Walsall Council bosses talking to rivals in bid to keep power

The party has run the authority for less than a year with exactly half the 60 seats but lost three in last week's local elections.

It has left the door open to the second largest party, the Conservatives, to do a deal with other parties and try to take back control.

But Labour leader Councillor Sean Coughlan has revealed his party is also speaking to rivals.

He also hit back at Walsall's Tory leader Councillor Mike Bird who had accused Labour of causing 'immeasurable' damage with sweeping budget cuts since it took charge nine months ago.

"I am rather dismayed that Mike Bird wants to play politics at such as time as this with his remark," Councillor Coughlan said.

"We inherited these problems from his party including the £7 million mess caused by the Paul Davies case.

"The fact that we have tackled problems in children's services and attracted praise from the Government for moving the authority forward is not to be sniffed at. I think Councillor Bird is misrepresenting the truth of the situation.

"We are also in discussion with other groups just as he is. We will be talking to all the other groups including the independents about the council should move forward.

"The Labour group will meet on Monday but no decisions are likely to be made next week as the process will take some time.

"I shall be defending our track record and how we have turned round the council," added Councillor Coughlan.

The authority's former head of social care Paul Davies was sacked over misconduct allegations in 2014 and subsequently lost an unfair dismissal claim at an employment tribunal. The internal investigation and legal costs ran into millions of pounds.

The Tories had been in control of Walsall Council for more than a decade. But from 2012 to 2014 they were in coalition with the Liberal Democrats. Labour took over last summer.

The council now faces an uncertain few weeks after the Tories won three Labour seats and one from the Liberal Democrats.

As well as 27 Labour and 25 Tory councillors there are two Liberal Democrats, three UKIP, two independents and one Democratic Labour, the outgoing mayor Councillor Pete Smith.

Councillor Smith was a kingmaker last year, voting to support Labour taking control of the council. But he said he now regretted his support and added: "I predicted that this particular administration would prove to be the shortest in the history of Walsall. We will see whether this proves to be the case."

The Conservatives are expected to choose their leader on Monday, before also starting negotiations with other parties.

They hope to regain control from the Labour administration.

The group snatched seats in Bloxwich West, Brownhills and Willenhall North from Labour, along with Short Heath from the Liberal Democrats.