Conservatives make gains on Midlands councils

Prospective councillors found the Conservatives had made gains on many authorities

In a reflection of the national result, the Conservatives have made gains in council elections in the Midlands.

The Tories took Worcester City Council, Herefordshire Council and East Staffordshire, all previously under no overall control.

The party also made gains in North Warwickshire from Labour, while Labour lost overall control in Stoke-on-Trent.

However, Labour retained control of the city councils of Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry.

'Voting confusion'

Labour gained two seats in Birmingham, while the party retained control in Wolverhampton, Dudley and Sandwell, where the only Conservative councillor, Anne Hughes, lost her seat.

The leader of Birmingham, Sir Albert Bore, said the general election result was bad news for Birmingham.

"We have taken out £100m of the budget this year," he said.

"If I look at the Conservative manifesto for this election, there are £2.5bn of cuts they are going to introduce. They haven't told us where those cuts are going to come."

While Labour lost overall control of Walsall, it remains the largest party.

The count continued at some councils across Cheshire and the Midlands

The Conservatives increased their majority in Solihull and retained control of the councils of Stratford-on-Avon and Rugby in Warwickshire, while they gained control of North Warwickshire Borough Council from Labour and Warwick, which was previously under no overall control.

In Coventry, Labour retained control.

In Worcester, the Conservatives took 18 of the 35 seats to win the council.

Council leader Simon Geraghty said: "It's fantastic to be able to lead a council with an overall majority once again."

Herefordshire Council also moved into Conservative control.

However, confusion over how many candidates people could vote for has meant the Saxongate ward election has been declared void and there will be a by-election.

'Leading by example'

Bromsgrove, Wyre Forest, Malvern Hills and Wychavon remained Conservative.

However, Labour maintained overall control of Redditch despite the Conservatives gaining four seats.

On Telford and Wrekin Council, Labour lost overall control but remain the largest party.

In Staffordshire, Labour lost control of Stoke-on-Trent. The City Independents, the Conservatives and UKIP may now try to form a coalition.

Cheshire East council leader Michael Jones retained his seat

Conservative leader Abi Brown said: "We are absolutely delighted we have picked up another five seats."

The Conservatives retained control of Lichfield, Stafford, South Staffordshire and Tamworth and gained control of East Staffordshire and Staffordshire Moorlands.

Labour retained control of Cannock Chase, despite losing three seats, while Newcastle-under-Lyme remained under no overall control.

The Conservatives retained control of Cheshire East with leader Michael Jones, who kept his seat, saying he was "leading by example".