Split election results have left the city council chamber in a state of turmoil and uncertainty

"A BLOODY nightmare..."

- DANIEL HOLLAND Local Democracy Reporter

That is how one unnamed political figure in Newcastle summed up the situation last week's local elections have left the city council in.Labour's 15 years in charge in Newcastle came to a dramatic end on Friday, as the party shed all but two of its council seats as its vote across the North East collapsed.

But the results of the city's 'all out' elections, in which every single council seat in Newcastle was up for grabs, have provoked more questions than answers.

No party was able to secure an overall majority, or even come close to one. Forty seats gives a party control of the council chamber, but the new makeup of the local authority after Friday's vote count reads like this:

25 Liberal Democrats

24 Reform UK

24 Greens

3 independents

2 Labour.

How those numbers can translate into a stable and functioning administration remains very much unclear.

The next two weeks are set to be dominated by backroom negotiations and discreet phone calls, ahead of a council AGM on May 27 where a new leadership should be appointed.

While many observers may have expected a Lib Dem-Green coalition to be the natural solution, The Journal understands that there are significant doubts on both sides about entering into such a pact.

Lib Dem national leader Ed Davey said he would be "worried" about joining forces with the Greens during a flying visit to Newcastle over the weekend, while also dismissing any faint possibility of going into coalition with Reform.

Ex-North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll, now a newly-elected and high-profile Green councillor, also cast doubt over the prospect of a coalition last week and predicted that the council will be a "messy" environment.