Sandwell 2026: stop sleepwalking the same rotten politics back into power

Sandwell 2026: stop sleepwalking the same rotten politics back into power

Sandwell has spent years complaining about its council, its politics, its complacency, its stitched-up culture and its talent for serving up the same tired mess in slightly different packaging. Yet when election time comes, far too many people either cannot be bothered to vote or march into the polling station and obediently slap their votes on the same party slate like trained seals at a seaside show.

Then, a few months later, the moaning starts again.

That is the Sandwell disease: outrage without action, anger without discipline, and “we need change” followed by voting habits that practically guarantee more of the same.

This year’s Sandwell local election is not the normal pattern. It is a one-off all-out election caused by the boundary changes, with all 72 council seats up for grabs across 24 wards on Thursday 7 May 2026. Each ward has three councillors, and voters can cast up to three votes in their ward. After this reset, Sandwell returns to its usual cycle, with the next elections in 2027, 2028 and 2030. (sandwell.gov.uk)

So no, this is not routine. And that is exactly why the usual lazy tribal habits need smashing.

Because let us be honest about how Sandwell has been kept as it is.

The first culprit is voter apathy.

Sandwell’s average turnout was 29.47% in 2021 and 26.12% in 2022. In 2022, Labour won 21 of the 24 seats contested. So while half the borough was muttering that things needed to change, most of the electorate could not even be bothered to leave the house and prove it. (sandwell.gov.uk)

Apathy is not harmless. It is not some neutral fog drifting above politics. In Sandwell, apathy has acted like free private security for the status quo. It has protected incumbents, cushioned incompetence, and allowed stale political habits to survive far longer than they should have done.

People love saying “everybody wants change.” No, not everybody. Not if they stay at home. Not if they do not register. Not if they leave the field clear for the best organised party machine. In the real world, the side that turns votes out wins, while the side that just complains online gets precisely nothing except the warm glow of feeling politically aware.

And yes, the machine matters.

Long incumbency brings advantages: recognised names, reliable ward networks, entrenched loyalties, bloc voting, familiar cliques, dependable postal voters and the sort of get-out-the-vote operation that becomes easier when you have had decades to cultivate it. There is nothing improper about postal voting itself — it is lawful and normal — but in a borough where turnout is chronically weak, the strongest machine benefits most from every banked vote. Sandwell’s own election information confirms postal voting arrangements for this election and the current three-year renewal rules. (sandwell.gov.uk)

That is why low turnout is so politically poisonous. It does not punish entrenched power as much as people imagine. Usually it protects it.

Then there is the second problem: the herd mentality of straight-ticket voting.

This year, because there are three seats in each ward and voters can cast up to three votes, there is a serious danger that people will thoughtlessly bung all three votes onto one party slate just because that is what the tribe expects. The Electoral Reform Society has long noted that bloc-vote arrangements favour disciplined parties and can let one party sweep a ward even without anything like unanimous support. (electoral-reform.org.uk)

In plain English: if you vote like a robot, do not act shocked when you get represented by robots.

Sandwell does not need another batch of party-approved seat fillers who can clap on cue, read out the official line and disappear when residents actually need something done. It needs councillors with a spine, a brain and enough independence to occasionally tell their own side to get stuffed.

That should not be a controversial ask in a borough with Sandwell’s history.

This is a council area where Labour has held majority control since 1979. It is also a council area that was serious enough in governance terms to end up under central government intervention from March 2022 until March 2024. That is not a badge of honour. It is not a minor blip. It is a giant warning siren bolted to the roof of local politics. (en.wikipedia.org)

So forgive me if I am not persuaded by arguments that Sandwell now needs less challenge, less scrutiny or another easy ride for a dominant machine. Quite the opposite. After that history, Sandwell should be desperate for stronger opposition, tougher questioning and councillors who are capable of more than loyally occupying a chair.

But there is another trap here too.

Sandwell should not swap one lazy party machine for another shiny nuisance that talks a big game and delivers very little. Not all change is improvement. Not every anti-establishment poseur is a serious local representative. Not every angry leaflet is evidence of competence.

