The ruling Labour group, which has held power in Sandwell for all but one of the borough’s 50-year existence, swiped three of the four seats the Conservatives were defending in local elections on Thursday (May 2) – including the party’s leader David Fisher.
Of the 24 seats up for grabs, 22 were won by Labour with the Conservatives winning one and independent candidate Richard Jeffcoat won in Tipton Green.
The political split on Sandwell Council now sees Labour with 65 councillors, the Conservatives have five with two independents.
Labour’s Dalel Singh Bamra was victorious in the Charlemont with Grove Vale ward over Tory leader David Fisher with Connor Horton winning in Great Barr with Yew Tree. Tory councillor Scott Chapman lost his Friar Park seat to Labour’s Elizabeth Giles.
Conservative councillor Will Gill was re-elected in Great Bridge in what was the only saving grace for the party in Sandwell.
Independent candidate Richard Jeffocat pulled off a big win and was finally successful at the fifth attempt in Tipton Green where he defeated Labour cabinet member Charn Singh Padda with a whopping 1,630 votes.
Archer Williams, who was elected in Princes End in 2021 as a Conservative was re-elected this time around but as a Labour candidate having switched sides at the end of last year.
Labour council leader Kerrie Carmichael was re-elected in Blackheath – and she was among a string of Labour councillors who kept their seats with resounding wins.
Councillor Carmichael said she was “elated” by the results which saw Labour win 22 of the 24 seats on offer.
“Any other council would kill for that kind of result,” she said. “Obviously I’m disappointed that we’ve lost two seats, a clean sweep would have been nice but we are on an upward trajectory as a council.
“The residents voting for us in this way shows that we are doing a good job. Bring on the general election.”
Cabinet member Peter Hughes retained his Wednesbury North seat. There were big wins for Labour’s Parbinder Kaur in Smethwick, Jenny Chidley in Wednesbury South, Rizwan Jalil in Oldbury, Maria Crompton in Tividale and Ellen Fenton in Bristnall.
A huge win for Labour’s Nicky Hinchliff in the Abbey ward saw her re-elected with a 1,655-vote majority. Vicki Smith also won comfortably in Cradley Heath and Old Hill alongside a massive win for Sukhbir Singh Gill in the St Paul’s ward. Farut Shaeen was also victorious for Labour in the Soho and Victoria ward and Farzana Haq won in West Bromwich Central.
Amardeep Singh was victorious in Hateley Heath and Caroline Owen was re-elected for Labour in Langley.
Elaine Giles won in Newton and Pam Randhawa was elected with a 1,484-vote majority in Greets Green and Lyng. Sohail Iqbal, who replaced Wade Taylor as Labour candidate at the last minute, won comfortably for the party in Rowley.
Luke Cotterill won in Old Warley – which had been won by Tory councillor Jay Anandou in 2021 before he quit the party and saw out his term as an independent – in another gain for Labour.
A third of the council’s seats were on the line when polls opened on Thursday (May 2) with residents in each of the 24 wards asked to cast a vote.
The overall turnout for Sandwell was 28.48 per cent.
Here are the full results.
