What's next for West Midlands Conservatives?

Conservative councillor Emma Marshall said the right wing of the country had fallen apart

Local Conservatives have said the party needs to return to "traditional values" after suffering major general election defeats in the West Midlands.

The Tories have been left with just 15 seats in the region, down from 44 before the election.

The party now finds itself at a crossroads – does it turn to the centre or the right? Who might the next leader be and when should they be appointed?

Staffordshire’s Conservative Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams said: "In the post-mortem of the general election campaign itself, clearly not everything went as well as expected.

"I think the mood was set and the country was looking to make a statement.

"I’m not convinced a wonderful campaign would’ve turned that around."

Mr Adams, who was re-elected in May, said the party should focus on "traditional Conservative values".

"The principles of low tax, freedom of expression, opportunity for everybody, getting people back to work and protecting our borders are the things that matter.

"If you add Conservatives and Reform together, you’ve got a very close competition."

But he added: "They [Reform] deserve to do well but is it an established party with great traditions and a track record that we’ve had? Today, it is not."

The country was looking to make a statement, Conservative Ben Adams said

Conservative councillor Emma Marshall, who sits on Worcestershire County Council, said the party should “listen to our membership”.

She said: "I’ve already heard that at the top they are jumping to conclusions about things like we need to lurch more to the left.

"That isn’t what the membership want at all, they want us to go back to our values.

"This election shows that the right wing of the country has fallen apart. Labour won a landslide on 35% of the vote. They are not representative of the majority in the UK.

"We as Conservatives need to be accountable for our failings rather than sticking our head in the sand."

New leader?

Rishi Sunak said he would remain the leader of party until his successor had been chosen but so far no Tory MPs have officially said they would run.

Mr Adams added: "There’s probably a dozen who I think could do an excellent job.

"Kemi [Badenoch] and Suella [Braverman] will certainly be in the mix, they are credible people with a track record. But also Tom Tugendhat, Priti Patel and Robert Jenrick.

"There are some people perhaps not on the headline list who are very competent.

"We had an excellent relationship with Chris Philp for example who was the policing minister.

"Christmas would not seem unrealistic to me to choose the right person."

Mark Pritchard, MP for The Wrekin in Shropshire, retained his seat with a majority of just 800 votes.

He said: "I am glad that Rishi has stayed on as the leader of the party so that we have a smooth transition.

"The key thing is to take our time and get it right rather than rush and get it wrong."

Andrew Mitchell, MP for Sutton Coldfield, was re-elected to the seat he has served since 2001.

He said he was in favour of a long leadership campaign and added: "The critical thing is the party conference so that the whole party can have a good look at them."

Rachel Maclean, former MP for Redditch, lost out to Labour’s Chris Bloore by 789 votes.

She said: "It’s a bit like a grieving process for me personally. I need time off to reflect as I think our party generally does.

"We haven’t done well at all across the country.

"It was the best job I’ve ever done and it does leave a hole. I’m hoping it won’t be goodbye forever."

Politics Midlands is on BBC One on Sunday at 10:00 BST.