2000 Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council election

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The 2000 Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2000 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]

Contents

After the election, the composition of the council was

Campaign

Before the election Labour ran the council with 58 councillors compared to 9 Liberal Democrats, 3 Conservatives and 1 independent, with 1 Labour seat being vacant. [3] The vacant seat was in Oldbury ward, after the former councillor, Mohammed Niwaz, was convicted of fraud the previous December. [4] Among those who were defending seats in the election was the leader of the council, Tarsem King, in West Bromwich Central ward. [5]

Both the Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties were hoping to make gains after some recent school closures, as well as dissatisfaction with the national Labour government. [4] The Liberal Democrats were hoping to gain Hateley Heath, after having won a seat there in a by-election the previous November, and Oldbury. [4] Meanwhile, the Conservatives aimed to take Wednesbury South and were defending Charlemont after the councillor defected to them from the Liberal Democrats. [4] Labour defended their record, pointing to the lowest council tax rise in the region, and hoped to improve on recent low turnouts. [4]

Election result

The results saw the Labour party stay in control of the council, but they did lose some seats. [6] The Conservatives gained the seats of Old Warley and Princes End from Labour, while the Liberal Democrats took Hateley Heath from Labour. [6] Alan Burkitt also held off the Liberal Democrats in Charlemont for the Conservatives. [6]

Sandwell Local Election Result 2000 [7] [8]
PartySeatsGainsLossesNet gain/lossSeats %Votes %Votes+/−
  Labour 17-470.846.322,964-8.6%
  Conservative 4+316.734.517,119+9.3%
  Liberal Democrats 3+112.513.16,489-2.6%
  Independent 0004.22,076+1.7%
  BNP 0001.6781+0.2%
  National Front 0000.3150+0.2%
  Socialist Alternative 0000.168-0.2%

