ROBIN Walker has said he is optimistic none of the city's libraries would close in the future after a year of uncertainty.

Robin Walker, the prospective parliamentary for the Conservatives, said the Hive and the rest of the city's libraries were a "real success story" and were "punching well above their weight."

Asked whether he could promise that no libraries would close if he was re-elected as the city's MP, Mr Walker said: "Touch wood they haven't to date. I've been an MP for nine years and we had dire warnings from the Labour Party in 2010 that everything would be closing and we would be losing all these things.

In a meeting with Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan at the Swan Theatre in Worcester on Thursday (November 14), Mr Walker said despite libraries in the city having to be "creative" in how they remained open, he said it was a great success that none had been closed.

He said: "We've got a great story to tell in terms of the local libraries that we have been able to keep open even for a period when there has been a real challenge for local government funding.

He said the city's Hive library was a "national example" of what could done with libraries when people "thought outside the box" and Worcester's libraries had a "proud story to tell."

Mr Walker said it would be his job as MP to find library funding from "wherever it needed to come"

Worcester City Council was accused of 'helping out' colleagues at Worcestershire County Council by taking on responsibility for running the city's St John's and Warndon libraries in May.

The county council held a long consultation earlier this year where every library was placed under review in a bid to save £800,000 in the next three years.

Mrs Morgan said: "I think it is more a partnership [than helping out] and I don't think we should be saying it should come down to just one body [to pay for libraries].

She said the government's cultural development fund which she called the "largest amount of money set aside for culture this century" would go directly towards museums and libraries.

At the start of the year, the city was one of five areas chosen to share £20 million government funding to invest in culture, heritage and creative industries

"Libraries are right at the heart of communities and we want to support them," she said.

Asked whether the role of librarian was a thing of the past due to the move towards self-service, Mrs Morgan said: "I see an exciting future for libraries but it is going to be different from the past."