West Midlands polls close as Express And Star counts begin
Polls have closed across the West Midlands in the 2026 local elections, and express and star now moves from voting to counting. Ballot papers are being checked on Friday, with the first results expected in the afternoon and more to follow through Saturday.
Birmingham to Newcastle-under-Lyme
All-out elections are taking place in Birmingham, Coventry, Walsall, Sandwell, Solihull and Newcastle-under-Lyme. In Dudley, Wolverhampton, Tamworth, Cannock Chase and Redditch, only a third of seats are being contested, while Shropshire and Herefordshire are not holding elections this year.
More than 5,000 seats across 136 local authorities are being contested in England, alongside six mayoral contests. That scale means the West Midlands counts sit inside a much wider set of local battles, with results landing at different points across Friday and Saturday rather than in one single wave.
Friday counts in Dudley
Overnight counts are expected in Dudley, Tamworth, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Redditch, with announcements due in the early hours. Most other councils will start counting on Friday, and the first declarations are expected in the afternoon.
Local councillors are elected by first-past-the-post, so the candidate or candidates with the most votes in each ward win the seat. The system gives immediate control of each ward to the strongest local vote-getters, which is why individual count speed now matters as much as overall turnout.
Seats across England
Councillors are responsible for representing their local area, providing community leadership and voting on decisions in meetings, but they are not paid a salary. Instead, they receive an allowance to cover costs such as childcare and travel, which is one reason these contests remain a practical test of local political appetite rather than a full-time office race.
By Saturday, the West Midlands picture should be clear enough to show which councils have shifted and which have stayed put. For residents, the immediate next step is to watch the count in their own ward rather than the wider regional total, because that is where the first new mandates will emerge.
