Birmingham local election 2022: Labour secure majority to retain control

Labour has hung onto its majority and maintained control of Birmingham City Council.

In total, the Labour Party secured 65 seats, retaining the same amount as before the election.

It was a disappointing day for the Conservatives who secured 22 seats, down from 27, while the Liberal Democrats gained four seats and the Green Party added their second seat in the city council.

Results

Labour: 65 seats (0)

Conservatives: 22 seats (-5)

Liberal Democrats: 12 seats (+4)

The Green Party 2 seats (+1)

Labour gained seats in Castle Vale, Perry Common, Allens Cross, Balsall Heath West, Harborne, Quinton and Kingstanding.

The Tories gained one seat in Longbridge and West Heath.

The Liberal Democrats gained Acocks Green, Aston and Moseley, and the Greens gained a seat in Kings Norton South.

There was a big shock in Aston as both Labour councillors, including the Lord Mayor Muhammad Afzal and Nagina Kauser, lost their seats to the Liberal democrats Mumtaz Hussain and Penny Wagg.

There was also a surprise in Moseley as Izzy Knowles gained a seat for the Liberal Democrats.

The Lib Dems made the most dramatic gains, grabbing both of the seats in the Labour stronghold of Aston, and picking up one seat in Moseley from Labour, and taking the scalp of bins chief John O’Shea in Acocks Green.

Internal division among Labour in Aston was thought to be to blame for the defeat.

The final results came in at around 5pm this evening.

The Green Party’s Rob Grant threw up another big surprise, taking the Kings Norton South seat from Labour.

That gave the Green Party their second seat on Birmingham City Council after Leader Julien Pritchard held his seat in Druid’s Heath & Monyhull. The Conservatives, running large parts of their campaign under the banner of the Local Conservatives, made efforts to distance themselves from Boris Johnson and the national party.

But despite this, they still lost five seats to Labour, gaining just one seat in Longbridge & West Heath. Leader of the Council Cllr Ian Ward comfortably retained his seat in Shard End with a majority of 483.

His opposite number Cllr Robert Alden also kept his seat in Erdington, seeing off stiff opposition from Labour candidates Suriyah Bi and Basharat Dad, who won 1,624 votes and 1,643 against Cllr Alden’s 2,469.

What was said about the results?

Cllr Gareth Ward also kept his seat in Erdington. Turnout at the polls was as low as expected, with few wards getting out more than 30% of voters.

Ian Ward, reflecting on the day, said it was “swings and roundabouts” for Labour.

“We came into the campaign with 65 seats and come out of it with 65 seats.

“The 2018 was a highmark so to repeat that is a great election result for Birmingham Labour.

“We are going to have to have a look at what’s happened in Aston – it is a very odd result.”

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