Ben Carter has been elected as the new borough councillor for Malinslee and Dawley Bank in a tightly fought by-election, Telford & Wrekin Council confirmed. The Labour candidate secured 590 votes on Thursday 2 July 2026, edging out Reform UK’s Doug Halsall by a margin of just 21 votes. Returning Officer David Sidaway declared the result shortly before midnight at the Telford Tennis Centre.
The contest saw 1,375 ballot papers issued from an electorate of 5,671, a turnout of 24.25 percent. Halsall received 569 votes, while Thomas Paul Hoof of the Local Conservatives took 104. The Green Party’s Jazz Holmes polled 76 votes and Liberal Democrat Patrick Jerome Doody gained 35. The seat fell vacant after Shaun Davies MP stood down from the council in May 2026. Davies, who had represented the ward since 2011 and served as council leader from 2016, relinquished the role following his appointment as a government assistant whip. Carter, the current mayor of Great Dawley Town Council, thanked voters and pledged to tackle rogue landlords, protect green spaces and fix potholes in the ward.
Reform UK described the result as a warning shot. Halsall, who joined the party seven months ago, stated he would stand again at the borough’s all-out elections in May 2027. In 2023 Shaun Davies won the seat with 76 percent of the vote against a Conservative opponent, and Reform UK did not field a candidate. The 37-point swing appeared to bear out a claim made in May by Conservative group leader Andrew Eade, who had said the party feared losing the seat had Davies not stepped aside. Two other by-elections on the same day delivered further setbacks for Labour as Tony Wakeman of Reform UK took the Madeley Village ward of Madeley Town Council, and Paul Wayne Savage of the Local Conservatives won Hadley Manor ward on Hadley & Leegomery Parish Council. All three seats were previously held by Labour.
The Madeley contest saw Wakeman attract 427 votes to the Labour candidate’s 356 on a 24 percent turnout. In Hadley Manor, Savage received 228 votes with 23.8 percent of the 2,184 electors casting a ballot. By-elections follow when at least two valid signatures are collected from residents after a casual vacancy arises, and the council received sufficient signatures in each ward to trigger Thursday’s polls.
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