The only ward in Birmingham where residents can vote to elect a councilor today

Today, thousands of West Midlands voters will go to the polls and have their say in a wave of local elections. People will vote to elect councilors in the Black Country and Solihull, for example, as well as the West Midlands mayor and police and crime commissioner, on a busy day.

However, there will be no city-wide elections for Birmingham City Council today, May 2. This is because such an election was held only two years ago and had all council seats up for grabs.

In the 2022 election, Labor easily retained control of the council but lost two councilors from 2018, while the Conservatives lost three seats but remained the second largest party. The Liberal Democrats made the most dramatic gains with four seats, while the Green Party gained an extra councillor.

READ MORE: Full list of 2024 West Midlands local elections and candidates as voters ready to head to the polls

Speaking after the final result, Ian Ward, then leader of Birmingham City Council, said there were “swings and roundabouts” for Labor at the time. “We went into the campaign with 65 seats and came out of it with 65 seats,” he said.

“The 2018 election was a high note so, to repeat, this is an excellent result for the Birmingham election. The Tories lost five seats to us and in turn we lost four seats to the Lib Dems and one to the Greens.”

Four years earlier, the previous local elections in 2018 were the first since the number of House of Council seats fell from 120 to 101 following a boundary review. Since then, all Birmingham council elections have been held every four years, meaning the next one is in 2026 and then 2030.

However, voters in one ward – Bournbrook and Selly Park – will be able to vote today to elect a Birmingham city councilor after a by-election was called following the departure of former finance cabinet member Brigid Jones. She said in March that she was stepping down immediately to face new challenges outside of politics.

In the 2022 city council elections, Labor candidates in the district, south of Birmingham city centre, won by a significant majority. Candidate Jamie Scott will be hoping to retain this special seat for the Labor and Co-op Party as he faces competition from Dr Andrew Hardie (Birmingham Local Conservatives), Joe Norris (Liberal Democrats), Carla Charles (Green Party) , Edward Woollard (Labour Party). of Great Britain), Corinthia Ward (Socialist Alternative) and Pete Bloomer (independent).

A separate by-election will be held later this year following the resignation of Cllr Rick Payne.

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