Words by Ed King
Castle Vale Councillor Ray Goodwin (Labour) has secured a narrow victory against Reform UK, retaining his seat by 44 votes.
In a razor thin contest, the locally popular politician took pole position with 899 votes – nudging ahead of the Reform candidate, Ross Copeland, who secured 855 votes.
Elsewhere, Margaret Okole won 124 votes for the Green Party, Roman Chapman won 107 votes for the Local Conservatives, Trevor Sword saw 30 votes cast for the Liberal Democrats, and Lousie Scrivens landed in last place with 11 for the Workers Party.
But Castle Vale has been seen by many as a key battleground in the Labour/Reform fight, with Cllr Goodwin campaigning hard on his own merits and fighting a significant backlash from local residents towards Birmingham Labour and the national party.
Across social media, on the run up to election day, many turned out in support of Cllr Goodwin – despite showing clear animosity for Birmingham Labour. But many also turned their backs on the local councillor because of his party political attachment and the failings they blame on the Labour run Local Authority.
Today’s result was simply too close to call.
Cllr Goodwin was joined by family, co-workers, and fiends at today’s election count. Speaking to Castle Vale/Erdington Local after the announcement, Cllr Ray Goodwin told: “I’m really pleased to have been re-elected; I fought this on a local level, listening to local people and directly engaging with our residents on Castle Vale.
“We’re a community, and I’m a representative of that community – their voices and their concerns had to lead this campaign. And we, as a community, won.”
He added: “And I want to thank everyone on Castle Vale who vote for me and say to both them and everyone else – I won’t let you down.”