* denotes winner
Abbey
Thomas Blewitt, Conservative - 395
Nicky Hinchliff, Labour - 2,078*
Justin Macintosh, Trade Union and Socialist Coalition - 126
Roderick MacRorie, Green Party - 413
Blackheath
Kerrie Carmichael, Labour - 1,180*
Mike Cooper, Reform UK - 310
Bob Dunn, Conservative - 520
Aldo Mussi, Green Party - 157
Craig Taylor, Independent - 102
Bristnall
Gemma Barnfield, Conservative - 464
Chris Clemson, Reform UK - 316
Ellen Fenton, Labour - 1,413*
Clive Heywood, Liberal Democrat - 224
Charlemont with Grove Vale
Dalel Singh Bhamra, Labour - 1,480*
Usha Rani Braich, Liberal Democrat - 59
David Fisher, Conservative - 1,243
Sam Harding, UKIP - 71
Graham Nock, Reform UK - 256
Jeremy Parker, Green Party - 135
Cradley Heath and Old Hill
Leon Barnfield, Conservative - 506
Nicholas Bradley, Liberal Democrat - 123
Paul Connor, Green Party - 211
Cammilla Mngaza, Trade Union and Socialist Coalition - 19
Ballie Singh, Reform UK - 267
Vicki Smith, Labour - 1,340*
Friar Park
Scott Chapman, Conservative - 626
Elizabeth Giles, Labour - 1,013*
Steve Khuttan, Reform UK - 204
Richard McVittie, Liberal Democrat - 44
Kevin Priest, Green Party - 50
Colin Rankine, Yeshua - 21
Great Barr with Yew Tree
Connor Horton, Labour - 1,507*
Adrian Jones, Conservative - 752
Shareen Khan, Green Party - 219
Mark Smith, Liberal Democrat - 262
Margaret Sutton, Reform UK - 292
Great Bridge
Pete Durnell, Reform UK - 253
Will Gill, Conservative - 1,278*
Khurshid Haque, Labour - 1,035
Awais Qaisar, Green Party - 173
Greets Green Party - and Lyng
Gill Darby, Green Party - 295
Paul Green , Conservative - 422
Ray Nock, Reform UK - 225
Pam Randhawa, Labour - 1,926*
Hateley Heath
Jason Glover, Conservative - 439
Jackie Nock, Reform UK - 283
Martin Roebuck, Liberal Democrat - 125
Amardeep Singh, Labour - 1,713*
Langley
Gillian Coleyshaw, Conservative - 475
Caroline Owen, Labour - 1,523*
Ian Plant, Reform UK - 312
Newton
Tony Braich, Liberal Democrat - 154
Elaine Giles, Labour - 1,502*
Ravi Sangar, Conservative - 552
Geoffrey Sutton, Reform UK - 216
Hannah Valenzuela, Green Party - 181
Old Warley
Luke Cotterill, Labour - 1,412*
Hilary Grandey, Green Party - 249
Karl Leech, Reform UK - 290
Jeffrey Regha, Conservative - 619
Bob Smith, Liberal Democrat - 175
Oldbury
Richard Gingell, Trade Union and Socialist Coalition - 95
Mark Holdroyd, Green Party - 200
Rizwan Jalil, Labour - 1,714*
Wikas Khan, Liberal Democrat - 399
Robert Yardley, Conservative - 521
Princes End
Kelly Cranston, Conservative - 755
Gary Dale, Reform UK - 268
Joe Loudon, Green Party - 53
Archer Williams, Labour - 942*
Rowley
Saskia Ebanks, Green Party - 138
Chris Fanthom, Reform UK - 351
Sohail Iqbal, Labour - 1,080*
Laured Kalari, Independent - 265
Satpal Singh, Conservative - 471
Smethwick
Ravaldeep Bath, Trade Union and Socialist Coalition - 159
Stephen Emms, Conservative - 443
Gita Joshi, Green Party - 340
Parbinder Kaur, Labour - 2,024*
Soho and Victoria
Parminder Dhesi, Conservative - 336
Jeremy Rendell, Green Party - 435
Farut Shaeen, Labour - 2,207*
Keith Wilmot, Liberal Democrat - 169
St Paul’s
Patricia Emms, Conservative - 557
Sukhbir Singh Gill, Labour - 2,928*
Tipton Green
Aaron Emms, Conservative - 328
Richard Jeffcoat, Independent - 1,630*
Charn Singh Padda, Labour - 1,226
Tividale
Maria Crompton, Labour - 1,295*
Steve Dabbs, Reform UK - 264
Neil Griffiths, Conservative - 502
Palwinder Singh, Liberal Democrat - 125
Wednesbury North
Jayne Heathcote, Reform UK - 259
Peter Hughes, Labour - 1,042*
Abdul Husen, Independent - 513
Richard Jones, Liberal Democrat - 49
Gareth Knox, Trade Union and Socialist Coalition - 16
Mark Redding, Green Party - 106
Steve Simcox, Conservative - 517
Wednesbury South
Jenny Chidley, Labour - 1,603*
Manjit Singh Lall, Liberal Democrat - 143
U’Semu Makaya, Trade Union and Socialist Coalition - 39
Connor Marshall, Conservative - 636
Jack Sabharwal, Reform UK - 258
West Bromwich Central
Sarah Deans, Green Party - 223
Farzana Haq, Labour - 1,807*
Daljit Kaur Nagra, Liberal Democrat - 186
Rafiullah Mohammadzai, Conservative - 458
Mohammed Rohim, Independent - 439
Robert White, Reform UK - 261
