nearly 30 long term lender option borrower option loans (LOBOs) totalling £394 million. The council is locked into some of the deals until the year 2078, paying interest at more than double the current market rate. Composition The council has 87 councillors. This has been the case since the 2021 elections, implementing the independent Local Government Boundary Commission for England’s proposal. Until then, the council had 123 councillors. The composition of Cornwall Council following changes after the 2021 election is: Cabinet The cabinet consists of Linda Taylor, the Council Leader, and nine other cabinet members. It consists of 10 Conservatives. Electoral wards Between 2009 and 2021, the council had 123 seats. Currently, the county (not including the Isles of Scilly) is divided into 87 wards, with each ward returning one councillor. Some wards are coterminous with civil parishes, though most consist of multiple parishes or parts of parishes. Elections and changes 2009 Cornwall Council elections Elections for the new unitary Cornwall Council were held on 4 June 2009 and there were 123 members elected, replacing the previous 82 councillors on Cornwall County Council and the 249 on the six district councils. The outgoing Cornwall County Council had 48 Liberal Democrat members, nine Conservatives, five Labour, one from the small Liberal Party with the remaining 19 seats held by Independent candidates. Mebyon Kernow had no county councillors, but nine district councillors, before the two-tier system was abolished. The Lib Dems lost overall control of Cornwall Council to 'no overall control' – this means that no single party has overall control of the new council despite the Conservatives have the largest number of councillors, however they do not have enough for a majority control. The cabinet of the council was therefore formed as a coalition between the Conservatives and the Independent bloc. The Conservatives received 34% of the vote (50 seats), followed by the Liberal Democrats on 28% (38 seats), the Independents on 23% (32 seats) and Mebyon Kernow on 4% (3 seats). The turnout was 41%. Labour, the Green Party, UKIP and the BNP failed to secure any seats in Cornwall. By-elections and defections, 2009 to 2013 In August 2010, Neil Plummer of Stithians left the Independent group and joined Mebyon Kernow. He later left Mebyon Kernow and stood for re-election as an independent. In June 2011 Liskeard North councillor Jan Powell defected from the Conservatives to join the Liberal Democrats.