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. EFL match balls

  2. EFL match ball

  3. Hazel, who is woman with white hair and glasses, is looking at the camera with a slight smile on her lips. She is wearing a black top and silver sparkly cardigan. She is sitting on a green chair and there is a brown empty chair next to her.

  4. Male and female runners running past Selfridges building in Birmingham city centre.

  5. A three‑panel image showing a firefighter standing in front of a fire engine, a person riding a quad bike in mid‑air near emergency vehicles, and a person wearing a large vegetable costume with asparagus visible.

  6. Stoke City boss Mark Robins walks towards the changing room after a game

  7. A small vase that has been painted with light green trees and dark green rolling hills. The sky has been painted a patchy pink and red colour.

  8. A man wearing a bright orange high-vis top with "fire" on his back reaches into an open drain. A woman in the same clothing assists next to him.

  9. A young man with blond curly hair wearing a grey suit sits in a radio studio and smiles at the camera. He is sat beside a purple microphone that reads "BBC Radio Stoke" on the side in white writing.

  10. A graphical image shows a woman wearing a purple hoodie and with blonde hair tied back, puts up a Polling Station sign

  11. A woman in a pink top and long brown hair next to a circus performer in black tuxedo spinning plates

  12. A man in a black polo shirt and black cap, with a lanyard around his neck. He is standing in front of large glass windows in which the reflection of buildings opposite can be seen.

  13. A man with a hat, big beard and a black jumper which says "Hugo" stands in front of two screens with BBC Sport branding on the side.

  14. Laura and Tim are sat in front of their herd of sheep. Laura has dark blonde hair, tied back in a ponytail and wears a blue overall. Tim has a green jacket on over a blue top and wears blue-rimmed glasses.

  15. Luke Orchard sits in a car. He is a white man wearing a black beanie hat, with long hair and a long beard. He has a shocked expression. On the back seat of his car can be seen two plastic skeletons, which are yellow in colour.

  16. A cockatiel pictured inside a room in a house. It is grey in colour mostly with yellow on top of its head.

  17. Port Vale manager Jon Brady claps the club's fans at the Cardiff City stadium after their relegation from League One was confirmed

  18. Two men with dark hair and dark-coloured beards are pictured with neutral expressions in front of a neutral-coloured background. Peter Nwankwo is pictured in a black t-shirt, while Lamin Jallow is wearing a white t-shirt.

  19. An anonymous picture of a police community support officer. They have black long sleeves and a gilet style jacket that is bright yellow with reflective silver and blue squares on it. In the middle on a blue background with silver writing it says "POLICE community support officer"

  20. An artistic image of comedian Russell Kane - a man with short dark hair, wearing a white shirt with white flowers on it. A rose is also in the foreground. His mouth is wide open and his arms are open.

  21. 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.

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

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

  24. 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.