00:00Yes, I did vote and it is a bit worrying that there's no overall control.
00:05I would agree with that.
00:08Living where I do, though, it's not necessarily governed by the city council.
00:14We have our own metropolitan borough council.
00:18So we've pretty much got the same people that were in before anyway.
00:22So we don't get affected by the decisions that go on within the city.
00:26I think it was obvious who was going to win.
00:28I wouldn't vote for Nigel Farage personally, because when he took us out of Europe,
00:33he got the vote, he got the country to do the vote to get out of Europe, and then he
00:37resigned.
00:38And I think he's a people pleaser, so he says what he wants people to hear.
00:44And he's doing a good job of that, because obviously he's won a lot of seats.
00:48The Conservatives and Labour are just a joke at the minute,
00:51especially with what Starmer's done lately, what the last government did.
00:55I couldn't vote Conservative or Labour, I wouldn't vote reform, and that leaves me with nothing, to be fair.
01:02So you've given up on politics?
01:04Not given up, but there's nobody I could vote for and think I've done the right thing.
01:08For many people, the recent local council elections were not just about party colours.
01:14They were a verdict on how politics feels after years of pressure on services, budgets and trust.
01:20Across the West Midlands, the results has left a much more divided picture.
01:25Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley and Solihull are all under no overall control.
01:31That means not one party has enough councillors to run those authorities alone.
01:36In Birmingham, that's a major change after years of Labour leadership,
01:41with Reform UK emerging as the largest single group, but still well short of a majority.
01:48In Dudley, the Conservatives remain the biggest group, but lost overall control.
01:53Solihull is another council where parties will have to work across political lines.
01:58Elsewhere, Reform UK has taken control in Warsaw and Sunwell,
02:02two results which underline how far support has shifted from the established parties.
02:08But where control is split, agreements may now depend on negotiation, compromise and confidence
02:15between rival groups before big choices can be made in the months ahead, both locally and regionally.
02:22I don't think the city is getting improved at all.
02:24You know, you look around and the Birmingham City Centre is really in a bit of a disarray, really.
02:29There's rubbish everywhere and it looks desperate for somebody, a martyr,
02:34to come in and actually do the wonder, do it justice.
02:38I mean, one thing we need is our bins emptying.
02:41I live in a city centre apartment and we've had trouble getting our bins emptied
02:46and that's like really quite key for us, for everybody.
02:48So it's embarrassing.
02:50It's an embarrassment for Birmingham.
02:52You know, friends in Nottingham think we've got giant rats everywhere, which we haven't.
02:58But, you know, it's just embarrassing.
02:59It's interesting.
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