The 2026 Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council election was held on Thursday 7 May 2026 to elect a third of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. It was held alongside council elections across England.
Prior to the election, the council was under no overall control. The Conservatives were the largest party and ran the council as a minority administration. At this election, the council remained under no overall control. The Conservatives lost seats, but remained the largest party. Reform UK won 22 of the 25 seats being contested at this election, and overtook Labour to become the second largest party on the council. The Conservative minority administration continued after the election. The incumbent Conservative leader of the council, Patrick Harley, was reappointed to the role at the subsequent annual council meeting on 28 May 2026, defeating an attempt by Reform to remove him from the post.
Previous council composition After 2024 election Before 2026 election Party Seats Party Seats 34 33 34 23 N/A 6 3 5 0 3 1 1 Vacant N/A Vacant 1 The changes underlying the "Before 2026 election" column are detailed on the 2024 election article.
Background
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. 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.
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 kept in the 2023 election.
The Conservatives lost control of the council in the most recent election in 2024, with no party having an overall majority and Labour and the Conservatives ending up with the same number of seats. 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.
In 2025, six Labour councillors including former Labour group leader Pete Lowe left the party to form the Black Country Party.
Electoral process The council elects members in thirds every year except the 4th in a four-year cycle. 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 in the previous election in 2024.
Election result
Incumbents
Ward Incumbent councillorParty Re-standing Amblecote Kamran Razzaq Conservative Yes Belle Vale Simon Phipps Conservative No Brierley Hill &Wordsley South Matthew Cook Black Country Party No Brockmoor & Pensnett Karen Westwood Black Country Party Yes Castle & Priory Karl Denning Black Country Party Yes Coseley Dave Roberts Labour Yes Cradley North &Wollescote Ethan Stafford Liberal Democrats Yes Gornal Stuart Turner Independent No Halesowen North Stuart Henley Conservative Yes Halesowen South Thomas Russon Conservative Yes Hayley Green &Cradley South Bex Collins Conservative Yes Kingswinford North &Wall Heath Mark Webb Conservative Yes Kingswinford South Luke Johnson Conservative Yes Lye & Stourbridge North Ellen Cobb Labour Yes Netherton & Holly Hall Shaneila Mughal Labour Yes Norton Alan Hopwood Conservative Yes Pedmore & Stourbridge East Jason Thorne Reform Yes Quarry Bank & Dudley Wood Ashley Smith Labour No Sedgley Shaun Keasey Reform Yes St James's Caroline Reid Labour Yes St Thomas's Adeela Qayyum Labour Yes Upper Gornal & Woodsetton Mushtaq Hussain Labour Yes Wollaston & Stourbridge Town Jason Griffin Labour Yes Wordsley North Keith Archer Labour Yes
Ward results
Sitting councillors standing for re-election are marked with an asterisk (*).
Amblecote
Belle Vale
Brierley Hill & Wordsley South
Brockmoor & Pensnett
Castle & Priory
Coseley
Cradley North & Wollescote
Gornal
Halesowen North
Halesowen South
Hayley Green & Cradley South
Kingswinford North & Wall Heath
Kingswinford South
Lye & Stourbridge North
Netherton & Holly Hall
Norton
Pedmore & Stourbridge East
Quarry Bank & Dudley Wood
Sedgley
St James’s
St Thomas’s
Upper Gornal & Woodsetton
Wollaston & Stourbridge Town
The ward elected two councillors after Cat Eccles (Labour), who had also served as MP for Stourbridge since July 2024, confirmed in February 2026 that she would not seek re-election as a councillor; she had deliberately delayed standing down to avoid triggering a separate, costlier by-election, and her seat fell vacant ahead of the May 2026 poll.
Wordsley North
Post-election changes
St James's by-election
Notes
References