Worcester City Council election, 2003
The 2003 Worcester City Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Worcester District 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]
After the election, the composition of the council was
- Conservative 19
- Labour 10
- Independent 5
- Liberal Democrat 2[2]
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 suching 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] | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− | ||
Conservative | 6 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 46.2 | 41.3 | 9,399 | -3.1% | ||
Labour | 5 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 38.5 | 35.9 | 8,163 | -2.2% | ||
Liberal Democrat | 1 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 7.7 | 10.8 | 2,452 | -0.7% | ||
Independent | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.7 | 9.5 | 2,164 | +3.5% | ||
BNP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.2 | 271 | +1.2% | ||
Socialist Alternative | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 220 | +1.0% | ||
UKIP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.4 | 83 | +0.4% | ||
Ward results
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Francis Lankester | 722 | 48.1 | -8.7 | |
Labour | Andrew Watson | 559 | 37.2 | -6.0 | |
Socialist Alternative | Douglas Menzies | 220 | 14.7 | +14.7 | |
Majority | 163 | 10.9 | -2.7 | ||
Turnout | 1,501 | 32.0 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | David Clark | 900 | 55.8 | -4.0 | |
Labour | Simon Arnold | 389 | 24.1 | -4.4 | |
Liberal Democrat | Louis Stephen | 325 | 20.1 | +8.4 | |
Majority | 511 | 31.7 | +0.4 | ||
Turnout | 1,614 | 30.5 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal Democrat | Elizabeth Smith | 1,346 | 57.2 | -1.0 | |
Conservative | William Elsy | 1,009 | 42.8 | +1.0 | |
Majority | 337 | 14.4 | -2.0 | ||
Turnout | 2,355 | 44.0 | |||
Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Geoffrey Williams | 566 | 51.6 | -5.9 | |
BNP | Martin Roberts | 271 | 24.7 | +24.7 | |
Conservative | Robert Campbell | 259 | 23.6 | -2.9 | |
Majority | 295 | 26.9 | -4.1 | ||
Turnout | 1,096 | 26.2 | |||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Independent | Michael Layland | 852 | 54.3 | +9.4 | |
Labour | Christopher Taylor | 505 | 32.2 | -7.7 | |
Conservative | James Denlegh-Maxwell | 212 | 13.5 | -1.7 | |
Majority | 347 | 22.1 | +17.1 | ||
Turnout | 1,569 | 32.0 | |||
Independent hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Adrian Gregson | 563 | 74.2 | -5.0 | |
Conservative | Nicholas Turner | 196 | 25.8 | +5.0 | |
Majority | 367 | 48.4 | -10.0 | ||
Turnout | 759 | 18.3 | |||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Colin Phillips | 871 | 41.0 | -9.1 | |
Labour | Matthew Lamb | 858 | 40.4 | -9.5 | |
Independent | Paul Coveney | 394 | 18.6 | +18.6 | |
Majority | 13 | 0.6 | +0.4 | ||
Turnout | 2,123 | 33.5 | |||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | David Candler | 753 | 53.1 | +0.6 | |
Independent | Colin Layland | 396 | 27.9 | +0.1 | |
Conservative | Gordon Hazelton | 185 | 13.1 | -6.6 | |
UKIP | Jean Eaves | 83 | 5.9 | +5.9 | |
Majority | 357 | 25.2 | +0.5 | ||
Turnout | 1,417 | 28.5 | |||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Lucy Hodgson | 1,460 | 50.2 | -1.1 | |
Labour | Pamela Clayton | 1,447 | 49.8 | +1.1 | |
Majority | 13 | 0.4 | -2.2 | ||
Turnout | 2,907 | 23.6 | |||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Robert Peachey | 837 | |||
Labour | Richard Bird | 834 | |||
Conservative | David Tibbutt | 759 | |||
Conservative | Rodney Staines | 715 | |||
Turnout | 3,145 | 33.0 | |||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Robert Rowden | 1,121 | 42.9 | -8.8 | |
Labour | George Squires | 524 | 20.1 | -7.7 | |
Independent | Craig Mills | 522 | 20.0 | +20.0 | |
Liberal Democrat | Iain Macbriar | 446 | 17.1 | -3.4 | |
Majority | 597 | 22.8 | -1.1 | ||
Turnout | 2,613 | 30.0 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Stephen Inman | 990 | 59.9 | -1.4 | |
Liberal Democrat | Paul Griffiths | 335 | 20.3 | +2.8 | |
Labour | Ali Asghar | 328 | 19.8 | -1.4 | |
Majority | 655 | 39.6 | -0.5 | ||
Turnout | 1,653 | 30.0 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
References
- ↑ "Local elections". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
- 1 2 "Election Results". The Times. 2003-05-02. p. 17.
- 1 2 "Worcestershire council nominations: Far right join in battle for city ; Worcester". Birmingham Mail. 2003-04-08. p. 13.
- 1 2 3 4 Walker, Jonathan (2003-04-20). "Elections 2003: Tories hoping to tighten their grip for majority". Birmingham Post. p. 4.
- ↑ Dillon, Jo (2003-04-20). "Tories in election plot to boost IDS". The Independent on Sunday. p. 4.
- ↑ Sherman, Jill; Kite, Melissa (2003-04-11). "Blair risks forfeiting a dozen councils to mid-term blues". The Times. p. 16.
- ↑ Courtauld, Charlie (2003-04-27). "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.
- ↑ Walker, Jonathan (2003-04-22). "Demand for postal votes on the rise". Birmingham Post. p. 4.
- ↑ "Post-your-vote idea catching on". Malvern Gazette. 2003-04-19. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
- ↑ Parker, Simon (2003-05-02). "Backlash costs Labour 750 seats". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
- 1 2 3 4 "Tories cling on to Worcester". icBirmingham. 2003-05-02. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Electoral Services - Results 2003". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 2010-01-04.