Summary

  • Conservatives make gains to take Wyre Forest

  • Greens become biggest party in Warwick

  • Liberal Democrats take control of Stratford-on-Avon council

  • Labour gains East Staffordshire Borough Council from Tories

  • Conservatives lose control of Staffordshire Moorlands, Rugby, Cannock, Bromsgrove and Worcester

  • Conservative council leaders in Stafford, Stratford-on-Avon and Rugby lose their seats

  • Conservatives however gain two seats as they hold Solihull Council

  • Conservatives also hold Walsall Council and Wychavon

  • Labour wins control of Stoke-on-Trent City Council in overnight result

  1. Callers explain voting decisionspublished at 15:15 British Summer Time 5 May 2023

    BBC Radio 5 Live's Chris Warburton has been asking listeners what won their vote in the local elections.

    But Jamie in Coventry told Chris he chose not to vote, citing a lack of campaigning and the introduction of voter ID as his reasons.

    "There was no visible campaigning," he says. "No knocking on doors, no leaflets, no pamphlets. I didn't know what I was voting for, so why would I go vote?"

  2. Conservatives fall short of Rugby majoritypublished at 15:12 British Summer Time 5 May 2023
    Breaking

    The Conservatives have missed out on a majority at Rugby Borough Council by one seat.

    A third of seats were up for election, with 22 needed for a majority.

    With 21, the Tories failed to secure it meaning the council will now have no overall control.

    The Conservatives lost two seats but remain the largest party - Labour gained two seats to take its total to 12 while the Liberal Democrats retained nine seats.

  3. Tories hold Wychavon with huge majoritypublished at 15:07 British Summer Time 5 May 2023
    Breaking

    The results are in for Wychavon and despite losing three seats the Conservatives retain control of the council which it has held since 1999.

    It's the biggest party by quite a margin with 31 seats compared to six for the second largest party, the Greens.

    Of the remaining seats, five were won by the Liberal Democrats and one by Labour.

  4. No overall control in North Warwickshirepublished at 15:02 British Summer Time 5 May 2023
    Breaking

    Ushma Mistry
    BBC CWR

    No party has been able to secure a majority in North Warwickshire.

    Previously held by the Conservatives, the party now has 17 seats - just one short of a majority.

    Labour was close behind with 15 and three seats were won by independent candidates.

  5. Let's check in on the Herefordshire derbypublished at 14:54 British Summer Time 5 May 2023

    Nicola Goodwin
    Reporter, BBC Hereford & Worcester

    We're about half-way through the count in Herefordshire and someone's come up with a novel way to keep track of the results - racing chocolate mice.

    Talk about winning by a whisker!

    Chocolate mice used as a result tracker

    The Conservatives are out in front so far and the Greens are on the Liberal Democrats' tail, but there's still a way to go. Who will squeak it in the end?

  6. Huge Tory losses seal defeat in Stratford-on-Avonpublished at 14:39 British Summer Time 5 May 2023

    Riyah Collins
    BBC News

    The Liberal Democrat victory over the Conseratives in Stratford-on-Avon is nothing if not decisive.

    All 41 seats were up for election and the Lib Dems stormed in with a 15-seat gain.

    That compared with the Conservatives who not only lost their majority, but dropped 14 of their seats.

    On the doorstep, campaigners said issues around the town's Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi came up again and again.

    He was sacked as Tory party chairman after an investigation found there had been a "serious breach of the ministerial code" when he failed to disclose an HMRC investigation into his tax affairs.

    This is the first time in the council's history that the majority - if there was one - hasn't been held by the Conservatives.

    The Lib Dems now hold 25 seats, more than double the Tories' 12. Three of the remaining four seats are held by the Greens and the last is filled by an independent.

  7. Cannock Chase: Parties neck and neck but no majoritypublished at 14:19 British Summer Time 5 May 2023

    Riyah Collins
    BBC News

    We've got more detail now on the results in Cannock Chase, where the Conservatives have lost their majority.

    A third of seats were up for election at the district council, which has been Tory-run since 2021.

    The party previously had a majority of three and after losing four seats this time around, the Conservatives are now one seat short of a majority with 18 councillors.

    Meanwhile Labour is very close behind, gaining five seats to hold 17 overall.

    The Green Party now has four seats in the council, an increase of one.

    The Lib Dems are down to a single seat after losing one of their councillors, while one seat that was independently held has also been lost.

  8. Labour gain 11 seats to take control in East Staffordshirepublished at 14:02 British Summer Time 5 May 2023

    The Conservatives were likely to lose seats here but predictions before polling day suggested a "very bad" result for the party would lead to a hung council.

    So for the Tories to have lost eight seats while Labour gained 11 may have surpassed expectations.

    East Staffordshire Borough Council has been run by the Conservatives since 2003 and at the last election in 2019 the party had a majority of seven seats.

    Boundary changes mean two seats have been lost from the council, down from 41 to 39.

  9. Tories lose control of Cannock Chase Councilpublished at 13:53 British Summer Time 5 May 2023
    Breaking

    There is no overall control at Cannock Chase District Council as the Conservative Party loses its majority.

