We’re coming to the end of what has been a very exciting set of elections – with the Police and Commissioner results wrapping up today.
This is the third election for PCC positions, which were created in 2012 after the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition promised to “make the police more accountable through oversight by a directly elected individual, who will be subject to strict checks and balances by locally elected representatives.”
The BBC reports that the salaries of PCCs are between £70,000 and £85,000, with those looking after the Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and West Midlands receiving £100,000 – so it’s clearly quite an attractive position (although there has been some debate about how much use the PCCs have been in recent years).
Without further ado, here are some of the results so far – with some conclusions at the bottom.
Avon and Somerset
- Mark Shelford, the Conservative candidate and deputy leader of Bath and North East Somerset Council, was elected as the region’s police and crime commissioner.
- He received 34.4 per cent of first preference votes, and was elected after second preference votes were counted.
- In total he secured 161,319 first and second preference votes. Kerry Barker, the Labour candidate, secured 146,293.
- Turnout was 30.7 per cent – up from 26 per cent in 2016.
- He has taken over from Sue Mountstevens, an Independent politician who served from 2012 before standing down.
- A Green Party candidate came third.
CONSERVATIVE GAIN
Cheshire
CONSERVATIVE GAIN
Derbyshire
- Angelique Foster, the Conservative candidate, gained 149,749 votes – compared to 117,564 for Hardyal Singh Dhindsa of Labour.
- The turnout for the election was 35.74 per cent. In 2016 it was 23.93 per cent – when Dhindsa took over from Alan Charles, a Labour PCC.
CONSERVATIVE GAIN
Devon & Cornwall
- Counting resumed at 9.30am – Alison Hernandez, the incumbent Conservative candidate, is being challenged for the seat.
- Last time she won with 51.1 per cent of the vote in the second round compared to the Labour candidate’s 48.9 per cent, so this could be a tough competition.
Dorset
CONSERVATIVE GAIN
Gloucestershire
Gwent
LABOUR HOLD
Hampshire
Humberside
- Jonathan Evison, currently the Mayor of North Lincolnshire, took the role of commissioner from Keith Hunter, the Labour candidate and incumbent PCC.
- Evison won after a second round of votes was counted, with 74,534 compared to Hunter’s 71,615.
- The turnout was 22 per cent.
- To add to Hunter’s woes, the Tory candidate was a last-minute replacement after Craig Ulliott, the previous candidate, stood down.
CONSERVATIVE GAIN
Kent
CONSERVATIVE HOLD
Lancashire
- The position has been held by Clive Grunshaw of Labour since it was created in 2012.
- He secured 44 per cent of the vote to the then Conservative candidate’s 23 per cent in 2016’s last election.
- Votes are still being counted with a final declaration coming soon.
TBC
Leicestershire
CONSERVATIVE GAIN
Lincolnshire
CONSERVATIVE HOLD
Merseyside
- Emily Spurrell, the Labour candidate, was elected as the commissioner with a landslide 178,875 (57 per cent) of the votes. The Conservative candidate took 23 per cent of the votes.
- Jane Kennedy, the area’s previous PCC, left the Labour Party after saying it had failed to deal with anti-Semitism.
LABOUR HOLD
Northamptonshire
- Stephen Mold, the Conservative candidate, is awaiting to see if he’s been re-elected after becoming the commissioner in 2016.
TBC
North Yorkshire
CONSERVATIVE HOLD
South Wales
LABOUR HOLD
Staffordshire
CONSERVATIVE HOLD
Surrey
- Lisa Townsend, the Conservative candidate, has won with 112,260 first preference votes from the public.
- She was elected on second preference votes after no candidates received more than 50 per cent of the vote in the first preference ballots.
- The turnout was 38.81 per cent compared to 28.07 per cent in the last PCC election of 2016.
- The Labour candidate received 40,597 votes by comparison.
- Townsend will take over from David Munro, an Independent candidate.
CONSERVATIVE GAIN
Sussex
- The results are expected at around 1pm.
Thames Valley
- The results are expected today.
West Mercia
- Counting began this morning.
West Midlands
LABOUR HOLD
West Yorkshire
- Tracey Brabin, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen, has been elected as the first West Yorkshire mayor.
- The role will include PCC powers.
https://twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1390223314044477440?s=20
Wiltshire
- In one of the most dramatic turn of events, Jonathan Seed, who was standing for the Conservative PPC, has been withdrawn as a candidate on the eve of counting – after it was discovered that he had a 30-year-old conviction for drink driving.
- Counting resumes today, but there will need to be another election if Seed comes first.
- Seed said he had declared the offence to his party and was “bitterly disappointed” to have withdrawn.
TBC
Some quick thoughts about the results:
- The Conservatives have done well in the PCC elections (19 out of 27 PCCs elected nationally are Tory).
- The turnout for the elections has gone up in many areas, but you could put this down to the fact that many elections are taking place (if someone is voting for a new mayor, they may as well tick off the form for their PCC too – rather than being particularly interested in the PCC role).
- Furthermore, the turnout for PCC votes only ever seems around 20-30 per cent territory.
- It’s interesting to note the number of PCCs who are standing down. Why is this the case? And will these current PCCS last any longer? (Matthews, the winner in Leicestershire, said he felt tired after the campaign was extended a year by Covid.)
- Quite a few of the candidates got through on second preference votes – hardly the biggest electoral compliment.
- Alun Michael has lasted perhaps the longest – so it’s worth pondering the difference between how long he’s stayed in the role compared to the PCCs standing down in England.