Full Walsall Council election results as Tories buck national trend to emerge largely unscathed

The ruling Tory group managed to hold on to almost all of the seats they were defending including those of deputy leaders Adrian Andrew and Garry Perry in Pheasey and Pelsall respectively.

Labour did taste success with gains in Bloxwich West which saw Michael Coulson taking the seat from the Tories and Eileen Russell reclaiming St Matthews from an Independent.

Jade Chapman gained Rushall Shelfield for the Conservatives, which had been held by independent.

Members of the newly formed Independent Group who defected from Labour over the party’s stance on the Palestine issue all made passionate speeches in support on Gaza when three out of four successfully defended their seats.

Councillor Naheed Gultasib retained Pleck and Sabina Ditta secured a huge majority of more than 1,000 in Palfrey.

These seats were previously Labour strongholds before the councillors split from the party last November.

Another independent Pete Smith also dedicated his victory to people in Gaza after he successfully defended his Blakenall seat.

Current Tory cabinet members Cabinet members Gary Flint in Bloxwich East, Kerry Murphy in Brownhills, Keir Pedley in Streetly and Stacie Elson in Willenhall North also held their seats.

In their thank you speeches following their victories, Conservatives hailed the strong leadership and team work which brought them such success and said the results, which went against the national picture, proved they were delivering for residents.

Following the count, Walsall Labour Group leader Matt Ward said he was pleased with the two gains in his first election as leader and pointed out close run races in a couple of other wards.

The make up of the council is now 37 Conservatives, 14 Labour, 8 for the Independent Group and one of no political party.

Turnout for most of the wards were in the 20 and 30 per cents – the lowest being Blakenall at 22.17 per cent and the highest being Paddock with 40.98 per cent. Palfrey also attracted 40.13 per cent of voters.

Going into the election, the Conservatives had control with 37 councillors compared to 12 for Labour and a local independent group with nine.

By 2pm, 10 of the 20 wards had been declared, with the only change being Labour picking up one seat.

But once things had finished, four seats had changed hands with Labour taking a seat at Bloxwich West from the Conservatives, while independents took seats from Labour in Palfrey and Pleck. The Conservatives also gained in Rushall-Shelfield, taking the seat of retiring independent, Richard Worrall.

Here are the full results.

* denotes winner

Aldridge Central and South

Guan Chan, Green Party - 214

James Harrison, Labour - 926

Irene Henery, Reform UK - 378

Tim Wilson, Conservative - 2,268*

Aldridge North and Walsall Wood

Lesley Ann Lynch, Reform UK - 428

Dean Margetts, Labour - 696

Shaun McKenzie, Green Party - 123

Keith Sears, Conservative - 1,399*

Nigel Walker, Liberal Democrat - 85

Bentley and Darlaston North

Nahid Ahmed, Independent - 788

Stuart Chapman, Reform UK - 414

Abdul Kalam, Independent - 75

Kyra Murphy, Conservative - 389

Lucie Nahal, Labour - 952*

Birchills-Leamore

Amo Hussain, Conservative - 1,089*

Toyin Oshaniwa, Green Party - 165

Elliot Pfebve, Labour - 936

Paul Wild, Liberal Democrat - 89

Elaine Williams, Reform UK - 406

Blakenhall

Peggy Coop, Reform UK - 230

Andrea Maynard, Green Party - 67

Ian Robertson, Labour - 807

Pete Smith, Independent - 971*

Ana-Maria Zinica, Conservative - 206

Bloxwich East

Gary Flint, Conservative - 843*

Angela Hodges, Liberal Democrat - 66

Sue Spencer, Reform UK - 338

Stephen Wade, Labour - 814

Bloxwich West

Nicky Barker, Reform UK - 474

Michael Coulson, Labour - 1,065*

Stuart Hodges, Liberal Democrat - 66

Tony Sadla, Conservative - 1,043

Brownhills

Karl Andrews, Independent - 162

Michael Bruce, Labour - 779

Josh Dixon, Reform UK - 401

Kerry Murphy, Conservative - 1,056*

Darlaston South

Chris Bott, Labour - 1,612*

Peter Burton, Reform UK - 380

Issac Crosby, Liberal Democrat - 103

Owen Webster, Conservative - 360

Paddock

Dan Barker, Liberal Democrat - 279

Peter Faultless, Reform UK - 187

Nick Gandham, Conservative - 1,485*

Ghulam Papu, Independent - 789

Gordon Shipley, Green Party - 155

Bob Thomas, Labour - 1,085

Palfrey

Shamim Ahmed, Conservative - 693

Zulkifl Ahmed, Labour - 1,044

Sabina Ditta, Independent - 2,134

Sadat Hussain, Green Party - 298

Dexter Williams, Reform UK - 240

Pelsall

Graham Eardley, Reform UK - 369

Robert Lipke, Labour - 510

Garry Perry, Conservative - 1,801*

Pheasey Park Farm

Adrian Andrew, Conservative - 1,614*

Matthew Barker, Liberal Democrat - 208

Mark Bradley, Labour - 825

Pleck

Akbar Ali, Conservative - 557

Mary Beddows, Green Party - 260

Naheed Gultasib, Independent - 1,459*

Adam Mohammed, Labour - 1,323

Jonathan Stanley, Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition - 101

Rushall-Shelfield

Joe Belcher, Green Party - 182

Jade Chapman, Conservative - 1,068*

David Morgan, Labour - 951

Pete Page, Reform UK - 351

Short Heath

Lee Jeavons, Labour - 922

Chad Pitt, Liberal Democrat - 322

Josh Whitehouse, Conservative - 1,093*

St Matthews

Mushtaq Ahmed, Independent - 1,240

Raja Akhtar, Green Party - 296

Robin Perry, Reform UK - 287

Eileen Russell, Labour - 1,430*

Vandana Sharma, Conservative - 894

Streetly

Ruby Ki-Kydd, Reform UK - 288

Harjinder Nahal, Labour - 801

Keir Pedley, Conservative - 2,203*

Kieran Smith, Liberal Democrat - 176

Alison Walters, Green Party - 175

Willenhall North

Stacie Elson, Conservative - 997*

Benjamin Hodges, Liberal Democrat - 355

Tal Singh, Labour - 989

Willenhall South

Walter Eze, Conservative - 692

Leandra Gebrakedan, Liberal Democrat - 173

Klara Margetts, Labour - 1,773*