WORCESTER'S Green Party chairman has ruled out a power sharing Coalition if this week's elections result in a hung city council.

Louis Stephen says it would be "a big mistake" to jump into bed with the Conservatives or Labour Party - upping the ante for Thursday's crunch contest.

For three of the last four years no party has been in overall control at Worcester City Council, leading to frantic post-election negotiations about who runs the authority.

But Mr Stephen said there is no prospect of his party making a pitch for sharing power with either of the main parties in the event of the outcome hanging in the balance this week.

He said: "This is a very difficult question because whatever answer you give, people think you're being presumptive.

"It's really wrong to start speculating and we'll have to wait and see what happens.

"But whatever does happen, we will never do a Coalition.

"I think that would be a very big mistake - you've only got to look at the Lib Dems nationally to see what can happen when you start doing that.

"So I can be absolutely clear on that, that's something we can rule out."

He also told the Worcester News the party's "preference" would be to vote on issues on a case-by-case basis in the event of the council being hung.

He said: "That would be our preference. That way you'd be voting on things properly rather than going on party political lines."

In recent years Worcester's main political parties have become used to post-election uncertainty.

In 2012 the Tories clung on thanks to Liberal Democrat support, forming a minority administration at the Guildhall.

That collapsed one year later when Labour, the Lib Dems and a sole Green councillor teamed up to vote the Conservatives out, with a Lab-Lib Coalition formed.

Then came the 2014 drama which saw Councillor Alan Amos quit the Labour Party to become an independent, switching his support to the Tories to see it back into power - scuppering days of negotiations between Labour and the Greens.

At last year's elections the Conservatives regained an overall majority for the first time since 2011 at the city council.

The Tories now hold 19 of the 35 seats with Labour on 15 and the Greens on one, meaning a swing of two is required for the council to be hung again.

* Take a look at the special elections section of our website HERE.