Reform UK candidate Liz Williams has filed a petition to the High Court claiming her loss in May's dead heat election in Worcestershire County Council’s Littletons division was fraudulent.

She lost out after being tied on 889 votes with Green Party candidate Hannah Robson, who was eventually elected following a drawing of lots.

But Williams says this process, whereby a deputy returning officer placed two used ballot papers into a ballot box and pulled one out, ‘was not carried out in accordance with due process of law’.

‘I did not feel able to witness the entire process without obstruction nor my concerns to be heard at the time,’ she said, adding that ‘there were also several alleged witnessed and evidenced breaches of secrecy during the count and the ballot draw itself’.

Williams is also concerned there ‘has been insufficient’ investigations into concerns about the lot drawing she had previously raised with police and Worcestershire CC.

Williams believes ‘there were repeated failures to uphold standards during the election meaning the boundaries of the law were often stretched or broken and that is unacceptable’.

Her petition names Robson, Wychavon District Council deputy returning officer Victor Allison, as well as West Mercia Police’s Chris Harris as respondents.

It had also named Worcestershire CC chief executive Paul Robinson, but a spokesperson for the local authority said that at a hearing this week, the judge involved had ordered their removal as a respondent and ordered Williams to cover his legal costs.

The CC spokesperson added that for the election cited in the petition, its returning officer had appointed officers from Wychavon DC.

Meesha Patel, Director of Legal and Governance for Wychavon, said: 'We are confident the election was delivered substantially within the law and we will present our case to the court at a future date.'