Wolverhampton
West Midlands city; projected to swing to Reform UK in 2026 local elections.
Last refreshed: 6 May 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
How did one of Labour's Black Country heartlands become a Reform target?
Timeline for Wolverhampton
Mentioned in: Reform projected to 2,342 council seats
UK Local Elections 2026- Is Reform UK projected to win Wolverhampton Council in 2026?
- Yes. YouGov's West Midlands MRP projects Reform UK leading in 11 of 13 councils in the region, with Wolverhampton in the Reform column and Labour vote share projected to fall more than 20 points.Source: YouGov
Background
Wolverhampton is a West Midlands city of approximately 265,000 people and a metropolitan borough council that has been Labour-controlled for most of the post-war era. YouGov's West Midlands MRP (fieldwork to 27 April 2026) projects Reform UK leading in 11 of 13 councils in the region; Wolverhampton falls in the projected Reform column, with Labour vote share projected to fall more than 20 points in the authority.
Wolverhampton was one of the Labour heartlands of the Black Country, with its economy historically built on steel, engineering and manufacturing. Deindustrialisation from the 1980s onwards left persistent pockets of deprivation, and the city was one of the first to record heavy support for the Brexit Leave campaign in 2016. The constituency of Wolverhampton South West was held by the Conservatives for many years; Wolverhampton as a whole has seen a dramatic political realignment since 2019, with the Brexit vote having primed a shift from Labour to Conservative, now extending to Reform UK.
A Reform projection here is part of a wider Black Country pattern: Walsall and Sandwell are also projected to swing Reform, suggesting structural rather than tactical movement.