“You can never guarantee the outcome of an election” a leading Conservative Party politician in Wokingham has warned.

Pauline Jorgensen – leader of the Conservative opposition group on Wokingham Borough Council – made the remark at the first council meeting since local elections on May 2. She is also standing to become MP in the new constituency of Woodley and Earley.

Councillor Jorgensen said: “An election is an interesting beast – and you can never guarantee the outcome of an election.”

The number of Conservatives on Wokingham Borough Council fell from 22 to 19 in May’s local elections, while the Liberal Democrats grew to 27 councillors, and Labour from five to eight.

But councillor Jorgensen said the Conservatives had won seats in areas such as Earley and Woodley where she said people were unhappy over issues such as bin collections, parking charges and the condition of roads.

She said Conservatives would continue to ‘push’ the Liberal Democrat administration and ‘offer robust scrutiny'.

Liberal Democrat council leader Stephen Conway appealed to all councillors ‘to put the local elections behind us and work together for the better Wokingham that we all want'.

He said opposition councillors could play an ‘important’ and ‘noble’ role if they ‘engage with the ruling group positively’.