Labour success in Mayoral elections

Despite a dispiriting day at the local elections, the Labour Party enjoyed success across the country in the mayoral elections.

As expected, Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram held their positions as elected mayors in Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region, with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan also elected for a second term in office.

Labour’s Paul Dennett also held the Salford mayor position, as did Norma Redfean in North Tyneside, with Marvin Rees confirmed again as the Mayor in Bristol.

However, the success stories were in the West Yorkshire Region, where mayoral elections were being held for the first time, and in the West of England. In the former Tracy Brabin has been elected as the first Mayor of West Yorkshire, having won on second preference votes with a share of 59.8 per cent, while in the latter Labour's Dan Norris has been elected as Mayor of the West of England, gaining the position from the Conservatives. Ros Jones has also been elected as Mayor of Doncaster.

It was a similar story in the race to be Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, where Labour’s Nik Johnson held off the challenge from incumbent James Palmer in a tightly fought contest, which ended 51.3 per cent against 48.7.

Elsewhere, the Conservative’s Andy Street and Ben Houchen held their Mayoral seats in the West Midlands and Tees Valley.

In the case of Tracy Brabin, here election means that she will have to resign her Westminster seat, triggering a by-election. At the 2019 General Election she had a majority of 3,525. A devolution deal for West Yorkshire was agreed with the government in March 2020 and includes additional yearly funding of £38 million for 30 years.