Ward results

Abbey [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Ann Jaron1,69860.6+1.0
Conservative Ewart Johnson76427.3−2.1
Liberal Democrats Roger Prior33912.1+1.1
Majority93433.3+3.1
Turnout 2,80131.1−0.7
Blackheath [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Glenn Harris85443.8−22.0
Independent Mary Docker51426.3+26.3
Conservative June Park44122.6−0.1
Liberal Democrats Walter Bowdler1437.3−4.1
Majority34017.4−2.7
Turnout 1,95221.3+1.2
Bristnall [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Malcolm Bridges1,04453.4−8.2
Conservative Roger Hickman91146.6+18.0
Majority1336.8−26.2
Turnout 1,95520.6−3.2
Charlemont [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Alan Burkitt1,26349.0+21.9
Liberal Democrats Mary Wilson79530.8−10.4
Labour David Hallam 52220.2−11.5
Majority46818.1
Turnout 2,58028.2+0.5
Cradley Heath and Old Hill [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Margaret James98653.5−13.3
Conservative Leonard Law67236.5+13.7
Liberal Democrats Malcolm Wilson18410.0−0.4
Majority31417.0−27.0
Turnout 1,84220.0−2.3
Friar Park [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour William Melia69850.9−17.9
Conservative Margaret Smith51937.9+6.7
Liberal Democrats Charles Simms15411.2+11.2
Majority17913.1−24.6
Turnout 1,37116.4−1.9
Great Barr [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats David Wainwright1,07740.7−9.0
Conservative Robert Lawrence99437.5+14.4
Labour Roy Melia52119.7−7.5
Independent Liberal DemocratChristian Burkitt562.1+2.1
Majority833.1−19.4
Turnout 2,64826.8−1.4
Great Bridge [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Maureen Whitehouse75048.8−11.0
Conservative Philip Mansell51033.2+13.1
National Front James Barry1509.8+9.8
Liberal Democrats Brian Burkitt1288.3+1.1
Majority24015.6−24.0
Turnout 1,53816.0−0.8
Greets Green and Lyng [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour John Edwards1,06361.7−14.2
Conservative Rosemarie Campbell49728.9+13.0
Liberal Democrats Lynne Yardley1629.4+1.1
Majority56632.9−27.1
Turnout 1,72228.6+6.8
Hateley Heath [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Mark Handy76248.0+17.6
Labour Joyce Edis54834.6−19.6
Conservative Raymond Nock27617.4+2.1
Majority21413.5
Turnout 1,58617.4−0.1
Langley [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Pauline Hinton1,12747.1−13.4
Conservative Roland Hill96240.2+12.2
Liberal Democrats Julia Garrett30212.6+1.1
Majority1656.9−25.6
Turnout 2,39124.6−0.1
Newton [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Martyn Smith1,32452.6−0.8
Labour Thomas Slater59923.8−6.9
Conservative Anthony Ward59323.6+7.7
Majority72528.8+6.1
Turnout 2,51627.1−1.7
Old Warley [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Karen Bissell1,57961.3+18.1
Labour Kathleen Burns99538.7−8.0
Majority58422.7
Turnout 2,57429.5−0.3
Oldbury [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Geoffrey Taylor1,10860.1−9.3
Conservative Bhajan Shokar46125.0+10.7
Liberal Democrats Diane Gorton27615.0−1.3
Majority64735.1−18.0
Turnout 1,84522.5−10.6
Princes End [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative June Newell55546.7+26.1
Labour Brian Southall53344.8−4.5
Liberal Democrats Philip Roberts1018.5+3.1
Majority221.9
Turnout 1,18912.2+0.0
Rowley [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour William Thomas1,11055.6−11.1
Conservative John Raybould56328.2+14.5
Independent Fred Hadley32316.2+3.3
Majority54727.4−25.6
Turnout 1,99620.8+0.5
Smethwick [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Frederick Smith1,18166.6−4.8
Conservative Beryl Hickman59133.4+14.7
Majority59033.3−19.3
Turnout 1,77220.8−3.5
Soho and Victoria [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Roger Horton84670.2−3.1
Conservative Jeanette Hill35929.8+9.7
Majority48740.4−12.9
Turnout 1,20522.4−3.8
St Pauls [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Jagwant Gill1,24644.8−7.1
Independent LabourBalkar Sandhu1,18342.6+10.0
Conservative William Shipman35012.6+1.2
Majority632.3−17.0
Turnout 2,77934.5+4.0
Tipton Green [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Ahmadul Haque1,45544.2−0.1
Conservative Alison Jones88026.7−1.6
BNP Stephen Edwards78123.7+6.5
Liberal Democrats Anthony Underhill1083.3−2.0
Socialist Alternative Ian Barton682.1−2.8
Majority57517.5+1.5
Turnout 3,29227.3+2.4
Tividale [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Douglas Parish76746.8−10.4
Conservative Steven Hockley64239.2+14.1
Liberal Democrats Roger Bradley23014.0−3.6
Majority1257.6−24.5
Turnout 1,63917.4−0.8
Wednesbury North [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Nellie Collett1,21262.2+2.2
Labour Elaine Giles73737.8+1.2
Majority47524.4+0.9
Turnout 1,94920.7−5.3
Wednesbury South [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Robert Evans1,10152.4−3.9
Conservative Margaret Dixon88242.0+5.1
Liberal Democrats Anthony Wilkinson1195.7−1.1
Majority21910.4−9.0
Turnout 2,10222.6+0.3
West Bromwich Central [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Tarsem King1,47561.4−4.1
Conservative Anne Hughes64326.8+5.2
Liberal Democrats Samantha Ford28511.9−1.0
Majority83234.6−9.3
Turnout 2,40328.6+0.3

References

  1. "Sandwell". BBC News. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  2. "Local council results". Financial Times. 6 May 2000. p. 6.
  3. "Hope for a better turn-out". Birmingham Mail . 5 April 2000. p. 13.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "The battle for power; Evening Mail spotlight on the issues involved as voters go to the polls in the local elections". Birmingham Mail . 3 May 2000. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
  5. Luck, Deborah (4 May 2000). "Hang on to your seats as election fight begins". Birmingham Post . p. 4.
  6. 1 2 3 "Labour staves off challenge for power". Birmingham Post . 5 May 2000. p. 3.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 "Sandwell MBC: Borough Council Election 4th May 2000". Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council. Archived from the original on 17 February 2001. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  8. "Election results: local councils". The Times. 6 May 2000. p. 10.