Reform UK candidate launches legal challenge after losing election on 'coin toss'

The pair had been contesting Worcestershire’s Littletons ward, with two ballot papers being placed in a box and Robson’s name eventually being drawn out.

The result left Reform UK just two wards short from forming a majority administration in Worcestershire.

However, Williams has since handed an “election petition” to the High Court in London, claiming the knife-edge result should now be declared void.

Mrs Justice Yip said that the petition confirmed at a preliminary hearing this week that the petition will be decided at the High Court later this year.

Williams, who said she was not able to “witness the entire process without obstruction”, warned the declaration was left “open to fraud and corruption”.

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She added: “I could not see the box for all of the preparation and was not included in that.

“I did not agree to a third person shuffling the papers... Only the returning officer should have had their hand in the box.”

The 2025 Local Elections saw Reform hoover up 677 wards across England.

Nigel Farage also took control of 10 local authorities, forming minority administrations in three others.

However, it is not the first time that a UK election has gone down to the wire.

The winner of a ward in Blyth in 2007 was chosen by drawing straws while a candidate in Yorkshire offered to play poker to decide the winner in 2022.

The 1997 General Election also offers some tough lessons for candidates falling agonisingly short of winning contests.

Ex-Tory MP Gerry Malone lost his Winchester seat to Liberal Democrat Mark Oaten by just two votes, with the High Court subsequently forcing a by-election after declaring 54 votes void.

The subsequent by-election saw Oaten retain the seat with his majority jumping from just two votes to 21,556.

However, avid political followers need to look back to 1885 for the last time two candidates tied in a General Election.

Ashton-under-Lyne, now held by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, was won by Tory John Addison after the returning officer cast his ballot in favour of the incumbent Conservative MP.

In its guidance on tied elections, the Electoral Commission stated: “When two or more candidates have the same number of votes, and the addition of a vote would entitle any of those candidates to be declared elected, you must decide between the candidates by lot. Whichever candidate wins the lot is treated as though they had received an additional vote that enables them to be declared elected.”