Polls have now closed across the West Midlands following the 2026 local elections, with voters across the region casting ballots to decide who will represent them on local councils.<\/p>\n
Counting is continuing throughout Friday after several overnight declarations, with results expected from authorities across the region during the day.<\/p>\n
This year sees all-out elections taking place in Birmingham, Coventry, Walsall, Sandwell, Solihull and Newcastle-under-Lyme, while a third of seats are being contested in Dudley, Wolverhampton, Tamworth, Cannock Chase and Redditch. No elections are being held in Shropshire or Herefordshire.<\/p>\n
Across England, around 5,000 council seats are being contested across 136 local authorities, alongside six mayoral elections. Like parliamentary elections, councillors are elected under the first-past-the-post system.<\/p>\n
Early results from overnight counts point to significant changes across parts of the West Midlands, with Reform UK making major gains at the expense of both Labour and the Conservatives.<\/p>\n
Dudley emerged as one of the party\u2019s strongest results overnight, with Reform winning 22 seats and becoming the second-largest party on the council with 23 seats overall. The Conservatives remain the largest group with 27 seats, down from 33 before the election, while Labour now holds 15 seats.<\/p>\n
Of the 25 Dudley seats contested, the Conservatives retained just two and Labour held onto one, with Reform taking the remaining seats.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in the region, Labour lost control in both Redditch and Tamworth as Reform continued to gain support across a number of traditionally Conservative and Labour-held areas.<\/p>\n
Further declarations are expected throughout Friday as counting continues across the West Midlands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Early results have been declared overnight in Dudley, Redditch, Tamworth and Newcastle-under-Lyme, with further counts continuing across the region today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":266702,"featured_media":2036503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120782],"coauthors":[127717],"class_list":["post-2111547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-black-country","tag-coventry-and-warwickshire","tag-featured-story","tag-greater-birmingham","tag-shropshire","tag-staffordshire","tag-worcestershire"],"yoast_head":"\n