THE voters of Worcester just cannot decide which party they want to run their city council.

After weeks of campaigning, of leaflets and lawn signs and knocking on doors, Worcester City Council remains under no overall control.

The Conservatives are still the largest party, they went into this election with 17 seats, and came out with the same number.

But that apparent status quo disguises a very good win in Gorse Hill, which had been a Labour stronghold for decades, and a painful loss of the serving Mayor of Worcester, Steve Mackay, in Battenhall.

The Labour party made a loss of one seat, holding on to six of the seven seats it took into the election to emerge with 15 seats.

The win in Battenhall for the Greens’ Louise Griffiths means the party now has three councillors, and Councillor Griffiths shares the ward with her party colleague Louis Stephen.

Conservative Councillor Marc Bayliss will remain as leader. The council’s constitution guarantees the leader of the largest group in the Guildhall the leader’s job, and the leader of the second largest group the deputy leader’s position.

That could be changed if Labour and Green councillors vote to undo that arrangement, which only passed by Steve Mackay’s mayor’s casting vote at the end of March.

Cllr Bayliss said: “It’s been a good night for us. We’ve taken Gorse Hill which is a fantastic result. It’s very disappointing to lose Steve Mackay from Battenhall.

"He’s been a brilliant councillor for the ward, and is a fantastic mayor. But Labour have basically given up on Battenhall, and were even advising people to vote for the Green candidate. It’s hard when you’re fighting everyone else in the ward.”

Labour's Adrian Gregson, deputy leader of the city council, said: "It's disappointing because we lost a seat.” 

He made an early play for increased co-operation between labour and Green groups. A formal coalition between the two groups could take overall control with 18 seats out of 25. 

He said: "The forward progression is Green and Labour working closely together. I don't think we are at a deadlock. But people have to look at themselves and think are they going to play politics?" 

The idea of a coalition was ruled out by Green councillor Louis Stephen

After the 2016 elections Cllr Gregson was installed as leader, despite having only 15 Labour councillors backing him, by the support of two Greens – until the recent change in the rules introduced by Conservative member Chris Mitchell.

The evening started well for Labour as first-time candidate Tom Collins held Rainbow Hill. The seat had been vacated by long-serving councillor Paul Denham.

Then came the first big shock of the evening.

The Conservatives took Gorse Hill. That seat had also been vacated by the resignation after nearly 20 years of Labour councillor Geoff Williams.

And it fell to Mohammed Altaf by just 31 votes over Jenny Barnes of Labour.

A jubilant Councillor Altaf said: “Nobody thought we could break Gorse Hill but we did it.”

Later, he added: “I did think we could do it, because I have a well-known business in the area, and it seemed that every third door I knocked on the people knew me, because I’ve been in the area a while.”
MP for Worcester, Robin Walker, present at the count was clearly cheered by the result. 

He said: “Local elections are always very local. We don’t take anything for granted, but it looks like Labour’s share of the vote across the city has gone down, and our message is starting to be heard in places like Gorse Hill where before we’ve not done as well.”

Soon after came the announcement that Louise Griffiths had taken Battenhall, unseating serving Mayor, Steve Mackay.

Councillor Griffiths said: “I loved the campaign, and I said whether I'd won or lost that I’d do it again. 

"It’s been great knocking on doors and just meeting lots of people, but also hearing that my issues are their issues: things like the need for more affordable housing, the need for better transport infrastructure – people tell me they can’t cycle to work and have to drive because there isn’t the provision. 

"But also general infrastructure - people can’t see a doctor because there aren’t enough doctors’ surgeries.”

Other than that, results were more or less expected. Labour were pleased to hold both seats in Warndon, with Ceri Stalker winning the by-election for the seat vacated by Elaine Williams's resignation. She will serve two years until 2020 while Jo Hodges will serve until 2022.

For other parties it was a mixed story. When these seats were last contested in 2014, UKIP came second in eight of the 12 wards. 

This time, while the local party had done better than most in England by fielding a candidate in every ward, the party’s vote collapsed.

The Liberal Democrats, who have struggled in Worcester and nationally, have some reason for optimism. 

The party’s candidate Mel Allcott got more than 1,000 votes to come runner-up to the Conservatives’ Stuart Denlegh-Maxwell by only 63 votes.

See how the count unfolded at our live blog