NO party has control over Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council following the latest elections.

Both the Basingstoke Labour group and the Liberal Democrat group gained seats from the Conservatives on Friday, May 5, when a third of the seats were up for grabs in this year's elections.

With one seat available in each of the 18 wards, Conservatives remain the biggest party but lost one seat to Labour and two to the Liberal Democrats.

READ MORE: Basingstoke local elections 2023: A list of all the results

This leaves the Conservative party with 23 of the 54 seats. Labour holds 10 seats, the Independent Forum holds 12 and the Liberal Democrats hold 9.

Speaking after the results to the Gazette, council leader Cllr Simon Minas-Bound said: "It has been a busy 24 hours with the polling stations and then the count today. We have lost some really good community councillors in the Conservative party.

"We still remain the largest party in the borough with 23 councillors. I have been the leader for 12 months and the council plan for the budget that we put together in February was overwhelmingly supported by other parties. I am very hopeful that we can continue to implement that plan."

He said the party hopes to continue their fight to protect the environment.

He also said they would now be looking to form a coalition. 

He continued: "There will be an opportunity for oppositional parties to form some sort of collation."

SEE ALSO: Full recap of the Basingstoke elections 2023 as they happened

The leader of the Basingstoke Independent Forum said he was happy with the results.

Cllr Paul Harvey said: "It is an amazing endorsement of the work that we do locally. I am so very grateful for that. Across the borough, the opposition groups have done really really well."

He continued: “It was amazing, the Greens came very close to taking Chineham, then the Women’s Equality party came close to taking Hatch Warren. The Tories just clung on to those wards.

“This is a real statement of how people feel angry with them [Conservatives]. It is a rejection of Conservatives locally. Very clearly people feel as if they have let them down.”

The leader of the Liberal Democrat group Cllr Gavin James also managed to hold onto his seat.

He said: "I am really really grateful to hold my seat and to the people of Eastrop and Grove for trusting me again.

"Over the next year, we will carry on cutting down on some of the antisocial behaviour that we see around like car skidding. Hopefully, we can do more for the Top of Town and bring our town centre back to life. That will be our main project."

Cllr Andrew McCormick, the leader of the Labour group, held onto his seat in Brighton Hill.

He said: "I am delighted with this result and it is a very good feeling to be the first Labour candidate to win three times in Brighton Hill. It has been a very close result that was very nerve-wracking on the night.

“This gives us a good solid platform to mount the general elections campaign next year and get Basingstoke’s first-ever Labour MP.”