2008 Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council election

Map of the results of the 2008 Sandwell council election. Labour in red, Conservatives in blue and Liberal Democrats in yellow.

The 2008 Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2008 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]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

• Labour 49
• Conservative 14
• Liberal Democrat 5
• British National Party 2
• Independent 2 ^[2]

Background

Before the election Labour ran the council with 52 of the 72 seats, compared to 11 for the Conservatives, 5 Liberal Democrats, 2 British National Party and 2 independents. ^[3] This meant the Conservatives could not gain control of the council whatever the results, despite Labour defending 17 of the 24 seats being contested. ^[3] Other candidates in the election included 12 from the British National Party, 7 from the Green Party and 1 Socialist Labour Party candidate in Oldbury ward. ^[3]

Election result

The results saw Labour remain in control of the council with 49 seats, but the Conservatives made a net gain of 3 to move to 14 seats. ^{[4] [5]} The Conservatives gained 4 of the 17 seats Labour had been defending, in the wards of Bristnall, Cradley Heath and Old Hill, Princes End and Wednesbury South. ^[6] However Labour did take 1 seat back from the Conservatives in St Pauls ward. ^[6] Labour put the results down to them keeping council tax levels low and improving services, however the Conservatives said they were moving forward in "a traditional Labour stronghold". ^[6]

The Liberal Democrats held the 2 seats they had been defending in Great Barr with Yew Tree and Newton wards to stay on 5 seats, ^{[6] [5]} while neither the Greens or the British National Party won any seats. ^[6] The British National Party share of the vote in the 12 seats they contested, ^[6] dropped to 17% from the 33% they had won in the 2006 election. ^[7]

Sandwell Local Election Result 2008 ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	14	1	4	-3	58.3	43.8	30,195	-1.3%
	Conservative	8	4	1	+3	33.3	36.1	24,881	+8.8%
	Liberal Democrats	2	0	0	0	8.3	9.8	6,780	-1.4%
	BNP	0	0	0	0	0	8.4	5,755	-6.8%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	1.5	1,006	+0.8%
	Socialist Labour	0	0	0	0	0	0.3	216	+0.3%
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	0.1	84	-0.4%

Ward results

Abbey ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ann Gieszcykiewicz-Jaron	1,571	51.7	-2.8
	Conservative	Ewart Johnson	916	30.2	+8.7
	Liberal Democrats	David Nikel	342	11.3	-12.7
	Green	Patricia Thompson	209	6.9	+6.9
Majority			655	21.6	-8.8
Turnout			3,038
	Labour hold		Swing

Blackheath ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mary Docker	1,497	54.0	+21.2
	Labour	Robert Hamblett	1,016	36.7	-6.1
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Johns	258	9.3	+9.3
Majority			481	17.3
Turnout			2,771
	Conservative hold		Swing

Bristnall ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Grainger	1,306	46.7	+5.4
	Labour	Malcolm Bridges	1,235	44.1	-1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Emma Underhill	258	9.2	-4.3
Majority			71	2.6
Turnout			2,799
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Charlemont with Grove Vale ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Nock	1,635	48.3	+10.8
	Labour	Ralph Perkins	664	19.6	-5.3
	BNP	Arthur Copson	571	16.9	-3.4
	Liberal Democrats	Michaela Allcock	362	10.7	-6.6
	Green	John Macefield	155	4.6	+4.6
Majority			971	28.7	+16.1
Turnout			3,387
	Conservative hold		Swing

Cradley Heath and Old Hill ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Elizabeth Bowler	1,430	53.9	+23.8
	Labour	Margaret James	1,224	46.1	+1.0
Majority			206	7.8
Turnout			2,654
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Friar Park ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Lewis	1,027	44.9	+3.2
	Conservative	Thomas Nelson	691	30.2	+8.1
	BNP	Gordon Howells	427	18.7	-12.3
	Liberal Democrats	Dorothy Brayshaw	140	6.1	+0.9
Majority			336	14.7	+4.0
Turnout			2,285
	Labour hold		Swing

Great Barr with Yew Tree ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sadie Smith	1,218	36.0	+3.5
	Labour	Roy Melia	905	26.7	+1.0
	Conservative	Robert White	715	21.1	+1.0
	BNP	Terence Lewin	547	16.2	-5.5
Majority			313	9.2	+2.4
Turnout			3,385
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Great Bridge ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Derek Rowley	1,220	45.0	-0.3
	BNP	Jennifer Howells	711	26.2	-3.9
	Conservative	Heather Gibson	629	23.2	+6.3
	Liberal Democrats	Nigel Richards	154	5.7	+2.4
Majority			509	18.8	+3.6
Turnout			2,714
	Labour hold		Swing

Greets Green and Lyng ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Edwards	1,259	51.3	+3.8
	Conservative	Elaine Fitzpatrick	592	24.1	+3.8
	BNP	David Howells	422	17.2	-7.8
	Liberal Democrats	Dorothy Jones	180	7.3	+0.2
Majority			667	27.2	+4.8
Turnout			2,453
	Labour hold		Swing

Hateley Heath ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paul Sandars	1,245	45.9	-2.8
	Conservative	Stephanie Page	706	26.0	+12.4
	BNP	James Vaughan	512	18.9	-10.6
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Roebuck	250	9.2	+0.9
Majority			539	19.9	+0.7
Turnout			2,713
	Labour hold		Swing

