2021 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council election

The 2021 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 6 May 2021 to elect members of Walsall Council in England. This was on the same day as the 2021 elections for the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, and the 2021 West Midlands mayoral election.^[1] These elections had been delayed from May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.^[2]

2021 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council election

← 2019 6 May 2021 2022 →
21 of 60 seats on Walsall Council 31 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Mike Bird Aftab Nawaz n/a Party Conservative Labour Independent Seats before 36 25 2 Seats after 36 22 2 Seat change 3   Fourth party   Leader n/a Party Liberal Democrats Seats before 2 Seats after 0 Seat change 2

One-third of the seats were up for election, with one ward (Pelsall) electing three councillors.^[3][4]

Background

Since its creation in 1974, Walsall has varied between the Conservatives and Labour. Between 1973 and 2004, Walsall had been under Labour control from 1973 to 1976, 1980 to 1982, 1988 to 1992, 1995 to 1996, and 1999 to 2000.^[5] It was then under Conservative control between 2004 and 2011, before reverting to no overall control and being retaken by the Conservatives in 2019.^[6] In the 2019 elections, the Conservatives gained 2 seats with 41% of the vote, Labour lost 2 with 38%, and the UKIP received 10.5% of the vote. Despite Conservative losses across the UK, the Conservative Party gained control of this council.

The seats up for election this year were last elected in 2016. In that election, the Labour Party gained 1 seat, with 43.2% of the vote, the Conservatives received 36.6%, and UKIP received 11.7%. This election was held prior to the 2016 EU Referendum.

Results

2021 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Conservative	14	5	63.6	22	37	60.0	35,778	54.1	+13.1
	Labour	7	3	31.8	15	22	36.7	24,048	36.3	-1.7
	Independent	1		4.5	1	2	3.3	805	1.2	-2.1
	Liberal Democrats	0	2	0.0	0	0	0.0	2,967	2.5	-1.2
	Green	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	1,788	2.7	+1.3
	Reform UK	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	775	1.2	New

Ward results

Aldridge Central and South

Aldridge Central and South^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tim Wilson	3,498	76.28	19.63
	Labour	Shaz Akhtar	648	14.13	2.27
	Green	Guan Chan	241	5.26	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Bates	199	4.34	2.39
Majority			2,850	62.15
Turnout			4,586
Registered electors
	Conservative hold		Swing

Aldridge North and Walsall Wood

Aldridge North and Walsall Wood^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Keith Sears	2,321	71.53
	Labour	Michael Bruce	609	18.77
	Green	Tanya Petrovic	161	4.96
	Liberal Democrats	Isaac Crosby	154	4.75
Majority			1,712	52.76
Turnout			3,245
Registered electors
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bentley and Darlaston North

Bentley and Darlaston North^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Angela Underhill	1,399	56.23
	Conservative	Sukhy Nijjar	1,089	43.77
Majority			310	12.46
Turnout			2,488
Registered electors
	Labour hold		Swing

Birchills-Leamore

Birchills-Leamore^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Amo Hussain	1,586	54.45
	Labour	Tina Jukes	1,060	36.39
	Green	Kevin Pitt	102	3.50
	Reform UK	Elaine Williams	99	3.40
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Wild	66	2.27
Majority			526	18.06
Turnout			2,913
Registered electors
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Blakenall

Blakenall^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Pete Smith	805	37.79
	Labour	Matt Ward	792	37.18
	Conservative	Saghir Mohammed	533	25.02
Majority			13	0.61
Turnout			2,130
Registered electors
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

Bloxwich East

Bloxwich East^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gary Flint	1,385	60.53
	Labour	Kath Phillips	903	39.47
Majority			482	21.07
Turnout			2,288
Registered electors
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Bloxwich West

Bloxwich West^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brad Allen	1,892	67.1
	Labour	David Morgan	728	25.8
	Liberal Democrats	Stuart Hodges	113	4.0
	Reform UK	Robert Matthews	88	3.1
Majority			1,164	42.3
Turnout
Registered electors
	Conservative hold		Swing

Brownhills

Brownhills^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kerry Murphy	1,526	55.0
	Labour	Steve Wade	953	34.3
	Reform UK	Lee Chapman	162	5.8
	Green	Phil Parker	88	3.2
	Liberal Democrats	Hamza Karim	46	1.7
Majority			573	20.7
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Darlaston South

Darlaston South^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Chris Bott	1,533	63.7
	Conservative	Derek Bennett	873	36.3
Majority			660
	Labour hold		Swing

Paddock

Paddock^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nick Gandham	2,194	52.6
	Labour	Nasar Ali	1,759	42.1
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Watts	222	5.3
Majority			435
	Conservative hold		Swing

Palfrey

Palfrey^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sabina Ditta	2,519	65.8
	Conservative	Moz Khan	1,307	34.2
Majority			1,212
	Labour hold		Swing

Pelsall

Three seats available.^[7]

Pelsall^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Garry Perry	2,208	32.5
	Conservative	Rose Martin	1,436	21.2
	Conservative	Ed Lee	1,430	21.1
	Labour	Jon Maltman	495	7.3
	Labour	Patti Lane	381	5.6
	Labour	Shamim Ahmed	319	4.7
	Green	Deborah Lee	275	4.1
	Reform UK	Graham Eardley	242	3.6
Majority
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Pheasey Park Farm

Pheasey Park Farm^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Adrian Andrew	2,156	71.1
	Labour	Trish White	650	21.4
	Green	Andrea Maynard	128	4.2
	Liberal Democrats	Matthew Barker	99	3.3
Majority			1,506
	Conservative hold		Swing

Pleck

Pleck^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Naheed Gultasib	2,310	74.8
	Conservative	Jitu Miah	778	25.2
Majority			1,532
	Labour hold		Swing

Rushall-Shelfield

Rushall-Shelfield^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Richard Worrall	1,426	50.1
	Conservative	Sawra Shmim	1,239	43.5
	Reform UK	Jade Davies	184	6.5
Majority			187
	Labour hold		Swing

Short Heath

Short Heath^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josh Whitehouse	1,353	54.1
	Liberal Democrats	Daniel Barker	608	24.3
	Labour	Elliot Pfebve	539	21.6
Majority			745	29.8
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Streetly

Streetly^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Keir Pedley	2,904	67.9
	Labour	Michael Coulson	678	15.8
	Liberal Democrats	Jennifer Gray	493	11.5
	Green	Alison Walters	205	4.8
Majority			2,226
	Conservative hold		Swing

St Matthews

St Matthews^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Abdus Nazir	2,162	50.8
	Conservative	Mohammed Yaqoob	1,565	36.8
	Green	Michael Walters	525	12.3
Majority			597
	Labour hold		Swing

Willenhall North

Willenhall North^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stacie Elson	1,276	46.0
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Shires	825	29.8
	Labour	Stephen Moreton	608	21.9
	Green	Carl Harrison	63	2.3
Majority			451
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

Willenhall South

Willenhall South^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sean Coughlan	1,577	53.5
	Conservative	Amandeep Kaur Garcha	1,229	41.7
	Liberal Democrats	Ben Hodges	142	4.8
Majority			348
	Labour hold		Swing

By-elections

Pleck

Pleck: 16 December 2021

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Simran Cheema	698	64.6	−10.2
	Conservative	Mohammed Saghir	382	35.4	+10.2
Majority			316	29.2
Turnout			1,080
	Labour hold		Swing	10.2