All council seats up for election at same time

ALL 101 seats on Birmingham City Council are up for grabs at this year’s local elections, taking place at the start of next month.

On Thursday, May 5, voters from Birmingham’s 69 wards will head to polling booths to choose their local councillor, with the count taking place overnight and results delivered the morning of Friday, May 6.

Labour currently hold a strong majority in the city with 65 out of the 101 seats. Conservative councillors form the opposition with 27 seats, while the Liberal Democrats hold eight and the Green Party holds one. In total there are nearly 400 people standing for election.

As ever, the results of local elections often reflect how the country feels about politics happening on a national level, so issues like the Ukrainian refugee crisis, ‘partygate’, and the cost-ofliving crisis are expected to have a significant impact.

On a more local level, issues affecting Birmingham such as bins, transport and education are also expected to influence voters.

Both Labour and the Tories appear to be placing a lot of stock in cleaning up Birmingham’s streets.

Some key seats that were neck and neck in the last local election in 2018 include Quinton, where less than 100 votes separated Conservative candidate Georgina Chandler and eventual winner

John Clancey of Labour.

In Garrets Green, Liberal Democrat Carol Jones lost out to Labour’s Saddak Miah by just 137 votes.

One seat which is wide open is Holyhead, which will be officially relinquished by the new MP for Erdington Cllr Paulette Hamilton on May 5.

All seats are up for election, so all cabinet members and the leader Ian Ward will be out campaigning with the hundreds of other candidates over the next few weeks.