Local election results 2022: Troubled Sandwell Council 'improving' says leader

The leader of troubled Sandwell Council said things were improving after Labour gained two seats in the election.

The party held on to 18 seats and won two from the Conservatives.

The authority has had six leaders in as many years with government commissioners recently appointed to implement change.

Leader Kerrie Carmichael said: "We are not making out that we are the best - we still know that we have got a way to go but we are doing it.

"We've got an improvement plan in place, which we are working on. We've already made many progresses, and we're working solidly."

She said the election had been dominated by national issues, with the cost of living crisis and numerous Partygate scandals strong on the doorstep.

"We've spoken to the opposition already about what we can do to help people."

In Wolverhampton, there was no change at the top as Labour held on to 17 seats.

In Dudley, the Conservatives kept 13 seats but lost two to the Labour Party. It comes a year after the Tories took control of Dudley Council for the first time in a decade.

Leader Patrick Harley said it had been a "pretty successful night".

Mr Harley, who saw his party lose two seats but remain in charge, said he was pleased to see the Tories competing strongly with Labour.

"Twelve years into a Tory government, fairly unpopular at the moment and we are snapping at their heels in some of their strongest seats," he said.

In Walsall, the Conservatives also held control with the party making one gain from Labour.

Council leader, Mike Bird, said Walsall had bucked the national trend, but was surprised by the result.

"We held everything we had and we have gained an extra seat, that has to be a result," he said.

"As always, we make our promises at elections and we deliver them."

Councillor Aftab Nawaz, the Labour group leader on the authority said: "I think there is a feeling against the Tories out there and we couldn't capitalise on that.

"I think people out there are fed up with politics and that perhaps comes straight from what is happening and what they see happening in Westminster on the TV."

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