Raring to go

6.55.42am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 24th Mar 2005

Hampshire voters will go to the polls on May 5th to elect a new County Council.

The Conservatives have run the council since 1997 but this time they face a strong challenge from the Liberal Democrats.

Labour has just a handful of seats on the council and all the signs are that they will lose most of those this time round.

The Liberal Democrats have won all three County Council by-elections held since the last elections in 2001 - in Basingstoke, Fawley and Havant. They have also scored a remarkable run of election success in the last few months winning district council by-elections in East Hampshire, Romsey and most recently in Bedhampton.

The Bedhampton result in February saw Lib Dem Steve Marshall beat the Conservative candidate in a hard-fought contest in a ward won by the Tories last year. The full result this time was:

Steve Marshall (Lib Dem) 1064

Conservative 1007

Labour 126

Green 34

The string of election successes in Hampshire shows that the party can win a majority on Hampshire County Council in a few weeks time.