The new balance of Walsall Council. Interestingly, the Tories lost seats and the Liberal Democrats stayed as they were. Labour took 2 from the Tories, but lost two to independents. Graphic from Walsall Council’s results page.
For the full results, got to the Walsall Council Election 2012 page
Remarkably, the council has remained in no overall control. Labour gained two seats from the Tories, but lost two to independents. One of the independents is Pete Smith. Longstanding students of Walsall politics will be aware of the significance of this.
Considering some of the premature triumphalism in the Labour camp, and the gains seen elsewhere in the country, it’s clear something went a bit wrong for Labour in Walsall; I think we’re in for interesting times.
No surprise in Aldridge North and Walsall Wood, with Keith Sears returned, presumably for another quiet four years, with the BNP still bumping along the bottom. The man who couldn’t spell Walsall in his 2011 leaflet did, however, beat the Liberal Democrats to third place. Expect some gloating, but they still did very badly.
In Brownhills, Tory councillor Alan Paul got the chop and we have a new Labour councillor, Stephen Wade. Again, Liberal Democrats last place by some considerable margin.
Congratulations to the winners, commiserations to the losers. What happens next will be very interesting indeed. One thing’s for sure, Walsall politics is never, ever dull.
I’d like to thank Dan Slee and the folk behind the social media face of Walsall Council last night who gave a brilliant service in keeping folk informed. Cheers. With a bomb-scare in the afternoon, it must have been a very long day indeed.
Aldridge North and Walsall Wood
| Candidate | Party | Votes received |
| Majorowicz, Terence | British National Party | 264 |
| Sears, Keith | Conservative Party | 1348** |
| Grainger, Robert Arthur | Labour Party | 936 |
| Greveson, Mark Robert | Liberal Democrats | 163 |
** Elected
Brownhills
| Candidate | Party | Votes received |
| Paul, Alan John | Conservative Party | 1087 |
| Wade, Stephen | Labour Party | 1233** |
| Ryan, Ian Martin | Liberal Democrats | 173 |
** Elected
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Apart from a couple of switches from Labour to conservative and labour losing a couple to the “independants”, all fairly predictable and along national party lines. Would be very interested to see the turnout figures, not yet available on the Council Website. I imagine that the turnout figure as a percentage is very similar to the percentage of doors knocked by any of the candidates, if not lower. I live in WS9, I work from home, no-one knocked my door, is it any wonder that voter apathy seems to be on the increase? Not voting at all is a real shame, but almost understandable, apart from the few does anyone really connect with local politics these days? Standing at the ballot box last night I was very tempted to spoil my paper and see how many the spoilt papers got?
I agree with the above – I had no idea which way to vote yesterday because I hadn’t heard anything about any of the candidates, neither from literature nor door-knocking (I’m also in WS9), and I couldn’t find anything anywhere on the Walsall Council website either. Very frustrating. In the end I voted for the party I usually vote for, but I could well have been swayed if I’d known more about all the candidates and their policies.
It would be good if the election results page showed the results. At present no candidate appears to have any votes at all.
I believe it’s currently being updated with turnout figures. Results were there an hour ago
Bob
How long does it take to update the site?( Birmingham’s results were out hours ago.) I have been trying to find them since 7am.
I know how hard the Labour Team has worked over the last few months and it is devastating not to have gained control of the Council.
They’re showing for me?
Bob
i live in ws8 ,we have a very loud bell and still waiting for it to ring???.
apparently saving shoe leather. so till the next time then.
Thanks for your feedback, Bob.
It was certainly a busy day for the communications team.
A security alert which saw part of the town hall – and the Council House – evacuated was an added burden. It was interesting to see that play out on Twitter.
Last summer with rioting across Britain we took a step back from the rumours. After a really constructive meeting with police we could see that wasn’t the best way to tackle it. Instead we’d actively identify police Twitter streams and RT them to spread their message.
Election night is always busy not least with pointing media at winning Cllrs of all political parties.
This year we used Twitter, Facebook and an enhanced webpage but we’re always looking to improve things.
Maybe next year, we can do more. Any thoughts people may have we’re always keen to hear…
We had leaflets from the BNP :-/ and Labour, but otherwise not a peep. Sad to see that Keith Sears got back in, given that he’s practically invisible. Also, the turnout was pretty woeful….
Are people really saying that they will only vote if they get a personal visit or a leaflet?????????? Personal responsibility, anyone?
You may have missed the point here Liz, the point is that the councillors should be making more effort to “connect” with the electorate, I did vote after finding out what each of the candidates were alleging to do, I did take responsibility, but it seems to me that if the councillors and those trying to get elected made more effort then perhaps more of the electorate would make more effort.
Hi Liz
What a peculiar point of view.
People should vote dependent upon the candidates and policies placed before them. If candidates want our vote, they need to engage and provide their prospective electorate with information to make an informed choice.
Surely, voting blindly without knowing the details of your candidate is abrogating responsibility.
It is not unreasonable to expect councillors and candidates to communicate with the electorate. If they won’t make the effort when seeking your vote, they sure as hell won’t afterwards.
Labour performed dismally in Walsall this time precisely because they failed to engage. The places where they gained two councillors – Brownhills and Rushall – was precisely because those two guys took time to meet and campaign in their communities.
Bob
Fair comment Bob. I just want people to vote, or who knows what could happen.
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What exactly were Labour going to communicate to the electorate if they did engage? A needs based budget passed and to hell with the consequences, the fight back starts here? Of course not. That’s not what Labour stand for and haven’t since before anyone posting here was born.
The truth is nothing was at stake in this election and that’s reflected in the 28.95% over all turn out. The overwhelming majority recognised the futility of the exercise.