THE city has been thrown into an "electoral mess" after a judge ruled Exeter must stage emergency elections.

The terms of 13 city councillors, including two party leaders, have been ended with immediate effect following the High Court ruling.

The city council also faces footing the legal bill for part of the court proceedings started by Devon County Council.

At a hearing yesterday, Mr Justice Ouseley ruled the immediate end of Exeter's unitary hopes, which would have seen it split from the county council, must also mean the termination of office for 13 of the city's 40 elected councillors.

Their terms had been extended for a year while the unitary issue was being resolved as it had been anticipated that there would need to be a fresh set of elections for a new Exeter unitary authority next May.

These elections will come at a cost of around £80,000 — a figure which could have been absorbed into the general election costs in May if the decision had been made earlier. The city council is hoping to stage fresh polls in August but this cannot be confirmed until there has been a further legal ruling.

After learning of the decision, city council leader Adrian Fullam accused Devon County Council of "rubbing salt in the wounds of Exeter".

He said: "The process for considering Exeter's unitary bid has been botched from start to finish. Now people in Exeter face a set of emergency elections. This is an expensive and arguably unnecessary solution to a problem which should not have arisen.

"Was it really necessary for Devon County Council's legal representatives to pursue this through to the death, especially during these testing financial times?"

The new coalition Government is taking a Bill through Parliament to formally reverse the unitary decisions made under the Labour administration. When finally approved, that legislation would allow those councillors' terms of office to remain extended until next May. However, Mr Justice Ouseley has intervened and superseded this process.

Mr Fullam said: "Following the consideration of complex legal arguments by the court, the judge has decided to totally quash the original Orders, with no special provision being made for the 13 councillors whose terms of office had been extended.

"It is very unfortunate that Devon County Council chose uncompromisingly to argue that the judge should adopt such a stance, even though the county council's primary aim of stopping unitary status had been well and truly achieved."

The councillors who are affected include the leader of the Labour group Pete Edwards, the leader of the Conservative group Yolonda Henson, and economy portfolio holder Stella Brock.

Emergency elections will now have to be held in the seats and wards affected by this decision and, until either they or new councillors are elected, the city council will be reduced from a complement of 40 elected members to just 27.

The city council will have to apply for a separate order to set the date of the elections.

Ms Henson, who was also head of the planning committee said: "We have lost senior members of the city council who are its driving force. The most important thing now is ensuring the stability of the council."

Councillor Normal Shiel will step up as leader of the Tory group and a new head of planning will be elected.

Mr Edwards said: "There was no need for the judge to be so punitive against individual councillors. It is a total electoral mess with Exeter now having only two thirds of its councillors."

Councillor Dilys Baldwin will take over as Labour leader.

Liberal leader Councillor Joan Morrish called the decision "a slap in the face for Exeter".

The city council has confirmed any decisions taken by councillors or the committees on which they served since May will stand and will not have to be reviewed.

A city council spokesman said: "The effective date for the affected councillors being disqualified was yesterday. Therefore as far as we are concerned, the decisions stand."

Devon County Council leader John Hart said: "This is a very complicated issue. Essentially the judge ruled two weeks ago that the Exeter unitary decision was unlawful. It followed that all decisions taken with it were also unlawful.

"Devon had no wish to force Exeter into holding elections but these are uncertain times and we needed complete clarity."

Although the court case concerned Devon County Council against the Communities and Local Government Secretary, costs were awarded against the city council solely in relation to yesterday's hearing. This is expected to be a four-figure sum while the Government will foot the bill for the rest.

City MP Ben Bradshaw called the ruling "completely barmy".

"It's a scandalous waste of money, will create uncertainty and is entirely the fault of Devon County Council and the Con-Lib Government," he said.

However, local government minister Bob Neill said: "We welcomed the court's conclusion. That this means there will be extra costs and disruption, is just one more unfortunate result of the reckless and wasteful decision of the previous administration to try to press on with the unitary proposals for these cities."

Tory MP for East Devon Hugo Swire said: "This is the price we are paying for this chaos that has been caused by the Labour government pursuing a naked political agenda in the face of advice from their top civil servant and others."

Shadow communities secretary John Denham, whose department made the original unitary decision, said: "I think it's a ridiculous decision."