Stoke & Staffordshire

Local elections 2026
Local elections 2026

Why are the 2026 local elections so significant in the West Midlands?

Political editor Elizabeth Glinka explains the significance of the 14 elections across the region.
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  1. A computer-generated image showing a memorial made up of spirals of thin metal columns. A path leads up to a doorway and people can be seen inside and around the memorial. It is set in the middle of a field with trees around it.

  2. A little girl with a blue school dress and with a large blue bag, walks down the pavement hand-in-hand with an adult.

  3. The back of a police officer wearing a high-vis police jacket.

  4. Stoke given first-hand look at recipe for success

    Mark Elliot
    BBC Radio Stoke's Stoke City commentator

    Stoke City players gather in a pre-match huddle before their match between against Millwall Getty Images

    Another game closer to the end of the season and another defeat which gave Stoke City a close look at the most popular recipe for success in the Championship.

    Take a consistent goalkeeper, add outfield players with strength, athleticism, power and reliability on the ball and garnish with a couple of individuals with match-winning quality who can offer something different and you're almost there.

    Mix into a shape that gets players forward in numbers whilst retaining defensive solidity, bake for 46 games and you will be there or thereabouts.

    Coventry, Millwall, Middlesbrough and Wrexham are all in the top six, none has the financial advantage of parachute payments and each team has most if not all of the characteristics listed above.

    Stoke are missing the physicality, athleticism and reliability in possession and at times over the past few weeks some players in red and white have also lacked a bit of desire.

    To be competitive at the top end of the division next season, they will need to add plenty of all of that to a squad about to undergo another significant transformation.

  5. Laura and her partner are posing together in a close-up image. She has her hair tied back and he has short brown hair and a short beard.

  6. Hall is standing outside a cream-coloured building and is wearing a navy suit, shirt and tie. He has greying hair and a short beard.

  7. 'We contrived to beat ourselves' - Robins

    Mark Robins described Stoke's defeat against Millwall as 'a real eye-opener'

    Stoke City boss Mark Robins spoke to BBC Radio Stoke after his side's 3-1 defeat to Millwall:

    "Two mistakes. They started off quite brightly as you'd expect – they're going for the top two.

    "We were OK and then we contrived to beat ourselves.

    "They haven't done anything to hurt us. We must be the only team in the division that gives away goals now.

    "Before we were hard to beat, we were hard to score against and it's just changed around.

    "But from my perspective we made changes, we got a little bit of a foothold, we got a goal back, we looked like we could go on and grab something."

  8. Josh Coburn leaps in the air and celebrates with a fist pump

  9. The store has a red and blue sign above it's shop front and goods for sale outside on the ground by the entrance. Goods can also be seen going on into the store.

  10. A man with a grey goatee and white hair, he is wearing a flat cap and a vest with a black t-shirt underneath

  11. Jamie is wearing a white cap and wearing a dark blue waterproof jacket. He is standing in front of his GB4 race car.

  12. Pritpal Singh Nagi is wearing a black turban and navy blue trousers and jacket. The jacket has white frills on the chest and coming out of the sleeves, and has gold buttons. He is holding a slim sword and has long black socks on. He is standing in a regal looking room with a patterned rug of red, blue and gold. There is a red leather armchair to his left and a large fireplace with blue tiling set into a wooden wall behind him.

  13. Johnathan is holding the item in his right hand as he stands in a field. He is wearing a scruffy jumper, jacket and cap. He is also wearing glasses.

  14. Alan Carr is sat down on a red settee wearing a brown jacket and grey trousers. He is sat next to judge Michelle Ogundehin, who is dressed in a cream jacket and matching skirt. They are joined by ten people, who are all contestants on the series Interior Design Masters. Sophie from Stoke on Trent is among the contestants and is second left in the photograph. She has long red hair and is wearing a yellow shirt, patterned red trousers and a brown gilet. Ben, from Kinver, is stood behind the red sofa with his arms folded, wearing a beige hoodie.

  15. Lakhbir is wearing a grey bucket hat and glasses and smiling at the camera. He appears to be at a busy outdoor event as people can be seen in the distance behind him.

  16. A woman with shoulder-length brown hair, and glasses. She is wearing a high-vis vest over her clothing, and has a yellow name badge. There is medical equipment behind her

  17. Two mug shots side by side. On the left is James Garlick, who has mousey brown hair, a beard, tattoos on his neck and a bright green top on. Shane Wintle is in the picture on the right. He has a shaved head, a beard and is wearing a white top.

  18. Port Vale boss Jon Brady

  19. A man and a women stood next to each other smiling. They are both wearing a purple Pancreatic Cancer UK T-shirt. They both have grey hair and the women is wearing glasses.

  20. A bald man with black glasses is smiling. He is wearing a blue top with a black gilet jacket over it. Next to him is a supporting beam that is metal and covered in stickers

  21. 'Season defined by injuries'

    Mark Elliott
    BBC Radio Stoke's Stoke City commentator

    Robert Bozeník of Stoke City is tackled by Dan Scarr of Wrexham during a match between Wrexham AFC and Stoke City at Stok Cae RasGetty Images

    After another defeat at Wrexham, Mark Robins set out exactly what he wants from the summer transfer window and players who come in will need to have the physicality and reliability to compete in the Championship over a full season.

    He said he, the club's ownership and recruitment team have a lot of work to do to create a squad full of players with those characteristics, in addition to the quality required to improve on a season during which they've struggled in front of goal.

    Stoke finished the game with two wingers at full-back and an attacking full-back at centre-half, partnered by an 18-year-old making his professional debut.

    They also finished the game with more injuries to defenders to contend with at the end of a season defined by injuries to key players all over the pitch.

    Wrexham scored two goals in two minutes, one straight from a corner and one after a mistake from Aaron Cresswell.

    Both goals were poor from a Stoke perspective but the Potters had chances of their own and plenty of the game.

    In the end, poor decision-making or execution in the final third, and an inability to match Wrexham's strength, dismissed any hopes of a comeback.

    Those are the themes of the season and exactly the issues that will need resolving over the summer.