Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council election, 2006

Map of the results of the 2006 Sandwell council election. Labour in red, Conservatives in blue, British National Party in dark blue and Liberal Democrats in yellow.

The 2006 Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2006 to elect members of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in the West Midlands, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party stayed in overall control of the council.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Labour 50
• Conservative 11
• Liberal Democrat 5
• British National Party 4
• Independent 2^[2]

Campaign

24 of the 72 seats on the council were being contested in the election,^[3] with Labour holding control beforehand with 53 seats.^[4]

The election saw 9 candidates from the British National Party, part of a record number for the party in the West Midlands.^[5] There were reports in the press that 5 of these candidates had a chance of being elected, with 3 of them having a high probability of success.^[6]

In the run up to the election councillor Alan Burkitt was arrested by the police on suspicion of selling his girlfriend for sex.^[7] As a result Burkitt, representing Charlemont with Grove Vale ward, was suspended from the Conservative party; Burkitt had previously been a Liberal Democrat councillor before defecting to the Conservatives.^[7]

During the election the Conservative candidate in Tipton Green Shahzad Chaudhry accused the Labour councillor, Ahmadul Haque, of breaking the code of conduct for candidates by giving his home number for voters who wanted help with postal votes, however Haque denied he had done anything wrong.^[8] Meanwhile Chaudhry received the backing of the former British National Party organiser for the West Midlands, Steve Edwards, in the election for Tipton Green.^[9]

Election result

The results saw the British National Party win 3 seats,^[10] all gains from Labour.^[11] The gains for the British National Party came in the wards of Great Bridge, Princes End and Tividale,^[12] taking the party to 4 seats on the council.^[13] Labour dropped to 50 seats, after losing 4 but gaining another 1, the Conservatives stayed on 11 seats, the Liberal Democrats 5 and independents on 2 seats.^[13][14]

Sandwell Local Election Result 2006[15][16]
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	15	1	4	-3	62.5	44.2	33,127	-6.5%
	Conservative	4	1	1	0	16.7	27.1	20,321	-1.0%
	BNP	3	3	0	+3	12.5	12.4	9,268	+8.4%
	Liberal Democrat	2	0	0	0	8.3	15.0	11,263	+1.7%
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	0.8	621	+0.7%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	0.4	317	+0.4%

Ward results

Abbey[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Piper	1,592	48.9
	Conservative	Ewart Johnson	968	29.7
	Liberal Democrat	Roger Prior	695	21.4
Majority			624	19.2
Turnout			3,255
	Labour hold		Swing

Blackheath[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Shirley Ching	1,330	46.5
	Labour	Susan Downing	1,265	44.2
	Liberal Democrat	Mazhar Hussain	267	9.3
Majority			65	2.3
Turnout			2,862
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Bristnall[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Steven Frear	1,486	49.9
	Conservative	Terence Grainger	1,088	36.6
	Liberal Democrat	Sandra Berisford	402	13.5
Majority			398	13.4
Turnout			2,976
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Charlemont with Grove Vale[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tony Ward	1,737	48.6
	Liberal Democrat	Keith Allcock	830	23.2
	Labour	Jean Heywood	750	21.0
	Independent	Kathleen Ryan	254	7.1
Majority			907	25.4
Turnout			3,571
	Conservative hold		Swing

Cradley Heath and Old Hill[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Glenis Webb	1,545	53.0
	Conservative	Ronald Griffiths	1,372	47.0
Majority			173	5.9
Turnout			2,917
	Labour hold		Swing

Friar Park[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Simon Hackett	1,127	47.9
	Conservative	Barry Nelson	903	38.4
	Liberal Democrat	Dorothy Brayshaw	321	13.7
Majority			224	9.5
Turnout			2,351
	Labour hold		Swing

Great Barr with Yew Tree[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Mary Wilson	1,212	31.5
	BNP	Scott Dale	970	25.2
	Labour	Harbinder Deol	957	24.9
	Conservative	Stephanie Page	703	18.3
Majority			242	6.3
Turnout			3,842
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Great Bridge[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	BNP	Simon Smith	1,278	45.1
	Labour	Maureen Whitehouse	1,096	38.7
	Liberal Democrat	Philip Roberts	461	16.3
Majority			182	6.4
Turnout			2,835
	BNP gain from Labour		Swing

Greets Green and Lyng[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Badham	1,340	46.5
	BNP	Gordon Howells	793	27.5
	Conservative	Elaine Fitzpatrick	475	16.5
	Liberal Democrat	Dorothy Jones	246	8.5
	Independent	Ivor Morgan	30	1.0
Majority			547	19.0
Turnout			2,884
	Labour hold		Swing

Hateley Heath[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Terry Williams	1,411	45.1
	BNP	Sarah Dale	951	30.4
	Liberal Democrat	Rachel Cheeseman	416	13.3
	Conservative	Robert Lawrence	351	11.2
Majority			460	14.7
Turnout			3,129
	Labour hold		Swing

Langley[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mick Davies	1,263	39.8
	BNP	Karen Parkes	876	27.6
	Conservative	Leslie Pawlowski	777	24.5
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Allcock	257	8.1
Majority			387	12.2
Turnout			3,173
	Labour hold		Swing

