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Sandwell Council leadership: Second vote after spoiled paper results in dead heat

A second vote to decide the new leader of Sandwell Council will take place tonight after the first one ended in a tie.

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It will be a battle between Councillor Steve Eling, the authority's acting leader, and Councillor Yvonne Davies, who both received 34 votes with one spoilt paper preventing a winner from being declared.

Councillor Ian Jones withdraw from the race before Friday's Labour group leader vote, which took place within hours of the publication of the long-awaited Wragge report into land deals at the council.

Councillor Jones said: "I felt it was appropriate to step down and give the party a clear vote between Councillor Eling and Councillor Davies. But the spoilt paper meant it was a tie."

The Wragge report revealed a series of council code of conduct breaches by former council deputy leader Mahboob Hussain.

Calls have now been made for Councillor Hussain's resignation and a protest will take place tomorrow by Sandwell UKIP ahead of the mayor-making ceremony.

The group says Councillor Hussain, who is expected to be brought in front of the council's standards committee to explain his conduct, should resign.

Members had already organised a protest against the mayor-making ceremony and meal tomorrow and chairman Pete Durnell said they would be using this to voice their concerns over the findings of the report.

He said: "Sandwell taxpayer funds have been deprived of many tens of thousand of pounds as a result of Councillor Hussain's code-breaching actions, and a considerable additional amount has almost certainly been spent in attempting to prevent these actions from reaching the public domain.

"Sandwell UKIP are therefore calling for Mr Hussain to resign immediately."

But in response, Councillor Hussain said he had no plans to resign. "This report is just one person's opinion," he said.

The Wragge report revealed former deputy leader Mahoob Hussain had breached council rules – including signing off on land sales to his friend at undervalue.

Hussain also demanded parking tickets issued to members of his family be quashed or reduced in a series of council code of conduct breaches, the report revealed.

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