2024 Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council election
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All 72 seats to Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council 37 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 32.3%  4.9%[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Map of the results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2024 Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on Thursday 2 May 2024 to elect all 72 seats to Dudley Council, alongside the other local elections across the United Kingdom being held on the same day.[2]
Prior to the election the council had been under Conservative majority control since the 2021 election.
The Conservatives lost control of the council, with no party having an overall majority and Labour and the Conservatives ending up with the same number of seats.[3] After a week of negotiations between the Conservative and Labour groups, it was announced that the existing Conservative leader, Patrick Harley, would remain leader of the council (and therefore appoint the council's cabinet) while Labour would be in charge of the majority of the council's scrutiny committee chairmanships and the mayoralty.[4]
History
The Local Government Act 1972 created a two-tier system of metropolitan counties and districts covering Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, the West Midlands, and West Yorkshire starting in 1974. Dudley was a district of the West Midlands metropolitan county.[5] The Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan county councils, with metropolitan districts taking on most of their powers as metropolitan boroughs. The West Midlands Combined Authority was created in 2016 and began electing the mayor of the West Midlands from 2017, which was given strategic powers covering a region coterminous with the West Midlands metropolitan county.[6]
Dudley Council has variously been under Labour control, Conservative control and no overall control since it was established. The Conservatives controlled the council from the 2004 election until Labour gained control in the 2012 election. Labour lost overall control in the 2016 election but continued to lead the council until 2017, when the Conservatives led the council, still without a majority. In the 2021 elections, the Conservatives gained a majority on the council, which they have held since.[7]
In the most recent council election in 2023, the Conservatives won 44 of the 72 seats, one less than prior to the election, while Labour won 27 seats, increasing their membership on the council by 1.[8]
Two by-elections were held between the 2023 elections and the 2024 elections. The Cradley and Wollescote ward by-election on 3 August 2023, triggered by the death of Labour councillor Richard Body, saw the Liberal Democrats gain their first seat on the council.[9] The St James's ward by-election on 24 August 2023, triggered by the resignation of Conservative councillor Wayne Sullivan, resulted in the Labour Party gaining the seat.[10][11]
Three councillors changed party affiliation between the 2023 elections and the 2024 elections. In October 2023, Labour councillor Adrian Hughes was suspended by the party following allegations of sexual harassment.[12][13] Conservative councillors Shaun Keasey and Peter Miller quit the party in October 2023 and February 2024 respectively. Keasey cited the Conservative Party's extremity as his reason for resigning from the party, while Miller expressed "disgust" at the party's selection process for the 2024 elections.[14][15] All three councillors have sat as independents on the council since departing their respective parties.
Electoral process
The council usually elects members in thirds every year except the 4th in a four-year cycle.[16] However, due to a boundary review of the wards by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, all 72 seats to Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council were up for election in 2024.[17][18]
