Well, now the dust has settled, let's have a look at how we did in May's local election. 

We gained two seats, one in Sedgley, and the other in Gornal.

Councillor Mike Evans, who stood for election in Sedgley, comfortably won his seat, after a 35% turnout, with total votes of 1370, against Labour's 963 and UKIP's 1125 votes.

Councillor David Stanley won in Gornal, with 1283 votes, against Labour's 1256 and UKIP's 988. The turnout was 34%. 

As you may know, adding these wins to Dudley South's meant that with 5 seats won, Labour lost overall control of Dudley Council. 

This shows that the Labour Council and MP Ian Austin are not guaranteed their positions in Dudley. People in their droves have voted 'Anyone but Austin'. But although the feeling out there is that change is needed in Gornal, and sympathy does exist for our Conservative Party Councillor Candidates, we need to do more to ensure that the electorate comes out to vote on polling day.