Entry into politics Darke first entered politics in 2007 as an
independent candidate for Park ward in the
Wolverhampton City Council elections, driven by her opposition to the closure of the Compton Baths swimming pool. Although she only received 110 votes, the incumbent lost the seat by 136 votes. Her son also appeared on
Newsround to bring attention to the issue. Impressed by her campaign, and being the only political party to support her campaign, she was chosen as the candidate for the
Liberal Democrats (UK) in the
2008 Wolverhampton City Council election. She won with 42% of the vote, and increased the Liberal Democrat majority. The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives formed an alliance to take control of Wolverhampton Council until 2010.
Transition to the Labour Party In December 2010, Darke resigned from the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition of Wolverhampton City Council, because of her opposition to the
United Kingdom government austerity programme saying: 'the ideological driven policies of the Conservatives to slash and burn our great city's services must not be tolerated'. She was supported by chairs of the Wolverhampton South West and East Lib Dem parties. This caused the Wolverhampton Labour Group to take control, with a majority of 1. This was the first
City Council in the UK where a local coalition failed and disillusionment with the coalition was apparent after the
2010 United Kingdom general election and formation of the national
Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. She remained a Liberal Democrat, independent of the coalition until joining the Labour Party in March 2011 where she said that the Liberal Democrats 'had become 'at one' with Conservative ideology and no longer represent the ideals of the party I originally joined'. As a Labour Party candidate, she has gained more than 50% of the vote in four consecutive elections from 2012 onwards. She held various roles within
Wolverhampton City Council including Equalities Champion, Chair of the Petitions Committee, and Chair of Health Scrutiny Panel, where she undertook a Scrutiny Review of Infant Mortality. She was then the Cabinet Member for Education which saw Wolverhampton's Adult Education service rated as 'Outstanding' by
Ofsted. She oversaw extra
teacher training and more than £2 million invested in improving schools. In 2017, she approved of the creation of a new learning quarter in Wolverhampton.
Mayoralty Darke became Deputy Mayor in May 2018, and was appointed Mayor of Wolverhampton on 15 May 2019. In her opening address, she stated that she is the 161st Mayor of Wolverhampton, but only the 10th woman. In her role, she has created the University of Wolverhampton Alumni Mayoral Scholarship Fund – a new venture to support local people into higher education. She also supported the Wolverhampton Suicide Prevention Stakeholders Forum to form into a charity and raised more than £10,000 for the forum in her mayoral term. She is an avid supporter of Wolverhampton's role in
UNESCO's Global Network of Learning Cities and has spoken of her pride in representing the City as Mayor during the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. In August 2020, Darke was featured alongside local community groups in a case study on practices aimed at fostering regenerative development in ‘left behind places’. As one of her final acts as Mayor, she was instrumental in obtaining a Blue Plaque in memory of British immigrant rights activist
Paulette Wilson, a member of the
Windrush Generation. The plaque was launched with campaigners including
Patrick Vernon at the Wolverhampton Heritage Centre. The Centre is a cornerstone of the area’s local Caribbean community and was formerly the constituency office of
Enoch Powell where the infamous
Rivers of Blood speech was written.
Resignation from the Labour Party In June 2024, Darke resigned from the
Labour Party, expressing disillusionment with the party's direction under
Keir Starmer. In her resignation letter, she criticized the party's stance on austerity,
Brexit, and the
Israel-Palestine conflict, particularly its position on
Gaza, which she described as "morally wrong and ignores the suffering of the Palestinian people." Darke also raised concerns about an increasingly autocratic culture within the party and called Labour's values as an "inexcusable abandonement of the working class". Her resignation was part of a broader trend of disillusionment among Labour members, particularly those who were critical of the party's shift to the right and its approach to international and domestic issues. After her resignation, Darke continued to serve as an Independent councillor for Park Ward. == Political views ==