THE Green Party’s claim they won the popular vote at the city council election is “numerically true” - but a “deeply misleading” way to read the message sent by voters, according to Labour.

The Labour Party won 17 seats on Worcester City Council in the election on May 2 - one short of an overall majority but enough to get their leader Lynn Denham appointed leader of the council.

The Greens won 12 seats but have pointed out multiple times that they won the so-called popular vote across the city - and accused Labour of a land grab.

Worcester News: SPEECH: Green councillor Alex MaceSPEECH: Green councillor Alex Mace (Image: Alex Mace)

Green councillor Alex Mace told Tuesday’s (May 14) full council meeting: “The results of this most recent election are an excellent example of the perversity that is visited upon the electorate by the outdated and antiquated first-past-the-post system.

“The Green Party won the most votes - a third - and received approximately a third of the seats. The Liberal Democrats polled about 14 percent of the votes and won about 14 percent of the seats - so far, so good.

“The Labour Party received less than 30 percent of the votes yet won about half the seats on the council, while the Conservatives got a single seat for their 20 percent of the votes.”

Labour councillors said today in a statement: “Since the people of Worcester made their choice on May 2, we have heard some unusual interpretations of the message that the voters sent.

“The Green Party are desperate to tell everyone they won the ‘popular vote’. That is numerically true, but is a deeply misleading way to read the message given by the voters.”

“The Greens, Lib Dems and Tories won all their seats across the wards with the highest turnout and not coincidentally, the most affluent areas of the city.

“When residents do not vote, this also sends a message. In this year’s elections, some wards had nearly double the turnout of others. Those least likely to cast a vote are non-homeowners and non-graduates.

“The wards that fall in the lowest index of multiple deprivation (IMD) all returned Labour councillors.

“These are also the wards where photo ID requirements actively disadvantaged people from using their vote.

“Voting is an expression of hope, and after 14 years of mismanagement by Conservative government nationally, hope can feel in short supply.

“This is felt most sharply in areas where residents feel shut out of the economy, shut out of society and - thanks to voter ID - shut out of the polling station.

“The way for politicians to address these issues is not to squabble only over the votes of the affluent, but to govern in a way that serves the whole of society. The message from the electorate must be respected.”