The House of Commons voted decisively last night to support Exeter’s bid for self rule.

A motion tabled by the Conservatives opposing Government plans to restore unitary government to Exeter and Norwich was defeated comfortably.

Conservative MPs from rural Devon and Norfolk lined up to criticise the plans.

But the proposals were strongly supported by Labour members including the former Home Sectretary and Norwich MP Charles Clarke.

The Chairman of the influential Commons local government select committee, Dr Phyllis Starkey, also supported Exeter’s case pointing out that is enjoys all party support in the city, including from Conservative councillors.

The Minister, Barbara Follett said the Government was restoring the full local government status Exeter had enjoyed for 800 years until it was taken away by the Conservative Government in the early 1970s.

Potholes and the state of the roads is one of the main complaints I get on the doorstep. Another good reason for Exeter to run its own affairs.

It’s ludicrous that councillors from Bideford and South Hams decide how much money to spend repairing Exeter’s roads and which roads to repair when.

We need Exeter councillors who are accountable to local people making those decisions and given the money to do so. Exeter would then get our fair share of resources, rather than it all going to the rural areas.

As Exeter’s bid to have its self-rule restored reaches the final lap all eyes are on the House of Lords.

A legal attempt by Devon and Norfolk county councils to thwart Exeter and Norwich’s aspirations was rightly put on the back burner by the High Court who said Parliament should take precedence.

The House of Lords is full of Conservative and Liberal Democrat supporters of the powerful county lobby in this David and Goliath struggle. A very experienced cross bench Peer tells me the Lords has only rejected a Government order 3 times since 1945 and never one relating to local government organisation.

It would therefore be a constitutional outrage if the Lords were to block the Exeter and Norwich orders – which enjoy strong support in those two cities. If unelected Liberal Democrat or Conservative Peers try to block the will of the people of Exeter and Norwich and the democratic Commons, all pretence by those parties to support the democratic principle and a reformed Lords would be exposed as a sham.

It would also create a precedent the Conservatives might regret should they ever form a future Government.

The narrowing of the polls, the better economic news and Tory turmoil over Lord Ashcroft and policy have all served to put a spring in people’s step. The bright crisp sunshine also helps.

The acknowledgement by the British Chambers of Commerce that both unemployment and borrowing will be far less than people predicted should boost confidence and help further reduce the deficit.

With Germany going backwards and other EU countries like conservative-run Sweden going back into recession, the next few months are going to be tough. All the more reason for sticking with the support the Government has been giving our economy, rather than withdrawing it prematurely as the Tories advocate.

It seems just possible that as people take a long hard look at the Conservatives and begin to give the Government some credit for its handling of the global downturn, the election is no longer the foregone conclusion that some people, including most of the media, have been assuming for so long.

Labour are still the underdogs and we must keep fighting like mad, but the narrowing of the polls is certainly putting a spring in people’s step and boosting morale at a vital moment.

It is extraordinary that after 5 years at the helm, Cameron has failed to change his party or develop a coherent and robust set of ideas and policies.

Labour must hold our nerve, keep working hard, campaigning hard, reminding people of what we’ve achieved, of Gordon and Alistair’s sound stewardship during the downturn and focus people’s attention to the fundamental choice the country will face when the election comes: the same old Tories or radical and progressive change with Labour.

Exeter’s Northcott Theatre is in the headlines again.

It would seem the Trustees came across some past accounting problem that led them to declare the Northcott insolvent on Thursday.

I hope that with some effort and good will, the problem will be addressed and overcome. From what I hear the theatre management, their main funder the Arts Council and the Adminstrator are working constructively together on both a short and long term solution.

Meanwhile, the show goes on. Theatre Alibi launched their new national tour of The Ministry of Fear at the Northcott on Friday. It is a great production and was a superb performance. The opening night was packed out with a diverse and quite young audience. That should encourage the Northcott and its fans about its future.

Devon County Council’s decision to try to stop Exeter getting control of its own affairs is a staggering waste of local people’s money.

After the huge sums Devon has already wasted on its own bid for unitary status, which it then withdrew, blowing yet more public money trying to thwart democracy in Exeter is little short of scandalous.

The Tories who run Devon pay lip service to local democracy and devolving power - but not when it comes to one of Englands great historic cities, it would seem!

Gordon Brown is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.

If he doesn’t reveal the genuine warmth and humanity of his personality that those of us who know him know he has got in spades he is branded “dour”; if he does it’s “cynical manipulation” of the media in the run up to the election.

I suspect some of those who watched the Piers Morgan interview will have reacted with less cynicism than the journalists who dismissed it. They will have welcomed the chance to see the PM as they haven’t before.

I hope there will be more opportunities for the wider public to be introduced to Gordon as those who know him know him to be - warm, funny and engaging.

Conservative claims that 54 percent of girls in poor areas are pregnant before they’re 18 shows once again how cavalier the Tories are with the truth.

In fact, the figure is 5.4 percent, lower than it was in 1997 and the teenage pregnancy rate has fallen significantly as a whole.

The Tories say they put a decimal point in the wrong place which mutliplied the rate ten fold. But the figure appears 3 times in their latest “Broken Britain” document. The fact that no-one spotted the mistake says something much more revealing about the Tories. They actually believed the 54 percent figure was right - showing how completely out of touch they are with the country they claim they want to serve.

The David and Goliath struggle between plucky Exeter and over-mighty Devon is entering, we hope, its end game.

Since the Government announced this week that it would grant Exeter’s wish to run its own council – restoring to our city the status it enjoyed for 800 years until 1974 – the misinformation pouring out from Devon County Council’s army of spin doctors has been unprecedented.

Myth 1: “The change will mean a big increase in council tax”. In fact, council tax in Exeter is likely to go down. Single tier councils are more efficient and streamlined because you only need one set of officials. Council tax in unitary council elsewhere is lower than it currently is in Devon. There is no reason why it need go up in Devon either. See below.

Myth 2: “Devon will lose out if Exeter gets its own council”. In fact, those counties like Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire and many more in the Midlands and north whose main urban area has unitary status perform better than Devon as they can focus on their mainly rural and market town nature.

Myth 3: “Exeter is too small to have its own council”. We managed perfectly well for 800 years before 1974. Virtually all England’s cities of Exeter’s size and importance have their own council and some of the best performing local authorities in the country are smaller than Exeter.

Myth 4: “This is all about Ben Bradshaw”. Why on earth would Exeter Conservatives and Liberal Democrats support the city’s case so strongly if that were the case? Restoring full status to Exeter has been the policy of all the city’s political parties since we lost it 36 years ago. This is about local democracy and local government, not parliamentary constituencies or boundaries.

Myth 5: “The Minister ignored civil service advice to approve Exeter and Norwich’s bid.” Officials advise, Ministers decide – that is an essential tenet of democracy. It’s a shame that county councilors in Devon don’t stand up more often to their unelected officers. The public in Devon might get a better service if they did. The selective leaking of internal correspondence has confirmed the suspicions long held in Exeter (and Norwich) that London-based civil servants have consistently been biased against Exeter and Norwich and have been firmly in the county camp.

Devon County Council’s myth watch will be updated on a regular basis.