2002 Redditch Borough Council election

Before the election, only a small swing would have seen the Labour party lose its majority on Redditch council,^[3] with the opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats only needing to pick up three seats between them for this to happen.^[4] The Labour Party was defending seven of the eleven seats to be decided and campaigned on its success over the previous years in eliminating all council debt.^[4] There was an extra seat in West ward where the Conservative leader on the council, Carol Grandy, stood down.^[4]

Labour lost its majority but remained the largest party.^[5] Labour had held control of the council for the previous 20 years but lost this after the other parties gained three seats in the election.^[6] Among Labour losses was its leader on the council, Albert Wharrad, who lost in Winyates ward to the Liberal Democrats.^[6] One of the closest results was in Lodge Park ward where Labour held on by 22 votes and Mohammed Nasir became the first Asian councillor on Redditch council.^[7] The results meant no party had a majority on the council for the first time in over 50 years,^[6] and the Conservative party claimed that the results would have been sufficient for them to have gained Redditch constituency in a general election.^[8] Turnout in the election was higher than in the last few years at 29.8%.^[9]

Following the election, the Labour and Conservative parties on the council elected new leaders and attempted to gain Liberal Democrat support to control the council.^[7] However, the Liberal Democrats said that they would not form an agreement with either Labour or the Conservatives on their own.^[10] In the end, at the council's annual general meeting on 15 May, all parties joined the executive of the council, which was formed with four Labour, three Conservative and one Liberal Democrat members.^[11] The Conservatives had wanted an executive in which both they and Labour had the same number of seats and accused the Liberal Democrats of backing Labour to prevent this.^[12] The new Labour leader, David Cartwright, was elected leader of the council and retained the chairman's casting vote.^[11][13]