Labour to 'respect people's wishes' and seek control of Walsall Council

Deputy group leader Mohammed Nazir said they were 'obliged' to launch a bid to run the authority after holding half the seats.

It comes after Chris Jones was elected to represent the Birchills-Leamore ward in the vote following the death of Tim Oliver, boosting Labour's number to 30 out of 60.

A special council meeting is now poised to be held in the near future where the party will put forward a motion to take over the running.

Councillor Nazir said: "We are obliged because of the excellent result of the by-election and we are the party with the manifesto.

"We will respect the people's wishes and go for the control. We will honour our manifesto that was put to the electorate two months ago."

Labour's manifesto for Walsall included a pledge to create apprenticeships for young people, buy from local firms and provide more affordable housing.

Councillor Jones said he was pleased to be elected to represent the ward on the authority for the first time. He has already been very active in the community as part of the Agenda 21 group.

"It has been a hard fought battle and the team has done a tremendous job. I have been doing the community work for 17 years with Agenda 21. I would like to support that and help the ward.

"I would like to see improved schooling for our ward, as I would throughout Walsall. Children's education is very, very important. I want to work hard to create a better place for us all to live."

He polled 1,075 of votes at the Thursday vote with Conservative candidate Gazanfer Ali coming second with 710. UKIP's Paul White got 445 votes with Chris Newey for the English Democrats receiving 20 votes.

The overall turnout was 22.4 per cent, which was higher than had been believed it would be in some quarters.

A deadlock was created at the council following the local elections held in May, when Labour made gains to reach 30 seats.

But within days Labour group leader Tim Oliver died which left the party mourning his loss, and losing a spot on the authority at the same time.

A bid to take over failed at the next Full Council meeting when the party was unable to get the support of other parties to topple Tory leader Mike Bird who remained in power.

The rest of the council consists of 21 Conservatives, UKIP and the Liberal Democrats both hold three, one Democratic Labour councillor and two Independents.