No shame in ‘potholes by postcode’ deals

Dudley’s Liberal Democrat leader is making no apologies for doing ‘potholes by postcode’ deals with council leaders.

Cllr Ryan Priest leads a group of five Lib Dems on Dudley Council and supported the ruling minority Conservative group’s budget plans in 2026 and 2025.

This year the price for their support was priority for road repairs in council areas with Lib Dem councillors; a deal which attracted ferocious criticism from other groups.

Cllr Priest said: “I welcome the criticism, I actively encourage it. I have been clear the Lib Dem Group first and foremost is made of ward councillors, party comes second, our job is to fight for residents and fix their problems.

“We found ourselves in a position where we could champion those issues, I make no apology for that, it is what every good group leader should be doing in that scenario.”

With local elections looming on May 7 the Lib Dems are looking to increase their count of councillors by targeting specific areas around Stourbridge and Cradley.

The party claims it punches above its weight in the 72-seat council chamber by being a kingmaker in an authority where two-party dominance appears to be fading away.

Cllr Priest said: “We are happy to work collaboratively, we may be agents of fortune in some senses but more so we are in that position because politics in Dudley is fractured.

“Criticism is framed as a bad thing but if you go to Furlong Lane, which is about to be resurfaced, you will struggle to find anyone who says we shouldn’t have done this.”

Talk around the Council House, along with strong performance in opinion polls, suggests Reform UK will take more seats on the authority while groups to the left like The Black Country Party and the Greens could also have a big influence on polling day.

Despite the probability of seats changing hands, electoral maths means it is almost certain the Conservatives will remain as the largest group in Dudley Council and they may need Lib Dem votes again.

Cllr Priest said: “It is an argument about priorities; the Conservative priority was getting a budget passed and our priority as ward members was getting capital projects done that we feel had been left for far too long.

“There was a way for those priorities to align, I don’t see a negative in that.”