital campaigning has an increasingly important role. But none replaces a candidate standing on somebody’s doorstep, listening to what they have to say.

Candidates who do that consistently between now and May will be in a much stronger position than those who suddenly become visible when the election posters go up.

Our councillors and candidates should also use the work they are already doing as evidence of what Conservative representation means. Casework, community campaigns and small local improvements may not generate newspaper headlines, but they matter enormously to those affected. Getting a pothole repaired, resolving a persistent problem or helping a community group can sometimes say more than a glossy leaflet containing ten promises.

We also need discipline. Trying to tell voters twenty different things usually results in them remembering none. I would much rather see a candidate consistently communicate three strong local priorities than produce a shopping list of everything they support.

Those messages then need to appear everywhere. The doorstep conversation, the leaflet through the letterbox and the post somebody sees on Facebook should reinforce one another. Repetition is not a weakness. If we are bored with saying our key message, there is a reasonable chance the public is only just beginning to hear it.

We must also recognise the electoral challenge. We cannot rely on the traditional Conservative vote turning out automatically. There will be people who voted Conservative in the past but are now considering Reform. There will be undecided voters and residents who pay little attention to national politics but care deeply about their local community. Every one of those votes has to be earned.

That means knowing our wards, understanding where our support is and, crucially, knowing how many additional votes we need to win. Campaigning cannot simply be about delivering as many leaflets as possible. It needs to be organised, targeted and based on conversations with real people.

There will inevitably be plenty of national political noise, but our opponents should not be allowed to turn a Torbay election into a referendum on Westminster. These elections are about who runs Torbay Council and who represents our communities.

Our strongest answer is delivery.

It is showing people the investment taking place across the Bay and demonstrating that projects which spent years being talked about are now moving forward. At ward level, it is showing that Conservative councillors and candidates are present, accessible and getting things done.

We should also be comfortable acknowledging that the job is not finished. That is part of our argument for 2027. There are projects underway that we want to complete, improvements still to make and communities where we need to do more.

Perhaps the most important lesson is that elections are not won during the final few weeks. They are won through the work done during the months and years beforehand.

Our campaign for 2027 is already underway with 80 per cent of our Candidates selected for their wards.

In 2023, Torbay trusted us to run the Council. In 2027, we need to demonstrate that we have used those four years well, that our Conservative teams have delivered locally and that we have the ambition and determination to keep Torbay moving forward.

We have a record to defend, a story to tell and much more still to do.