Election 08 - Sandwell

HONOURS EVEN AS TORIES GAIN THREE IN SANDWELL

02-05-2008

Sandwell’s opposition Conservatives maintained their recent progress in the borough – but Labour were able to claim it was a successful night after losing only three seats overall.

The Tories actually won four wards – Wednesbury South, Old Hill and Cradley Heath, Bristnall and Princes End, but lost in St Paul's, where allegations of postal voting fraud had surfaced.

Party leader Tony Ward declared himself “very pleased” with outcome, saying, “this went pretty much as I predicted, and it’s all down to a lot of hard work.

“I’m disappointed we lost St Pauls but overall this was a very good result.  We came second in a lot of seats where we’ve previously come second and overall our support has risen.”

His Labour counterpart Bill Thomas, the Council leader, was equally upbeat despite losing three seats overall - mainly because it was nowhere near as bad as the scale of the party’s decline elsewhere in the country.

He commented, “we’ve fared far worse in similar circumstances, in 1992 for instance.

“In St Paul’s we got Sandwell’s first Sikh woman councillor elected [Paramjit Kaur Randhawa] and given the national polls a nett loss of three seats in Sandwell is a very good result for Labour.”

Labour now have 49 seats (previously 52), the Conservatives 14 (11), with the Lib Dems holding steady at 5, the BNP 2 and other parties 2.

For the full Sandwell results, click here