2006 Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council election

The 2006 Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in the West Midlands, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party stayed in overall control of the council.[1]

Map of the results of the 2006 Sandwell council election. Labour in red, Conservatives in blue, British National Party in dark blue and Liberal Democrats in yellow.

After the election, the composition of the council was

Campaign

24 of the 72 seats on the council were being contested in the election,[3] with Labour holding control beforehand with 53 seats.[4]

The election saw 9 candidates from the British National Party, part of a record number for the party in the West Midlands.[5] There were reports in the press that 5 of these candidates had a chance of being elected, with 3 of them having a high probability of success.[6]

In the run up to the election councillor Alan Burkitt was arrested by the police on suspicion of selling his girlfriend for sex.[7] As a result, Burkitt, representing Charlemont with Grove Vale ward, was suspended from the Conservative party; Burkitt had previously been a Liberal Democrat councillor before defecting to the Conservatives.[7]

During the election the Conservative candidate in Tipton Green Shahzad Chaudhry accused the Labour councillor, Ahmadul Haque, of breaking the code of conduct for candidates by giving his home number for voters who wanted help with postal votes, however Haque denied he had done anything wrong.[8] Meanwhile, Chaudhry received the backing of the former British National Party organiser for the West Midlands, Steve Edwards, in the election for Tipton Green.[9]

Election result

The results saw the British National Party win 3 seats,[10] all gains from Labour.[11] The gains for the British National Party came in the wards of Great Bridge, Princes End and Tividale,[12] taking the party to 4 seats on the council.[13] Labour dropped to 50 seats, after losing 4 but gaining another 1, the Conservatives stayed on 11 seats, the Liberal Democrats 5 and independents on 2 seats.[13][14]

Sandwell Local Election Result 2006[15][16]
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Labour 15 1 4 -3 62.5 44.2 33,127 -6.5%
  Conservative 4 1 1 0 16.7 27.1 20,321 -1.0%
  BNP 3 3 0 +3 12.5 12.4 9,268 +8.4%
  Liberal Democrats 2 0 0 0 8.3 15.0 11,263 +1.7%
  Independent 0 0 0 0 0 0.8 621 +0.7%
  Green 0 0 0 0 0 0.4 317 +0.4%