Newton[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Anthony Underhill	1,424	42.9
	Labour	David Hosell	1,119	33.7
	Conservative	Valerie Ward	778	23.4
Majority			305	9.2
Turnout			3,321
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Oldbury[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mahboob Hussain	2,347	64.5
	Conservative	David Hadley	989	27.2
	Liberal Democrat	Emma Underhill	300	8.3
Majority			1,358	37.3
Turnout			3,636
	Labour hold		Swing

Old Warley[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John McHard	1,419	43.7
	Labour	Susan Crumpton	1,268	39.0
	Liberal Democrat	Christopher Reed	562	17.3
Majority			151	4.6
Turnout			3,249
	Conservative hold		Swing

Princes End[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	BNP	Russell Green	1,128	43.5
	Labour	June Newell	1,050	40.5
	Conservative	Jean Nugent	415	16.0
Majority			78	3.0
Turnout			2,593
	BNP gain from Labour		Swing

Rowley[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Thomas	1,524	56.1
	Conservative	Joanne Hadley	1,192	43.9
Majority			332	12.2
Turnout			2,716
	Labour hold		Swing

St Pauls[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gurinder Josan	2,196	53.5
	Conservative	Mohammed Ahmed	1,370	33.4
	Liberal Democrat	Russell George	414	10.1
	Independent	Kulbir Singh	121	3.0
Majority			826	20.1
Turnout			4,101
	Labour hold		Swing

Smethwick[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Victor Silvester	1,730	61.7
	Liberal Democrat	Ronald Hackett	858	30.6
	Independent	Narinder Dosanjh	216	7.7
Majority			872	31.1
Turnout			2,804
	Labour hold		Swing

Soho and Victoria[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mohammad Rouf	1,942	65.5
	Liberal Democrat	Shamim Ahmed	708	23.9
	Green	Shari Temochin	317	10.7
Majority			1,234	41.6
Turnout			2,967
	Labour hold		Swing

Tipton Green[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ahmadul Haque	1,268	35.7
	BNP	Steven Parkes	1,195	33.6
	Conservative	Chaudhry Shehzad	1,091	30.7
Majority			73	2.1
Turnout			3,554
	Labour hold		Swing

Tividale[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	BNP	Carl Butler	1,191	37.0
	Labour	Lorraine Ashman	1,158	36.0
	Conservative	Michael Hardy	562	17.5
	Liberal Democrat	Diane Gorton	308	9.6
Majority			33	1.0
Turnout			3,219
	BNP gain from Labour		Swing

Wednesbury North[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mavis Hughes	1,533	61.6
	Labour	Tony Middleton	659	26.5
	Liberal Democrat	Martin Roebuck	298	12.0
Majority			874	35.1
Turnout			2,490
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wednesbury South[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Elizabeth Giles	1,256	39.4
	BNP	Sharon Butler	886	27.8
	Conservative	Alan Nugent	822	25.8
	Liberal Democrat	Richard Mitchener	222	7.0
Majority			370	11.6
Turnout			3,186
	Labour hold		Swing

West Bromwich Central[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mohinder Tagger	1,778	54.1
	Liberal Democrat	Jarnail Sandhu	1,062	32.3
	Conservative	Christine Vickers	446	13.6
Majority			716	21.8
Turnout			3,286
	Labour hold		Swing

References

1. "Local elections: Sandwell". BBC News Online. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
2. "Local elections 2006: Results in full". The Guardian. 6 May 2006. p. 20.
3. "Candidates warned on postal votes; Sandwell". Birmingham Mail. 26 April 2006. p. 20.
4. Williams, Dale (4 May 2006). "Local issues dominate on polling day". Birmingham Mail. p. 2.
5. "Midland: BNP 'anti-Islam' bid for council seats". Birmingham Post. 4 April 2006. p. 3.
6. Merrick, Jane (17 April 2006). "Voters 'driven to arms of the BNP ; Minister warns of backlash at the polls over race". Daily Mail. p. 12.
7. Johnson, Steve (5 April 200). "Tax debts of shamed Tory; Politics: Sex claims councillor owes pounds 1 k in council bills". Birmingham Mail. p. 14. Check date values in: |date= (help);
8. Deeley, Tony (28 April 2006). "Poll is hit by post votes row; Tipton: Tory candidate cries foul over phone number in Labour election leaflet". Birmingham Mail. p. 29.
9. Walker, Jonathan (2 May 2006). "Local elections: Former BNP leader backs Asian Tory in battle for 'Tipton Taliban' ward". Birmingham Post. p. 7.
10. Pavia, Will; Sherman, Jill (5 May 2006). "BNP set for hard-fought breakthrough in South". The Times. p. 11.
11. Jones, George (5 May 2006). "Blair punished at the polls Ministers to be axed in Cabinet reshuffle today Prescott to apologise for letting down the party". The Daily Telegraph. p. 1.
12. Walker, Jonathan (5 May 2006). "Race hate fear as BNP gains seats; Right-wing support is a waste, warn activists". Birmingham Mail. p. 1.
13. "Labour chiefs vow to drive out BNP; Black country Far Right advance in Sandwell - but flop elsewhere". Birmingham Mail. 5 May 2006. p. 25.
14. "BNP take seats in West Midlands". BBC News Online. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
15. "Sandwell". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
16. "Local elections". The Times. 6 May 2006. p. 64.