![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/66147920a22d0.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n The leader of Birmingham\u2019s Conservatives said his party defied election polls for the city and vowed to work with people \u2018across the political spectrum\u2019.\n <\/p>\n
Friday saw a dramatic election count unfold as Brum entered unprecedented territory and firmly rejected the two-party system.<\/p>\n
In its place is a mishmash of parties and personalities, with Reform UK, the Greens, Labour, Conservatives, independents candidates and Liberal Democrats all taking seats.<\/p>\n
This means no party has overall control of the council \u2013 and it remains to be seen whether a coalition can be formed to run it.<\/p>\n
Labour paid the price for frustration over issues such as the bin strike and lost control of the council as the likes of Reform, the Greens and independents promised change to voters.<\/p>\n
But what of another traditional mainstream party \u2013 the Conservatives<\/strong>? They faced a clash with Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform, with both parties criticising the other in the build-up to May 7.<\/p>\n The Tories ended up with at least 16 councillors in Birmingham \u2013 a slight drop compared to before the election and fewer than Reform.<\/p>\n But they held onto several seats across Sutton Coldfield, gained two in Sutton Vesey and retain edseats in wards such as Edgbaston and Highter\u2019s Heath.<\/p>\n Robert Alden, the Conservative group leader in Birmingham, held his seat in Erdington, along with Gareth Moore.<\/p>\n Coun Alden was asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service at the count whether residents could expect things to improve in Birmingham given the city\u2019s politics had fractured.<\/p>\n \u201cThe councillors who were elected have been given a democratic mandate from residents in their area,\u201d he said. \u201cThe duty now is going to be on everyone to try to work in a constructive manner to deliver a better city for people.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are fundamental issues in Birmingham \u2013 the state of the finances at the council, the state of rubbish on our streets, the fact there\u2019s still a bin strike going on.<\/p>\n \u201cThere needs to be solutions to these problems.<\/p>\n \u201cWe put forward a number of solutions and we\u2019re willing to work with people who are interested in making these issues better for\u00a0 communities.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately that\u2019s the job of the council \u2013 to try and deliver a better city for Brummies.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked why voters were\u00a0 drawn to Reform and the Greens, Coun Alden defended his party\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw lots of people predicting that in places like Sutton Coldfield and Erdington we [Tories] would lose massively,\u201d he said. \u201cIn fact, we\u2019ve managed to hold all those seats.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re seeing a very different picture to what the polls predicted.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere there are hard-working local councillors, people put their faith in them \u2013 and I think that\u2019s a really important part of democracy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need local councillors who will work for their communities and work to make the city a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n He said priorities for the Tories were cleaning up Birmingham, weekly bin collections and \u2018bringing back\u2019 local family housing by converting exempt accommodation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll try and work with people across the political spectrum to try and deliver those priorities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Asked if the Conservatives would be open to a coalition with Reform, Coun Alden responded: \u201cYou\u2019re putting words into my mouth.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I talked about were specific priorities, that\u2019s where our interests lie because the Local Conservatives always sat where the people of Birmingham sit.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to see an even better city, I love Birmingham and we want to make it a city residents deserve, not the city Labour that left.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Green Party<\/strong> in Birmingham had just two councillors at the start of the week. As Friday came to a close, that number had soared to 19.<\/p>\n There were huge celebrations among Green candidates at Brum\u2019s election count as it became clear they were one of the biggest winners from the election.<\/p>\n A dramatic day of results confirmed a Labour collapse in the Second City, with the party losing control of the council as voters rejected the two-party system and embraced a rainbow of alternative parties and personalities.<\/p>\n The fracturing of Birmingham\u2019s politics means no party has overall control of the council and there will be conversations over how to form a stable administration in the coming days.<\/p>\n This chaotic outcome follows a turbulent period for Birmingham, one marked by a bin strike and a financial crisis at the council that led to unprecedented cuts to local services.<\/p>\n It meant Labour were tasked with overcoming a wave of frustration among residents \u2013 and rival political parties and candidates took advantage.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are desperate for change,\u201d Green councillor Julien Pritchard (Druids Heath) said at the count. \u201cPeople want hope things can get better, things can be different.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re offering hope, we\u2019re offering strong community champions.\u201d<\/p>\n On the future of the council given the current uncertainty, he said: \u201cWe\u2019ll always work for the best interests of residents across the city and do the best we can for Birmingham\u2019s communities and residents.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going to put residents first and try to push hard to save our services \u2013 and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll be looking to do whatever role we end up playing in the new council.\u201d<\/p>\n The Greens gained seats in several wards across the city, including Handsworth, Ladywood, Bordesley & Highgate, Bournbrook & Selly Park, and Brandwood & Kings Heath.<\/p>\n In Stirchley, Green candidate Kamel Hawwash took the ward from Labour\u2019s Mary Locke.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough there was a councillor people valued, they look at the Labour Party performance as a council \u2013 not as an individual,\u201d he said at the election count.<\/p>\n On the prospect of working with Reform councillors, he said: \u201cI\u2019ve been speaking to some of them today, obviously we have our major differences.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what their stance is going to be about working with other people but I think there will be others we can work with before we have to worry about Reform.\u201d<\/p>\n Rob Grant, a Green councillor who retained his seat in King\u2019s Norton South, was asked why more voters were backing his party.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re very visible,\u201d he said. \u201cWe spend a lot of time getting to know the areas, dealing with the issues.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe bin strike has to be resolved as soon as possible,\u201d he added. \u201cWe need to get our recycling back, get our potholes sorted, fly-tipping cleared.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody wants to live in a nice place and at the moment, it isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Below is the new political makeup of the council \u2013 51 seats were needed for a majority.<\/p>\n There are two seats left to be declared in the Glebe Farm & Tile Cross ward, which was represented by Labour council leader John Cotton. He conceded on Friday that he was likely to lose his seat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The leader of Birmingham\u2019s Conservatives said his party defied election polls for the city and vowed to work…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[22440,22441,855,9163,22439,748,9444,1354,393,9453,4884,14987,269,12,3669,9440,93,16823,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-951300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-102-5","9":"tag-102-5-fm","10":"tag-birmingham","11":"tag-black-country","12":"tag-brierley-hill","13":"tag-britain","14":"tag-dab","15":"tag-dudley","16":"tag-england","17":"tag-fm","18":"tag-great-britain","19":"tag-halesowen","20":"tag-music","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-online","23":"tag-radio","24":"tag-sport","25":"tag-stourbridge","26":"tag-uk","27":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116552569167313003","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}