Pete Lowe will remain as leader of Dudley Council after he was voted in unchallenged.

The decision was made at the councils AGM last night. It was sealed when all eight UKIP councillors abstained from the vote, giving Cllr Lowe had a free pass to the leadership.

Labour lost its majority at this month's local election which led to crunch talks between all three parties about the future leadership of the authority.

A UKIP/Conservative alliance had been mooted over the past week, but the proposed deal fell through at the 11th hour.