THE Conservative stronghold over the Malvern Hills continued in the county council election counts.

The party increased its majority in its five seats in the district and managed to topple independent Roger Sutton to

take Croome.

Meanwhile Ian Hopwood, who was de-selected by the Tories and fought to retain his Malvern Langland

seat as an independent, was defeated by his old party.

Lib Dem Tom Wells saw his majority surge to 1,600, after receiving 2,407 votes in Powick.

And Green councillor John Raine got 930 votes in Malvern Trinity, increasing his majority from 5 to 174.

Mr Hopwood, who won Malvern Langland in 2013, only secured 155 votes this time around. James O’Donnell beat Mr Hopwood with 767 votes.

Conservative candidate Paul Middlebrough won the Croome seat.

Meanwhile Tory Lucy Hodgson retained her Malvern Chase seat while Phil Grove held the Hallow seat with a

majority of 1,654 for the Conservatives Overall the Conservatives gained Croome, and retained Hallow, Malvern

Chase, Malvern Langland, Malvern Link and Tenbury.

Over Worcestershire as a whole, the local election count saw the Tories increase their overall majority at County Hall, now holding 40 of the 57 seats.

The outcome means the Conservatives now have an overall majority of 23 seats, a significant increase on the majority of seven the party held before.

The main opposition Labour group are now on 10, with the Lib Dems on three, Greens on two and two independents.

Council leader Cllr Simon Geraghty, who retained his Riverside seat in Worcester with a significantly increased majority of 567, said: "This is a clear endorsement of the plan we’ve put forward for this county, it’s an ambitious plan but one we want to deliver on.”

The Tory leadership at County Hall can now press ahead with its £316 million budget for 2017/18, which includes proposals to cut spending by more than £25 million.

The administration will focus on trying to secure £70 million of government cash to dual Carrington Bridge, and is under pressure to restore confidence in its child protection services, which Ofsted graded ‘inadequate’ back in January.