  10. Liberal Democrats take control of Stratford-on-Avon councilpublished at 13:49 British Summer Time 5 May 2023
    Breaking

    Simon Gilbert
    Political Reporter, BBC Radio CWR

    The Conservatives have lost control of Stratford-on-Avon council to the Liberal Democrats.

  11. Stafford council leader loses seatpublished at 13:42 British Summer Time 5 May 2023

    Amara Sophia Elahi
    Political reporter, BBC Radio Stoke

    Patrick Farrington

    Another Conservative council leader has lost his seat - this time Patrrick Farrington at Stafford Borough Council.

    He lost his Gnosall & Woodeaves seat to the Green Party.

  12. Solihull: The resultspublished at 13:32 British Summer Time 5 May 2023

    A bit more detail on that Conservative win in Solihull.

    There were 17 seats up for election in Solihull at this election and the Conservatives won 10 of them, defending eight and gaining two.

    That increases their overall number of seats to 29 - three more than is needed for a majority.

    Labour lost their single seat on the council - with single losses for the Green Party and independents too.

    The only other party to make gains was the Liberal Democrats, who gained one seat.

    That means going forward, Solihull Council will be made up of 29 Conservative councillors, 13 Greens, six Liberal Democrats and three independents.

  13. Could Stratford-on-Avon be slipping towards Lib Dems?published at 13:25 British Summer Time 5 May 2023

    Giles Latcham
    BBC Midlands Today

    The count is still ongoing for Stratford-on-Avon District Council, but I've heard from one Conservative councillor who is pretty confident the party will lose overall control to the Liberal Democrats.

    The Lib Dems took 12 seats at the last election to the Tories' 19.

  14. Tories lose control of Bromsgrove - first time since 1999published at 13:18 British Summer Time 5 May 2023
    Breaking

    The results are in for Bromsgrove and despite being the largest party, the Conservatives have lost their majority.

    That means the council has no overall control.

    It's the first time the council has not been Tory-run since 1999.

  15. Labour gains East Staffordshire from Toriespublished at 13:14 British Summer Time 5 May 2023
    Breaking

    It's a Labour gain at East Staffordshire Borough Council, who take control from the Conservatives.

  16. Labour not acceptable in Walsall - council leaderpublished at 13:10 British Summer Time 5 May 2023

    Tracey Higgins
    BBC Black Country political reporter

    As the Conservatives retain control in Walsall, the council seems to be bucking the trend by managing to stay exactly the same.

    The Tories defended 13 of the 20 seats up for election, with the other seven being retained by Labour.

    "Walsall always bucks the trend - we go against the trend for the national Conservative party," said council leader Mike Bird, as the party loses control of other councils like Worcester and Stoke-on-Trent.

    "We always look for gains, but at the end of the day this is a clear message to Keir Starmer that Conservative councillors are a force to be reckoned with.

    "One could argue that if the Labour Party hasn’t made gains with the national trend, one has to say they’re not acceptable as a party in Walsall."

  17. Conservatives hold Solihullpublished at 12:59 British Summer Time 5 May 2023
    Breaking

    It's official - as expected the Conservatives have retained control of Solihull Council.

    They gained two seats (from the Greens) to finish with 29 seats.

    The Green Party now have 13 seats, while the Lib Dems have six.

  18. Rugby council leader loses seat to Labourpublished at 12:50 British Summer Time 5 May 2023
    Breaking

    BBC CWR

    Senthil Periasamy

    Conservative leader of Rugby Borough Council Seb Lowe has lost his Coton and Boughton seat to Labour’s Senthil Periasamy.

    A third of the council's seats are up for election, with full results expected by 16:00.

  19. Conservatives making gains in Solihullpublished at 12:45 British Summer Time 5 May 2023

    Rob Mayor
    Political reporter, BBC Radio WM

    We reported earlier that the feeling was that the Conservatives would comfortably hold Solihull.

    With the count still ongoing, the party has made a couple of gains from the Green Party - in Castle Bromwich and Kingshurst & Fordbridge.

    The Greens have also made a gain of their own, from Independents in Shirley West.

  20. Local councillors suffering from damage to Tory brand - MPpublished at 12:35 British Summer Time 5 May 2023

    Amara Sophia Elahi
    Political reporter, BBC Radio Stoke

    "The end of 2022 was not good for the Conservative brand - local councillors have sadly suffered because of that."

    That's the verdict from Stoke-on-Trent North Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis, as the city council switches from Tory to Labour.

    Jack Brereton, right

    Labour was last in charge in the city in 2015 and the council was marked out as one of its key targets in England as the party gained an impressive 14 seats.

    After the results, Mr Gullis said it was "very important now the Conservative Party in Westminster bands together and gets behind Rishi Sunak".

    He believes if the Conservatives can deliver on Mr Sunak's five pledges - around inflation, the economy, debt, the NHS and immigration - there will be a way back for the party yet.

    "We have to earn back their trust," he said.