Vote2018: the story so far
What do you mean, you weren’t up for Dudley? Well, for those who opted out of the election night marathon Kevin Johnson reports on the story of the Local Elections 2018 – so far.
It’s been a tough night for Labour in the West Midlands, but counts for both Birmingham and Solihull councils will only start this morning.
It’s been a good night for the Tories in the Black Country.
In Dudley, the two main parties both have 35 seats. But the one UKIP councillor is widely expected to cross the floor to the Tories, whilst the Independent is a former Conservative.
Meanwhile in Walsall, the Conservatives now have 30 seats to Labour’s 26 whilst the Lib Dems and Independents have two each.
Andy Street will be pleased that his campaigning efforts paid off and that he’s likely to see the balance of Labour leaders on his WMCA Board reduce from 5 to 4, with 3 rather than 2 Tory representatives alongside him.
Labour started the night by losing control of Nuneaton and Bedworth.
Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Coventry remain in Labour hands.
Across the region, the Tories gained 27 seats and Labour lost 7.
Further afield, the Conservatives lost control of Trafford and Plymouth.
The Lib Dems took Richmond and kept control of Sutton.
In Wandsworth and Westminster, where Labour were hoping for high profile scalps, Conservatives remain in power.
Labour only gained one seat on Kensington and Chelsea council where it might have expected to do better given the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
The Conservatives won control of Barnet council, taking it back from no overall control. It was a key Labour target, but it seems the party’s problems with anti-Semitism turned into an electoral headache.
In Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein has won the by election as anticipated.
But the main theme is the obliteration of the Ukip vote. Frequent Ukip leadership contender Bill Etheridge lost his seat on Dudley council. He was not pleased with the party’s (latest) leader.
Our attention now turns to Birmingham – where 101 new seats were all contested yesterday following a boundary review – and Solihull where the Tories are likely to retain control (current majority of 6) but face one of the strongest Green challenges in the country.
We will be tracking the results over on the on our rolling results live blog.
Similar Articles
Who can beat the Street? 0
You could be forgiven for not realising we are in the foothills of the very
Mayoral Mayhem? A challenging year begins…
The Board of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) meets this morning for the first
Council: Panel stands down, but recommends another one pop up
The Panel set up to oversee improvements to Birmingham city council has disbanded itself and
Brexit Watch: The List
We are living though extraordinary political times. The only thing to do in such circumstances
Birmingham City Council – a beacon (yes, you read that correctly)
They’re a tricky business, industrial relations, and I normally steer well clear. However, when the
About Author
