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The 2008 Worcester City Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Worcester City Council in Worcestershire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Campaign

Before the election the Conservatives ran the council as a minority administration,^[3] and required one extra seat in order to win a majority.^[4] They had lost their majority after Labour gained a seat from them in a by-election in 2007.^[5] 12 seats were up for election with 5 Conservative, 4 Labour, 2 independent and 1 Liberal Democrat seats being contested.^[6] The Conservatives only contested 10 of the 12 seats after they decided not to oppose the two independents who were up for re-election in Nunnery and St John wards, however both they and the independent councillors denied that any deal had been done.^[7]

Three members of the Shadow Cabinet, including the Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, visited Worcester to campaign for the Conservatives.^[8]

Election result

The results saw the council remain without any party having a majority with the Conservatives continuing to run the administration.^[9] They had come within 28 votes of winning in Arboretum ward but Labour's Joy Squires held the seat.^[10]

The Green Party contested ten of the twelve seats, falling back slightly overall from 9.2 to 8.5% of the vote. Its claim of 10% related to the seats it contested. While it failed to win a seat, its best results were in the Rainbow Hill and Cathedral wards, where it scored 23.3 and 18.6% respectively.^[11]

Worcester Local Election Result 2008^[12]
	Seats	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Conservative	5	41.7	37.4	7,868	-5.5%
Labour	4	33.3	28.4	5,982	+3.1%
Independent	2	16.7	10.3	2,164	+5.5%
Liberal Democrats	1	8.3	10.5	2,215	-2.5%
Green	0	0	8.5	1,790	-1.2%
BNP	0	0	4.3	899	+0.6%
UKIP	0	0	0.7	146	+0.1%

Ward results

Arboretum^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joy Squires	728	39.2	−4.0
	Conservative	David Wilkinson	700	37.7	+8.3
	Liberal Democrats	Ken Carpenter	157	8.5	−4.5
	Green	Martin Sullivan	138	7.4	−0.2
	BNP	Jack Amos	134	7.2	+7.2
Majority			28	1.5	−12.3
Turnout			1,857	41.0	−1.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Battenhall^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Rowden	1,021	64.9	+7.9
	Labour	Lian Rees	341	21.7	+0.7
	Green	Jan Dyer	211	13.4	+3.8
Majority			680	43.2	+7.2
Turnout			1,573	38.4	−4.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bedwardine^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Derek Prodger	1,369	63.5	+7.1
	Labour	Christopher Winwood	350	16.2	−4.4
	Liberal Democrats	Vaughan Hencher	240	11.1	−2.7
	Green	Clive Matthews	198	9.2	+0.1
Majority			1,019	47.3	+11.5
Turnout			2,157	34.5	−2.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Cathedral^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Francis Lankester	1,154	56.0	+5.0
	Labour	Rachel Hall	521	25.3	+3.7
	Green	Louis Stephen	384	18.6	+4.5
Majority			633	30.7	+1.3
Turnout			2,059	30.3	−4.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Claines^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sue Askin	1,551	53.1	−1.6
	Conservative	Nicholas Turner	1,005	34.4	+3.4
	Green	Peter Robinson	195	6.7	+0.1
	Labour	Jane McCann	171	5.9	−1.8
Majority			546	18.7	−5.0
Turnout			2,922	45.0	−4.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Gorse Hill^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roger Berry	515	45.3	+1.3
	BNP	Lee Hancock	282	24.8	+0.3
	Conservative	David Nolan	243	21.4	+6.6
	Green	Linda Smith	98	8.6	+3.0
Majority			233	20.5	+1.0
Turnout			1,138	27.0	−6.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Nunnery^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Michael Layland	1,115	48.1	+17.4
	Labour	Vanessa Mann	707	30.5	−4.7
	BNP	Tom Amos	353	15.2	+2.5
	Green	Alexander Gwinn	141	6.1	+0.2
Majority			408	17.6
Turnout			2,316	39.0	+0.6
	Independent hold		Swing

Rainbow Hill^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Adrian Gregson	443	44.1	−4.6
	Conservative	Lesley Auden	327	32.6	+12.7
	Green	Ruth Stafford	234	23.3	−8.1
Majority			116	11.5	−5.8
Turnout			1,004	24.2	−0.9
	Labour hold		Swing

St Clement^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Simon Geraghty	876	51.9	+2.5
	Labour	Richard Bird	451	26.7	+3.7
	UKIP	John Butterfield	146	8.7	+8.7
	BNP	Peter Beechey	130	7.7	−8.1
	Green	Olaf Twiehaus	84	5.0	−6.8
Majority			425	25.2	−1.2
Turnout			1,687	37.7	−1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

St John^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Margaret Layland	1,049	53.7	+37.8
	Labour	Richard Udall	905	46.3	+4.0
Majority			144	7.4
Turnout			1,954	33.9	−0.6
	Independent hold		Swing

St Stephen^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Keith Burton	802	57.7	−2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Eddie Hartley	267	19.2	+6.6
	Labour	George Squires	215	15.5	−3.8
	Green	Penelope Asquith	107	7.7	−0.5
Majority			535	38.5	−2.2
Turnout			1,391	34.3	−3.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Warndon^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Amos	635	63.1	+10.0
	Conservative	Robert Campbell	371	36.9	+8.1
Majority			264	26.2	+1.9
Turnout			1,006	25.6	+0.8
	Labour hold		Swing

References

^ "Worcester". BBC News Online. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
^ "Local elections: Results: Voters in the cities and the shires have their say in the ballot box". The Guardian. 2 May 2008. p. 7.
^ Watt, Nicholas (2 May 2008). "Local elections: From south to north, seats fall to Cameron: Prediction that Tories will claim 44% of council vote, with Labour down to 24%". The Guardian. p. 6.
^ "Cameron to claim a Tory renaissance". Financial Times. 2 May 2008. p. 2.
^ "Key battles for local councils". BBC News Online. 25 April 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
^ "Politicians wait for the verdict from the voters". Stourbridge News. 1 May 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
^ "Tories deny 'dirty deals' to hang on to council seats". Malvern Gazette. 8 April 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2010.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "Conservative top gun visits city". Stourbridge News. 18 April 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
^ Walker, Jonathan (2 May 2008). "My blue Brum". Birmingham Post. p. 1.
^ "Tories stay in control". Stourbridge News. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
^ "Worcester City Council results May 2008". Worcestershire Green Party. Archived from the original on 9 November 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m "Election Results May 1st 2008". Worcester City Council. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2010.