Local election results: Blue surge across the Black Country on awful day for Labour
The blue surge continued across the Black Country as the Tories made huge gains on all four councils in the local elections.
On a disastrous day for the Labour Party, the Conservatives seized overall control in Dudley, gaining 12 seats in a result which marks the party’s best ever performance in the borough.
In Walsall the Tories tightened their grip on power by gaining five seats.
The Conservatives took five seats off Labour in Wolverhampton and remarkably gained nine seats in Sandwell - the first Tories to win in the borough for nearly a decade.
Across the four boroughs the Tories gained 31 seats in elections delayed from last year due to the pandemic.
Full results from across the Black Country
The results continued the region’s swing towards the Conservatives over recent years and also piled huge pressure on Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
He faced calls to resign after his party was hammered in the Hartlepool by-election by nearly 7,000 votes.
Labour also lost control of several local authorities, while any hopes of success in the election for West Midlands Mayor appear to have been destroyed ahead of the result announcement on Saturday.
Dudley Council leader Patrick Harley hailed the result, which saw his party land seats in previous Labour strongholds including Brierley Hill, Lye and Quarry Bank and Dudley Wood.
His party now holds 46 seats to Labour’s 24, which he said made the opposition “irrelevant” in the council chamber.
The Tories benefitted from having “a really popular Prime Minister like Boris who people just really like”, Mr Harley added. Dudley North MP Marco Longhi said the results showed people were “backing Boris” and putting their faith in the Conservatives to help Dudley bounce back from the pandemic.
Labour group leader Qadar Zada said the results reflected “the national picture, not the local picture” and said his party needed to “think of a way how it can listen to people”.
Wolverhampton’s Tory group leader Wendy Thompson said the result – which gives her party 15 seats on the council – was the start of their “fightback”.
The Tories won seats from Labour in Oxley, Merry Hill, Penn, Bushbury North and Wednesfield South, although Labour won one back by regaining Bilston East.
In Sandwell, deputy leader Maria Crompton, who held onto her Tividale seat by the skin of her teeth, said the result was “really bad”, but vowed that Labour would “raise our game” in the borough.
In-depth reports from each count
Walsall Council leader Mike Bird, said: “It’s an amazing result, we have taken seats we would never have thought of.
“People voted for the Conservatives because they were proud of what the Government has achieved and what the local council has done.”
The results continued the region’s shift towards the Conservatives, which saw 10 Tory MPs elected in the Black Country in the 2019 general election.
Mr Johnson said the Tory win in the Hartlepool by-election was a “mandate” for his party to “continue to deliver” across the UK A shellshocked Sir Keir, meanwhile, said his party needed to “reconnect with working people”.
