2006 Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council election

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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. Sandwell UK local election 2006 map.svg
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.

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]

Contents

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]

In the run up to the election councillor Alan Burkitt was arrested by the police on suspicion of selling his girlfriend for sex. [6] 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. [6]

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. [7] Meanwhile, Chaudhry received the backing of the former British National Party organiser for the West Midlands, Steve Edwards, in the election for Tipton Green. [8]

Election result

The results saw the British National Party win 3 seats, [9] all gains from Labour. [10] The gains for the British National Party came in the wards of Great Bridge, Princes End and Tividale, [11] taking the party to 4 seats on the council. [12] 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. [12] [13]

Sandwell Local Election Result 2006 [14] [15]
PartySeatsGainsLossesNet gain/lossSeats %Votes %Votes+/−
  Labour 1514-362.544.233,127-6.5%
  Conservative 411016.727.120,321-1.0%
  BNP 330+312.512.49,268+8.4%
  Liberal Democrats 20008.315.011,263+1.7%
  Independent 000000.8621+0.7%
  Green 000000.4317+0.4%

Ward results

Abbey [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Robert Piper1,59248.9
Conservative Ewart Johnson96829.7
Liberal Democrats Roger Prior69521.4
Majority62419.2
Turnout 3,255
Labour hold Swing
Blackheath [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Shirley Ching1,33046.5
Labour Susan Downing1,26544.2
Liberal Democrats Mazhar Hussain2679.3
Majority652.3
Turnout 2,862
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
Bristnall [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Steven Frear1,48649.9
Conservative Terence Grainger1,08836.6
Liberal Democrats Sandra Berisford40213.5
Majority39813.3
Turnout 2,976
Labour gain from Conservative Swing
Charlemont with Grove Vale [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Tony Ward1,73748.6
Liberal Democrats Keith Allcock83023.2
Labour Jean Heywood75021.0
Independent Kathleen Ryan2547.1
Majority90725.4
Turnout 3,571
Conservative hold Swing
Cradley Heath and Old Hill [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Glenis Webb1,54553.0
Conservative Ronald Griffiths1,37247.0
Majority1736.0
Turnout 2,917
Labour hold Swing
Friar Park [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Simon Hackett1,12747.9
Conservative Barry Nelson90338.4
Liberal Democrats Dorothy Brayshaw32113.7
Majority2249.5
Turnout 2,351
Labour hold Swing
Great Barr with Yew Tree [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Mary Wilson1,21231.5
BNP Scott Dale97025.2
Labour Harbinder Deol95724.9
Conservative Stephanie Page70318.3
Majority2426.3
Turnout 3,842
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Great Bridge [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
BNP Simon Smith1,27845.1
Labour Maureen Whitehouse1,09638.7
Liberal Democrats Philip Roberts46116.3
Majority1826.4
Turnout 2,835
BNP gain from Labour Swing
Greets Green and Lyng [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Robert Badham1,34046.5
BNP Gordon Howells79327.5
Conservative Elaine Fitzpatrick47516.5
Liberal Democrats Dorothy Jones2468.5
Independent Ivor Morgan301.0
Majority54719.0
Turnout 2,884
Labour hold Swing
Hateley Heath [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Terry Williams1,41145.1
BNP Sarah Dale95130.4
Liberal Democrats Rachel Cheeseman41613.3
Conservative Robert Lawrence35111.2
Majority46014.7
Turnout 3,129
Labour hold Swing
Langley [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Mick Davies1,26339.8
BNP Karen Parkes87627.6
Conservative Leslie Pawlowski77724.5
Liberal Democrats Michael Allcock2578.1
Majority38712.2
Turnout 3,173
Labour hold Swing
Newton [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Anthony Underhill1,42442.9
Labour David Hosell1,11933.7
Conservative Valerie Ward77823.4
Majority3059.2
Turnout 3,321
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Oldbury [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Mahboob Hussain2,34764.5
Conservative David Hadley98927.2
Liberal Democrats Emma Underhill3008.3
Majority1,35837.3
Turnout 3,636
Labour hold Swing
Old Warley [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative John McHard1,41943.7
Labour Susan Crumpton1,26839.0
Liberal Democrats Christopher Reed56217.3
Majority1514.7
Turnout 3,249
Conservative hold Swing
Princes End [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
BNP Russell Green1,12843.5
Labour June Newell1,05040.5
Conservative Jean Nugent41516.0
Majority783.0
Turnout 2,593
BNP gain from Labour Swing
Rowley [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour William Thomas1,52456.1
Conservative Joanne Hadley1,19243.9
Majority33212.2
Turnout 2,716
Labour hold Swing
St Pauls [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Gurinder Josan 2,19653.5
Conservative Mohammed Ahmed1,37033.4
Liberal Democrats Russell George41410.1
Independent Kulbir Singh1213.0
Majority82620.1
Turnout 4,101
Labour hold Swing
Smethwick [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Victor Silvester1,73061.7
Liberal Democrats Ronald Hackett85830.6
Independent Narinder Dosanjh2167.7
Majority87231.1
Turnout 2,804
Labour hold Swing
Soho and Victoria [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Mohammad Rouf1,94265.5
Liberal Democrats Shamim Ahmed70823.9
Green Shari Temochin31710.7
Majority1,23441.6
Turnout 2,967
Labour hold Swing
Tipton Green [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Ahmadul Haque1,26835.7
BNP Steven Parkes1,19533.6
Conservative Chaudhry Shehzad1,09130.7
Majority732.1
Turnout 3,554
Labour hold Swing
Tividale [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
BNP Carl Butler1,19137.0
Labour Lorraine Ashman1,15836.0
Conservative Michael Hardy56217.5
Liberal Democrats Diane Gorton3089.6
Majority331.0
Turnout 3,219
BNP gain from Labour Swing
Wednesbury North [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Mavis Hughes1,53361.6
Labour Tony Middleton65926.5
Liberal Democrats Martin Roebuck29812.0
Majority87435.1
Turnout 2,490
Conservative hold Swing
Wednesbury South [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Elizabeth Giles1,25639.4
BNP Sharon Butler88627.8
Conservative Alan Nugent82225.8
Liberal Democrats Richard Mitchener2227.0
Majority37011.6
Turnout 3,186
Labour hold Swing
West Bromwich Central [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Mohinder Tagger1,77854.1
Liberal Democrats Jarnail Sandhu1,06232.3
Conservative Christine Vickers44613.6
Majority71621.8
Turnout 3,286
Labour hold Swing

References

  1. "Local elections: Sandwell". BBC News. 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. 1 2 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Walker, Jonathan (2 May 2006). "Local elections: Former BNP leader backs Asian Tory in battle for 'Tipton Taliban' ward". Birmingham Post . p. 7.
  9. Pavia, Will; Sherman, Jill (5 May 2006). "BNP set for hard-fought breakthrough in South". The Times. London. p. 11.
  10. 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.
  11. Walker, Jonathan (5 May 2006). "Race hate fear as BNP gains seats; Right-wing support is a waste, warn activists". Birmingham Mail . p. 1.
  12. 1 2 "Labour chiefs vow to drive out BNP; Black country Far Right advance in Sandwell – but flop elsewhere". Birmingham Mail . 5 May 2006. p. 25.
  13. "BNP take seats in West Midlands". BBC News. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
  14. 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". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
  15. "Local elections". The Times. London. 6 May 2006. p. 64.