Ward results
Abbey[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Robert Piper 1,592 48.9
Conservative Ewart Johnson 968 29.7
Liberal Democrats Roger Prior 695 21.4
Majority 624 19.2
Turnout 3,255
Labour hold Swing
Blackheath[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Shirley Ching 1,330 46.5
Labour Susan Downing 1,265 44.2
Liberal Democrats Mazhar Hussain 267 9.3
Majority 65 2.3
Turnout 2,862
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
Bristnall[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Steven Frear 1,486 49.9
Conservative Terence Grainger 1,088 36.6
Liberal Democrats Sandra Berisford 402 13.5
Majority 398 13.4
Turnout 2,976
Labour gain from Conservative Swing
Charlemont with Grove Vale[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Tony Ward 1,737 48.6
Liberal Democrats Keith Allcock 830 23.2
Labour Jean Heywood 750 21.0
Independent Kathleen Ryan 254 7.1
Majority 907 25.4
Turnout 3,571
Conservative hold Swing
Cradley Heath and Old Hill[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Glenis Webb 1,545 53.0
Conservative Ronald Griffiths 1,372 47.0
Majority 173 5.9
Turnout 2,917
Labour hold Swing
Friar Park[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Simon Hackett 1,127 47.9
Conservative Barry Nelson 903 38.4
Liberal Democrats Dorothy Brayshaw 321 13.7
Majority 224 9.5
Turnout 2,351
Labour hold Swing
Great Barr with Yew Tree[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrats Mary Wilson 1,212 31.5
BNP Scott Dale 970 25.2
Labour Harbinder Deol 957 24.9
Conservative Stephanie Page 703 18.3
Majority 242 6.3
Turnout 3,842
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Great Bridge[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
BNP Simon Smith 1,278 45.1
Labour Maureen Whitehouse 1,096 38.7
Liberal Democrats Philip Roberts 461 16.3
Majority 182 6.4
Turnout 2,835
BNP gain from Labour Swing
Greets Green and Lyng[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Robert Badham 1,340 46.5
BNP Gordon Howells 793 27.5
Conservative Elaine Fitzpatrick 475 16.5
Liberal Democrats Dorothy Jones 246 8.5
Independent Ivor Morgan 30 1.0
Majority 547 19.0
Turnout 2,884
Labour hold Swing
Hateley Heath[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Terry Williams 1,411 45.1
BNP Sarah Dale 951 30.4
Liberal Democrats Rachel Cheeseman 416 13.3
Conservative Robert Lawrence 351 11.2
Majority 460 14.7
Turnout 3,129
Labour hold Swing
Langley[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Mick Davies 1,263 39.8
BNP Karen Parkes 876 27.6
Conservative Leslie Pawlowski 777 24.5
Liberal Democrats Michael Allcock 257 8.1
Majority 387 12.2
Turnout 3,173
Labour hold Swing
Newton[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrats Anthony Underhill 1,424 42.9
Labour David Hosell 1,119 33.7
Conservative Valerie Ward 778 23.4
Majority 305 9.2
Turnout 3,321
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Oldbury[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Mahboob Hussain 2,347 64.5
Conservative David Hadley 989 27.2
Liberal Democrats Emma Underhill 300 8.3
Majority 1,358 37.3
Turnout 3,636
Labour hold Swing
Old Warley[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative John McHard 1,419 43.7
Labour Susan Crumpton 1,268 39.0
Liberal Democrats Christopher Reed 562 17.3
Majority 151 4.6
Turnout 3,249
Conservative hold Swing
Princes End[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
BNP Russell Green 1,128 43.5
Labour June Newell 1,050 40.5
Conservative Jean Nugent 415 16.0
Majority 78 3.0
Turnout 2,593
BNP gain from Labour Swing
Rowley[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour William Thomas 1,524 56.1
Conservative Joanne Hadley 1,192 43.9
Majority 332 12.2
Turnout 2,716
Labour hold Swing
St Pauls[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Gurinder Josan 2,196 53.5
Conservative Mohammed Ahmed 1,370 33.4
Liberal Democrats Russell George 414 10.1
Independent Kulbir Singh 121 3.0
Majority 826 20.1
Turnout 4,101
Labour hold Swing
Smethwick[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Victor Silvester 1,730 61.7
Liberal Democrats Ronald Hackett 858 30.6
Independent Narinder Dosanjh 216 7.7
Majority 872 31.1
Turnout 2,804
Labour hold Swing
Soho and Victoria[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Mohammad Rouf 1,942 65.5
Liberal Democrats Shamim Ahmed 708 23.9
Green Shari Temochin 317 10.7
Majority 1,234 41.6
Turnout 2,967
Labour hold Swing
Tipton Green[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Ahmadul Haque 1,268 35.7
BNP Steven Parkes 1,195 33.6
Conservative Chaudhry Shehzad 1,091 30.7
Majority 73 2.1
Turnout 3,554
Labour hold Swing
Tividale[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
BNP Carl Butler 1,191 37.0
Labour Lorraine Ashman 1,158 36.0
Conservative Michael Hardy 562 17.5
Liberal Democrats Diane Gorton 308 9.6
Majority 33 1.0
Turnout 3,219
BNP gain from Labour Swing
Wednesbury North[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Mavis Hughes 1,533 61.6
Labour Tony Middleton 659 26.5
Liberal Democrats Martin Roebuck 298 12.0
Majority 874 35.1
Turnout 2,490
Conservative hold Swing
Wednesbury South[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Elizabeth Giles 1,256 39.4
BNP Sharon Butler 886 27.8
Conservative Alan Nugent 822 25.8
Liberal Democrats Richard Mitchener 222 7.0
Majority 370 11.6
Turnout 3,186
Labour hold Swing
West Bromwich Central[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Mohinder Tagger 1,778 54.1
Liberal Democrats Jarnail Sandhu 1,062 32.3
Conservative Christine Vickers 446 13.6
Majority 716 21.8
Turnout 3,286
Labour hold Swing
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References
  1. "Local elections: Sandwell". BBC News Online. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
  2. "Local elections 2006: Results in full". The Guardian. 6 May 2006. p. 20.
  3. "Candidates warned on postal votes; Sandwell". Birmingham Mail. 26 April 2006. p. 20.
  4. Williams, Dale (4 May 2006). "Local issues dominate on polling day". Birmingham Mail. p. 2.
  5. "Midland: BNP 'anti-Islam' bid for council seats". Birmingham Post. 4 April 2006. p. 3.
  6. Merrick, Jane (17 April 2006). "Voters 'driven to arms of the BNP ; Minister warns of backlash at the polls over race". Daily Mail. p. 12.
  7. Johnson, Steve (5 April 2006). "Tax debts of shamed Tory; Politics: Sex claims councillor owes pounds 1 k in council bills". Birmingham Mail. p. 14.
  8. Deeley, Tony (28 April 2006). "Poll is hit by post votes row; Tipton: Tory candidate cries foul over phone number in Labour election leaflet". Birmingham Mail. p. 29.
  9. Walker, Jonathan (2 May 2006). "Local elections: Former BNP leader backs Asian Tory in battle for 'Tipton Taliban' ward". Birmingham Post. p. 7.
  10. Pavia, Will; Sherman, Jill (5 May 2006). "BNP set for hard-fought breakthrough in South". The Times. p. 11.
  11. Jones, George (5 May 2006). "Blair punished at the polls Ministers to be axed in Cabinet reshuffle today Prescott to apologise for letting down the party". The Daily Telegraph. p. 1.
  12. Walker, Jonathan (5 May 2006). "Race hate fear as BNP gains seats; Right-wing support is a waste, warn activists". Birmingham Mail. p. 1.
  13. "Labour chiefs vow to drive out BNP; Black country Far Right advance in Sandwell - but flop elsewhere". Birmingham Mail. 5 May 2006. p. 25.
  14. "BNP take seats in West Midlands". BBC News Online. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
  15. "Sandwell". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
  16. "Local elections". The Times. 6 May 2006. p. 64.
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