Local elections: Walsall voters on issues that matter to them

Bingo organiser Floss Huskisson (left) said she always kept her doors locked

Voters in many parts of Walsall go to the polls this week in elections that will decide who will control millions of pounds of taxpayers' money and make key decisions over local services.

A third of seats, 21 in total, will be contested on Walsall Council, with the Conservative Party going into the election with a majority of 14.

The area has traditionally been a Labour heartland but it has not held control of the authority since 1999.

People at Darlaston Sports and Social Club will be among those voting on Thursday.

Visiting them on bingo night, some there said the town was largely forgotten.

"It's more central Walsall they're bothered about, the politicians," Barney Butler said.

"We do not really see any politicians around here as such. As for poor people, it is very hard on them and I am one of them."

Barney Butler said it is rare for people in Darlaston to see any politicians

The cost of living was raised by others.

After two torrid years apart due to the pandemic, the club is still a place to come together for its loyal customers.

"We have been struggling with the Covid. We need a lot of help really, social clubs at the moment, it is very hard to keep the clubs open," assistant manager Jane Parker said.

Safety is a key issue for her as we approach the election.

She said there were often "people hanging about" in the evenings, while the nearby Leys building had become a magnet for arson attacks.

Once used to provide recycled furniture for people in need, it is now derelict and Jane said "nobody seems to want to do anything with it".

The government has faced intense pressure over gatherings held in and around Downing Street during Covid lockdowns and it remains an issue for some in Darlaston.

Floss Huskisson, who has been in area for 70 years, said: "It is not nice, is it? To think of them enjoying themselves and you have to stop in your house and you are on your own."

Asked what she thought of politicians and the world of politics at the moment, Chris Jones said she did not trust them, but was "heading towards" voting for Labour, saying "for what's happened over the last two years I think it will be Labour this time".

Part-time entertainer Tim Rooney said he had only ever voted once - for Brexit.

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"I voted Brexit because I'd seen a great big bus [which] Boris put up and [it] says the NHS [would] get 350 million a week, we'd be in charge of our own shores," he said.

"But unfortunately none of it's materialised. The way I feel about it they're [politicians are] all just in it for themselves and for their own parties. There's no decisions made for the general good of the public.

"I'd never vote the local elections to be honest cos I don't know who they are or what they do."

Social club assistant manager Jane Parker said the pandemic had been tough on social clubs like Darlaston's