The recent local elections saw a surprising result for Honiton and Feniton, with Labour rocketing in the polls and securing a respectable 38 per cent of the overall votes – unheard of in a staunchly Conservative community.

But how did Jake Bonetta do it? Here he talks about his hard-fought campaign, what his greatest take away was and why he's excited to be one of the newly elected members of Honiton Town Council.

Asked about his connections to the town, he explained: "I have lived in Honiton all my life, all 18 years of it. I attended the local primary school, then was lucky enough to go to Colyton Grammar —through the hard work of my parents' tutoring."

So, what got him into politics?: "I think a lot of people in my generation have become more politically aware through the increase of social media and more accessible news.

"I started getting politically involved in secondary school, at around the age of 15, which was when I joined the Labour Party as a youth representative.

"The thing that initially engaged me was seeing what the Government was doing, especially with youth services declining across the country – I still remember the session where the Youth Club closed in Honiton.

"Now any services that do exist are largely administered through charities and not the local council, which I think is really upsetting.

"I'm currently working with a group in Feniton, setting up a youth group there and the same is happening in Honiton. That was my main focus when I first started and then it sort of expanded to running for county councillor."

The decision for Jake to stand came about over a year ago, following his involvement with local politics through the Tiverton and Honiton Labour Party as a member of the executive committee.

"Part of wanting to stand came from a love of the town, wanting to see the town improve and putting my vision as a young person into the town."

Speaking about the campaign, which impressed a lot of people regardless of their political leanings, he confessed that being a Labour Party representative in Feniton and Honiton was "difficult at times".

"But once you start speaking to people, even if they say 'actually I vote Conservative', you've made that initial contact and for a lot of people that's all they want; they want to be spoken to and heard and listened to," he continued.

"My campaign was the result of blood, sweat and tears – and a lot of late nights. I personally made all the leaflets and the videos were recorded by my brother. It really was all down to the hard graft of a small team of people close to me, volunteers and active members of the local Labour Party.

"The main take away I got from all of it, and it shaped my entire campaign, was that people want to be listened to.

"Yes, people have their political opinions and support who they support, but at the end of the day it is so important to go out there and to really listen to what people want.

"That's where I tried to focus my efforts and it worked — it really resonated with a lot of people."

Discussing the election results: "I was elated, obviously I didn't win – that would have been the best possible outcome – but to receive a thousand more votes than the last election was incredible and told us we were doing something right."

And the coming four years?: "What we will hopefully now see – because of the result we've just had and because of how much closer it got – is a far more active County Councillor in Phil Twiss."

And last, but by no means least, Honiton Town Council — Jake being one of nine new members voted in by the Honiton electorate.

"It's a momentous occasion. What we've seen is some quite intimidatory tactics – evidenced by the fact that 18 councillors have resigned over three years, for various reasons, but many citing bullying.

"I think that the town is, quite rightly, very fed up. What the people of Honiton needed, and what they got, was a democratic vote to choose who they wanted representing them.

"Now that we've been elected we will serve the residents and aim to bring Honiton Town Council back into the community."