The count took place at Walsall (in the former West Midlands College) this afternoon, Friday 8th May 2015 – after a commemoration for VE Day, which was a nice touch. Image from Walsall Council.

This post contains political comment – if that’s going to rub you up the wrong way, go here.

Well, Walsall politics is never dull and following the surprise routing of Labour nationally, despite strong performance from their local Parliamentary candidates, Walsall Council swung back within reach of the Conservatives following the local election count this afternoon, with Mike Bird’s party taking four seats – three from Labour and one from the beleaguered Liberal Democrats.

In Brownhills ward, the seat vacated by standing down, long-serving Labour Councillor Barbara Cassidy was taken by Conservative candidate Alan Ferguson, beating his nearest rival Derek Bennet from UKIP by nearly 600 votes. Labour’s Lauren Davies was third.

Whilst I’d liked to have seen Lauren win, I’m pleased UKIP didn’t make the double with Steve Craddock. UKIP clearly split the vote here.

In Walsall Wood, the seat vacated by Mike Flower (who’s also stepping aside this time) was taken decisively by fellow bussed-in Tory Gary Clarke. I hope he proves as popular and dedicated as Mike was – that’s a hard act to follow.

Elsewhere, the Tories took a seat from Councillor Gareth Ilmann-Walker in Willenhall North, and similarly Matt Follows snatched Bloxwich West. The other scalp was LibDem Daniel Barker’s, lost to Sarah Cooper at Short Heath.

This means that Labour in Walsall are now still the largest single group, but will have a hard time maintaining control.

The balance is now:

• 27 Labour
• 25 Conservative
• 3 UKIP
• 3 Independent
• 2 Liberal Democrat

I think we can all see that the Tories are in a strong position here now, even if Steve Craddock does bugger off on holiday again.

I note with some Schadenfreude that Ian Shires’ merry band of LibDems is now down to two. Hopefully another couple of elections will sort that out.

Whilst UKIP came second in many wards, they fell well short of a breakthrough and with the national picture the way it is, they look like a spent force for now.

Again, Walsall politics is never boring and it’s going to be an interesting twelve months.

Following data taken from the Walsall Council Local Election 2015 site.

Brownhills

Turnout: 58.79%

Aldridge North and Walsall Wood

Turnout: 64.64%