2003 Worcester City Council election

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The 2003 Worcester City Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Worcester City Council in Worcestershire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party gained overall control of the council from no overall control. [1]

Contents

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Campaign

13 seats were contested in the election with 2 seats available in St Nicholas ward after a Labour councillor stood down. [3] Labour defended 7 seats as against 5 for the Conservatives and 1 for the independents. [4] Meanwhile, the decision of the British National Party to put up a candidate in Holy Trinity ward received attention in the press. [3]

Worcester was a top Conservative target council in the 2003 local elections, [5] [6] with gains here seen as important signal for the parties performance at the next general election. [7] The Conservatives had controlled the council as a minority administration since the 2000 election and were hoping to win a majority. [4] They said Labour had been out of touch when they ran the council and had made poor decisions such as using green fields for transport schemes. [4] However, Labour attacked the Conservatives for the council's budget, including a council tax rise of 9.5% and poor waste collection services; as well as the controversy over the closing and then rescue of Swan Theatre in Worcester. [4]

The level of postal voting in the election was up on previous years with 5,000 postal voting forms being sent, compared to 3,000 in 2002. [8] [9]

Election result

The results saw the Conservatives win a majority on the council, [10] after gaining 2 seats from Labour but losing 1 seat to the Liberal Democrats. [11] This meant that Labour only held 10 seats which was the lowest number of seats they had held on the council up to then. [11] However Labour did manage to retain Holy Trinity ward, defeating the British National Party who came second in the ward. [11] Voter turnout was low, dropping as low as 18% in St Barnabus ward. [11]

Worcester local election result 2003 [2] [12]
PartySeatsGainsLossesNet gain/lossSeats %Votes %Votes+/−
  Conservative 621+146.241.39,399-3.1%
  Labour 502-238.535.98,163-2.2%
  Liberal Democrats 110+17.710.82,452-0.7%
  Independent 10007.79.52,164+3.5%
  BNP 000001.2271+1.2%
  Socialist Alternative 000001.0220+1.0%
  UKIP 000000.483+0.4%

Ward results

All Saints [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Francis Lankester72248.1−8.7
Labour Andrew Watson55937.2−6.0
Socialist Alternative Douglas Menzies22014.7+14.7
Majority 16310.9−2.7
Turnout 1,50132.0
Conservative hold Swing
Bedwardine [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative David Clark90055.8−4.0
Labour Simon Arnold38924.1−4.4
Liberal Democrats Louis Stephen32520.1+8.4
Majority 51131.7+0.4
Turnout 1,61430.5
Conservative hold Swing
Claines [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Elizabeth Smith1,34657.2−1.0
Conservative William Elsy1,00942.8+1.0
Majority 33714.4−2.0
Turnout 2,35544.0
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing
Holy Trinity [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Geoffrey Williams56651.6−5.9
BNP Martin Roberts27124.7+24.7
Conservative Robert Campbell25923.6−2.9
Majority 29526.9−4.1
Turnout 1,09626.2
Labour hold Swing
Nunnery [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Independent Michael Layland85254.3+9.4
Labour Christopher Taylor50532.2−7.7
Conservative James Denlegh-Maxwell21213.5−1.7
Majority 34722.1+17.1
Turnout 1,56932.0
Independent hold Swing
St Barnabas [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Adrian Gregson56374.2−5.0
Conservative Nicholas Turner19625.8+5.0
Majority 36748.4−10.0
Turnout 75918.3
Labour hold Swing
St Clement [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Colin Phillips87141.0−9.1
Labour Matthew Lamb85840.4−9.5
Independent Paul Coveney39418.6+18.6
Majority 130.6+0.4
Turnout 2,12333.5
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
St John [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour David Candler75353.1+0.6
Independent Colin Layland39627.9+0.1
Conservative Gordon Hazelton18513.1−6.6
UKIP Jean Eaves835.9+5.9
Majority 35725.2+0.5
Turnout 1,41728.5
Labour hold Swing
St Martin [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Lucy Hodgson1,46050.2−1.1
Labour Pamela Clayton1,44749.8+1.1
Majority 130.4−2.2
Turnout 2,90723.6
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
St Nicholas (2) [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Robert Peachey837
Labour Richard Bird834
Conservative David Tibbutt759
Conservative Rodney Staines715
Turnout 3,14533.0
Labour hold Swing
Labour hold Swing
St Peter [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Robert Rowden1,12142.9−8.8
Labour George Squires52420.1−7.7
Independent Craig Mills52220.0+20.0
Liberal Democrats Iain Macbriar44617.1−3.4
Majority 59722.8−1.1
Turnout 2,61330.0
Conservative hold Swing
St Stephen [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Stephen Inman99059.9−1.4
Liberal Democrats Paul Griffiths33520.3+2.8
Labour Ali Asghar32819.8−1.4
Majority 65539.6−0.5
Turnout 1,65330.0
Conservative hold Swing

References

  1. ↑ "Local elections". BBC News Online . Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Election Results". The Times . 2 May 2003. p. 17.
  3. 1 2 "Worcestershire council nominations: Far right join in battle for city ; Worcester". Birmingham Mail . 8 April 2003. p. 13.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Walker, Jonathan (20 April 2003). "Elections 2003: Tories hoping to tighten their grip for majority". Birmingham Post . p. 4.
  5. ↑ Dillon, Jo (20 April 2003). "Tories in election plot to boost IDS". The Independent on Sunday . p. 4.
  6. ↑ Sherman, Jill; Kite, Melissa (11 April 2003). "Blair risks forfeiting a dozen councils to mid-term blues". The Times . p. 16.
  7. ↑ Courtauld, Charlie (27 April 2003). "Worcester Woman is unimpressed and may not be voting at all ; The Tories invented her, then wooed her. But she seems likely to rebuff them again on Thursday". The Independent . p. 10.
  8. ↑ Walker, Jonathan (22 April 2003). "Demand for postal votes on the rise". Birmingham Post . p. 4.
  9. ↑ "Post-your-vote idea catching on". Malvern Gazette . 19 April 2003. Retrieved 5 January 2010.[ permanent dead link ]
  10. ↑ Parker, Simon (2 May 2003). "Backlash costs Labour 750 seats". guardian.co.uk . London. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Tories cling on to Worcester". icBirmingham. 2 May 2003. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Electoral Services - Results 2003". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
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