Langley ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Pauline Hinton	1,271	47.6	+0.3
	Conservative	Ronald Griffiths	897	33.6	+9.9
	BNP	Victoria Montgomery	364	13.6	-8.1
	Liberal Democrats	Ronald Hackett	137	5.1	-2.3
Majority			374	14.0	-9.6
Turnout			2,669
	Labour hold		Swing

Newton ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Joyce Underhill	1,310	45.4	+3.1
	Conservative	Valerie Ward	763	26.4	+3.0
	Labour	Shirley Hosell	719	24.9	-9.4
	Green	David Hawkins	94	3.3	+3.3
Majority			547	19.0	+11.0
Turnout			2,886
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Old Warley ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Leslie Pawlowski	1,494	45.6	+4.8
	Labour	Susan Crumpton	1,269	38.8	-7.0
	Liberal Democrats	Baden Smith	359	11.0	-2.4
	Green	Aldo Mussi	151	4.6	+4.6
Majority			225	6.8
Turnout			3,273
	Conservative hold		Swing

Oldbury ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Susan Downing	1,720	51.0	-13.4
	Conservative	Abdul Qayyum	1,173	34.8	-0.8
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Mitchener	265	7.9	+7.9
	Socialist Labour	Maureen Matthews	216	6.4	+6.4
Majority			547	16.2	-12.6
Turnout			3,374
	Labour hold		Swing

Princes End ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Beatrice Owen	974	46.0	+26.2
	Labour	Delia Edwards	718	33.9	-1.8
	BNP	Karen Parkes	427	20.2	-14.7
Majority			256	12.1
Turnout			2,119
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Rowley ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Iris Boucher	1,169	45.5	-6.6
	Conservative	Wayne Nicholas	896	34.9	+8.7
	BNP	John Salvage	384	15.0	-1.9
	Green	Vicky Dunn	118	4.6	-0.3
Majority			273	10.6	-15.3
Turnout			2,567
	Labour hold		Swing

St Paul's ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paramjit Randhawa	2,031	52.6	-8.2
	Conservative	Mohammed Sakhi	1,497	38.8	-0.4
	Liberal Democrats	Thomas Underhill	249	6.4	+6.4
	Independent	Roshan Randhawa	84	2.2	+2.2
Majority			534	13.8	-7.8
Turnout			3,861
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Smethwick ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Linda Horton	1,620	59.0	+5.4
	Conservative	William Shipman	758	27.6	+0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Prior	369	13.4	-6.1
Majority			862	31.4	+4.8
Turnout			2,747
	Labour hold		Swing

Soho and Victoria ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Darren Cooper	1,972	70.9	+15.3
	Liberal Democrats	Kezia Malton	441	15.9	-16.3
	Conservative	Robert Lawrence	367	13.2	+3.2
Majority			1,531	55.1	+31.7
Turnout			2,780
	Labour hold		Swing

Tipton Green ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Jones	1,373	47.7	+0.6
	Conservative	Sandra Vickers	684	23.8	+7.4
	BNP	Keith Woodhouse	532	18.5	-10.4
	Liberal Democrats	Joanne Arnold	289	10.0	+2.5
Majority			689	23.9	+5.7
Turnout			2,878
	Labour hold		Swing

Tividale ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Maria Crompton	1,485	56.3	+14.7
	Conservative	Jack Sabharwal	1,155	43.8	+25.8
Majority			330	12.5	+0.7
Turnout			2,640
	Labour hold		Swing

Wednesbury North ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Archer	2,115	79.3	+23.4
	Labour	Babubhai Patel	553	20.7	-5.3
Majority			1,562	58.5	+28.6
Turnout			2,668
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wednesbury South ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Middleton	1,215	40.8	+11.1
	Labour	Robert Evans	1,144	38.4	-2.3
	BNP	Lee Bissell	467	15.7	-8.1
	Green	Colin Bye	151	5.1	+5.1
Majority			71	2.4
Turnout			2,977
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

West Bromwich Central ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kim Wilkinson	1,785	54.4	-0.9
	Conservative	Margaret Macklin	776	23.7	-7.3
	BNP	John Howells	391	11.9	+11.9
	Liberal Democrats	Russell George	199	6.1	-7.6
	Green	Brian Thompson	128	3.9	+3.9
Majority			1,009	30.8	+6.5
Turnout			3,279
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. "Sandwell". BBC News Online . Retrieved 27 February 2011.
2. "National: Full election results". The Guardian . 3 May 2008. p. 45.
3. "Conservatives too far behind to seize reins". Birmingham Mail . 16 April 2008. p. 13.
4. Johnson, Steve; Deeley, Tony; Williams, Dale (2 May 2008). "Tories delighted by a night of poll gains". Birmingham Mail . p. 5.
5. "Sandwell Council local election results - veteran councillor ousted". Halesowen News . 2 May 2008. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
6. "Local elections: Black Country council sees rare relief for Labour Party". Birmingham Post . 3 May 2008. p. 4.
7. Taylor, Matthew (3 May 2008). "National: Local elections: The also-rans: Modest night for BNP and Greens". The Guardian . p. 5.
8. "Sandwell". Birmingham Mail . Retrieved 27 February 2011.
9. "Results". The Times . 3 May 2008. p. 14.