Dudley Council: Who will take control after dramatic election?
Labour could lose control of Dudley Council after losing three seats by a handful of votes in dramatic local elections.
The party lost Wollaston and Stourbridge Town by just THREE votes after five recounts in the early hours yesterday.
Similarly, the Gornal seat was surrendered to the Conservatives by Labour's Dave Branwood by just 27 votes.
And the Belle Vale seat also went to the delighted Tories by just 13 votes.
MORE: Full Dudley Council results ward by ward
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MORE: Local election results revealed - as it happened
Today, the Conservatives and UKIP were expected to begin talks about the possibility of forming a coalition to take power.
No party has control of the council and though Labour is the biggest party, the results left them two seats short of overall control.
But the council's current leader Pete Lowe insisted he was going nowhere.
In time, Labour could gain a majority by taking one more seat, with the Mayor of Dudley holding the casting vote.
The result potentially leaves UKIP as king maker, even though Mr Lowe 'categorically' ruled out any deal with UKIP and said he was confident the Conservatives would do the same.
He said: "We have a clear mandate, we are just short of a majority.
"The council was run with no overall control in the early 2000s and that is the agreement we are looking towards.
"I want constructive discussions with sensible councillors in the interests of the people of Dudley and not party politics."
Labour has 35 seats and the Conservatives 29. UKIP, crucially, has eight, enough to join with the Tories to command a majority.
The Tories gained Belle Vale, Gornal, Hayley Green and Cradley South and Wollaston and Stourbridge Town. Labour also lost Wordsley to UKIP.
Dudley's UKIP group leader Paul Brothwood said if UKIP did do a deal with either party, a condition could be at least one of the party's councillors being allowed onto the cabinet.
He said: "I need to speak to both the Tory and Labour leaders to see what their thoughts are.
Dudley's Conservative leader Patrick Harley did not rule out a UKIP deal and added: "We have the opportunity to take control.
"We don't think Labour has a mandate, the numbers don't stack up. There is only one party in the ascendancy and that is the Conservatives."