Too much of this election already feels infected by national politics pretending to be local. Westminster slogans. Imported grievance. Party-brand theatre. National noise drowning out local need. Meanwhile the actual job of a Sandwell councillor remains stubbornly boring and important: sorting casework, understanding reports, questioning decisions, speaking for residents, knowing the ward, and being more useful than a laminated manifesto.

That is why voters need to be wary of the old boots on new ground syndrome too. Some candidates and parties are trying to pass themselves off as fresh simply because they have changed colour, changed logo or found a new script. But a recycled operator in a different rosette is still a recycled operator. Sandwell does not need cosmetic renewal. It needs people with genuine roots in their communities and enough backbone to put the borough before the badge.

And yes, there is a serious question about whether every candidate asking for office is genuinely capable of doing the job. Being a councillor is not a vanity project. It is not a title for the Facebook bio. It is not a reward for party loyalty or friendship circles. It is work. Real work. Reading papers, attending meetings, helping residents, asking questions, understanding policy, challenging nonsense, and sticking at it. Voters are entitled to ask whether the people put before them can actually carry that weight.

So here is my view.

Sandwell has had nearly half a century of Labour dominance. It has had scandal, intervention, chronic public frustration and years of resident complaints. Yet parts of the electorate still behave as if the safest thing to do is vote like nothing has happened, or not vote at all.

That is madness.

If you want change, vote like you mean it. Don't hand all three votes to the same party out of lazy tribal instinct. Stop confusing party branding with local merit. Stop rewarding people just because they have the right logo on the leaflet. Judge the candidate. Judge the record. Judge the seriousness. Judge who will actually work and who is just there to make up the numbers.

Because Sandwell does not need another landslide for a machine.

It needs scrutiny. It needs independence. It needs disruption of the old habits. It needs councillors who can think for themselves and who understand that representing residents is not the same as obeying a party line.

Most of all, it needs an electorate that stops acting surprised when it keeps recreating the same mess.

My personal selections for the Sandwell Local Elections - In alphabetical order

Bearwood
Leon Barnfield
Paul Bithell
Jane Grandey

Blackheath
Bhapinder Singh Bains
Deborah White
Dave Williams

Bristnall
Ellen Fenton
Jonathan James Fox
Louise Pearson

Charlemont & Grove Vale
Amrita Jasmine Dunn
David Dean Fisher
Rachael Michelle Mitchell

Cradley Heath & Old Hill
Satinder Dunn
Craig Morris
Julie Webb

Friar Park & Stone Cross
Simon Hackett
Amy Pittaway
Lisa Jane Weaver

Great Barr, Tamebridge & Yew Tree
Darren Harding
Debi Haywards
Connor Lee Horton

Great Bridge
Joe Cogavin
Keith Stephen Edge
Brad Steven Simms

Greets Green & Lyng
Laura Curtis
Paul Green
Mike Stanyer

Hateley Heath
Dave Moore
Doug Perry
Ram Sarup

Hill Top
Dean Adam Hollywood
Olivia Emily Shaw
Steve Simon

Langley
Sandra Colling
James Deans
Tuli Zefi

Newton & Valley
Tarjinder Singh Bassi
Kenny Jinks
Tiffany Sims

Old Warley
Connor Marshall
Tanisha Reid
Baljinder Singh

Oldbury
Andy Dangerfield
Stuart Hill
Rita Randell

Princes End
Kelly Cranston
Justyna Kordala
Geoffrey Lionel Sutton

Rowley
Ritchie Colin Massey
Benjamin James Morris
Paul Tromans

Smethwick
Simran Kaur
Ash Lewis
Mark Redding

Soho & Victoria
Andrea Melissa Boxall
David Michael Jones
Susan Neale

St Paul’s
Steven Finch
Kenan Taylor
Lynne Tomkinson

Tipton Green
Tim Hordley
Richard James Jeffcoat
Tom Lewandowski

Tividale
Maria Crompton
Robin Sarah Diver
Coleen Sheehan

Wednesbury
Jeremy John Handley
Richard Daniel Jones
Michael Owen Nelson

West Bromwich
Tirath Singh Dhatt
Kristopher Sarasadu
Sue Taylor

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