Newly elected Reform Councillor Irene Henery, widely believed to be the first councillor of Chinese descent or cultural heritage to be elected to Walsall Council, has only praise for Walsall Council staff since being welcomed into Walsall Council on Wednesday’s Induction Day held on 13th May 2026, following the Walsall Council all out elections on 7th May 2026, which saw Reform UK take 40 seats out of 60 seats in the council.
Councillor Henery said, “I wish to thank Walsall Council staff who really went out of their way to welcome us new councillors, providing us with much needed information and training in an organised and professional way. Most of us are ordinary people from all walks of life and this is our first time as councillors and did not know our way around the Council systems and buildings. Staff at Walsall Council were on hand to answer our queries, and provided us with our new laptops and mobile phones in a very organised way. My initial queries were dealt with within hours! The Council software for dealing with queries and reporting problems look incredible and I am looking forward to using it.”
Training on Data Protection legislation as well as how to best utilise Walsall Council software were provided over 2 days for the new councillors.
In the coming weeks, a new Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be installed as well as a Cabinet to support the new Leader of the Council. The Conservatives retained 10 seats, with the new Walsall Community Independents Party winning 8 seats, Labour won 1 seat and Independent, Ashfaq Ahmed, won the final seat.
