How Thursday could be Sandwell's biggest election in decades
Local Democracy Reporting ServiceOn 3 May 1979, Art Garfunkel was at the top of the charts with Bright Eyes and people were voting in a general election that would send Margaret Thatcher to Downing Street to begin 18 years of Conservative rule.
On the same day in local elections, Labour took control of Sandwell and have held it ever since.
But there are signs that the party's grip on this borough, where they once held all 72 seats, is now under serious threat.
There are predictions Reform UK could be the main beneficiary following polling day on Thursday.
"I live here and I'm worried," says the Labour leader of the council, Kerrie Carmichael.
"Just worried about community cohesion, I suppose, and the rhetoric that's coming through."
She explains how she has faced abuse while out campaigning about the way she looks, for example, rather than policy.
Boundary changes mean every seat is up for election in Sandwell including the Soho Victoria ward where we meet.
The last comparable election in this ward was comfortably won by Labour and it's clear this year's canvassing team have been getting a favourable response on the doorstep.
But while she says she is still feeling positive, Carmichael knows it is not like that everywhere.
So what has gone wrong in less than two years since Labour took power nationally?
"It's a challenge on the doorsteps but we really want this and we're out there every day, knocking on doors, talking to people about what Sandwell and Sandwell Labour have got to offer the community," says Carmichael.
"I think people are looking at national rather than local issues."
Fifteen minutes drive away in Stone Cross, part of the Hateley Heath ward, I meet a jubilant Reform UK team.
Their leader, Ray Nock, a former Conservative councillor, tells me he is predicting a political earthquake.
"A lot more than 37 seats," he says, forecasting they will comfortably pass the margin needed to take control of the council.
"I'm looking forward to at least top 40s, low 50s. I'd like a complete wipeout, obviously," he explains.
"But as long as I get that majority, we can implement Reform's policies in Sandwell."
A prediction like that, here in Labour's urban heartlands, would have been met with laughter 18 months ago - now, it is being taken seriously by the parties.
Chief among Nock's policy promises are to remove parking charges and pedestrianisation schemes in order to revitalise the high street, something he claims would be cost neutral due to reductions in enforcement.
If Reform is as successful as he predicts, he says it would be down to people being let down by the way Labour and the Conservatives have handled Brexit.
"Sandwell voted 60% for Brexit," he says, suggesting a better handling of the withdrawal from the European Union would have benefitted people here.
The Conservatives have always been squeezed here - they currently have just four of the 72 seats on the council.
Councillor Les Trumpeter admits Reform are appealing to people, but warns voters could end up with buyer's remorse.
"Reform seem to be offering alternatives that some people like, but I would just err on the side of caution about that," he says.
"If you take one man away from the party, which is Nigel Farage, the Reform votes and team may well crumble quite quickly."
He says, despite being a small group, the Tories have worked hard to get action on houses of multiple occupation (HMOs).
"We're still here in the background... and we'll continue doing that," he says.
Away from the headlines about Reform, any seats won by the Conservatives and the Greens could be key to deciding who runs Sandwell if no party wins big enough to take control on their own.
Will Gill was a Conservative and one of the youngest councillors in the country when he was first elected five years ago.
In February, he defected to the Greens as he believed their leader Zack Polanski was best placed to take the country forward.
What does he think success looks like for the Greens in Sandwell?
"If you looked at the last election, we got zero seats so now we're on two and that's obviously because myself and a colleague have joined," he says.
"So any success is a move forward and we can build a base here."
They are fielding 72 candidates like Reform, the Tories and Labour. The Liberal Democrats have 15 candidates, and there are nine Independents/others.
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