THE Conservatives also carried Herefordshire Council with a slim majority, winning 32 of the council's 58 seats.

The result is a boost for the Tories, who in the previous council had to share power with the Independents.

The Lib Dems won 10 seats, Labour two and the Green Party one, while independent candidates carried 12 seats.

Among the Lib Dem casualties was Barry Ashton, in Ledbury, the victim of a Tory clean sweep.

Local results were: Bringsty: Thomas William Hunt (Con) 465, Christopher John Grover (Ind) 419, Kevin Abraham (Green) 137.

Bromyard: Alan Seldon (Ind) 649, Bernard Hunt (Ind) 604, Caroline Audrey Donnelly (Con) 550, Justin Guy McBarnet (Con) 466, Barbara Konig (Green) 368, William Albert Gibbard 152.

Frome: Patricia Mary Morgan (Con) 842, Guy Harry Morgan Woodford (Green) 604, Robert Peter Wilson Nock (Ind) 48.

Hope End: Roy Vincent Stockton (Con) 1,030, Rees Mills (Con) 944, Michael Leigh Abbott (Green) 487, Terence Leonard Kimberley White (Lib Dem) 480, Anthony Joseph Vincent Geraghty (Lib Dem) 335.

Ledbury: Jacqueline Kay Swinburne (Con) 1,393, Peter John Watts (Con) 1,331, Mary Edna Cooper (Con) 1,255, Barry Frank Ashton (Lib Dem) 976, Phillip Leslie Bettington (Ind) 820, Turi Benjamin Munthe (Lib Dem) 799, Stephen Edwin Betts (Green) 693, Anthony Roland Bradford 255.