Tees Valley
The big shock of the day came in Tees Valley, where the Conservatives beat Labour in the second round of voting. Ben Houchen, a 30-year-old Stockton councillor, won 51.1% of the vote against Labour candidate Sue Jeffrey’s 48.9%.
Houchon called the result “a political earthquake” and said the Tories would target five Teesside seats in the general election, to add to the Stockton South constituency held by James Wharton, an international development minister who was the first minister for the “northern powerhouse”.
George Osborne, who championed the idea of elected mayors as part of his northern powerhouse project while chancellor, tweeted: “Remarkable – and when the new metro mayors were created we were told it was an own-goal as all the NorthernPowerhouse ones would be Labour.” The £35,800-a-year job has been created as part of a £450m devolution deal which will see more powers transferred to the region from Westminster.
West of England
In the West of England, Conservative Tim Bowles beat Labour candidate Lesley Ann Mansell after second preference votes were counted. Bowles achieved a total of 70,300 votes, while Mansell had 65,923 – a difference of 4,377.
The metro mayor role covers the Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset council areas. Bowles will earn £62,000 and share control (with local council leaders) of an extra £1bn over 30 years to help plan new homes, regional transport and business growth. “I really look forward to working on behalf of everybody in the region to make the improvements we have all recognised throughout all of the campaign ... and to make the real differences for everybody throughout the region,” he said.
Doncaster
This South Yorkshire market town has had an elected mayor since 2002, after a referendum found 65% of voters were in favour of the post. It is different from the new metro mayor role and comes with no extra devolved powers from the government.
On Friday morning, Labour’s Ros Jones kept her job, securing 32,631 votes and 50.9% of the vote in the first round. Conservative candidate George Jabbour finished second, taking 13,575 votes (21.2%), with Ukip’s Brian Whitmore third with 7,764 (12.1%).
In her election address, Jones promised to run regeneration programmes for towns across the borough and clamp down on antisocial behaviour. Doncaster is often used as an example of how mayoral elections can buck national trends, following the election in 2009 of the English Democrat, Peter Davies, the father of divisive Tory MP Philip Davies. As soon as he took office, he halved his own salary, sacked his chauffeur and cancelled council funding for Gay Pride.
North Tyneside
Like Doncaster, North Tyneside has had a mayor since 2002 after voters backed the plan in a referendum. Last year, another referendum was held to check voters still liked having a mayor: 57.5% said yes.
On Friday, Labour’s Norma Redfearn won a second term with 56% of the vote, making the former headteacher the first mayor in the borough to win back-to-back elections. In her victory address, she promised to carry on being “a listening mayor” for everyone in North Tyneside. She said it was “back to work” for her and she planned to carry on with existing regeneration schemes as well as looking into other areas that need improvement.
Cambridge and Peterborough
Arguably the most low-key of the five metro mayor elections, the most interesting thing about this poll was that the Liberal Democrats nudged Labour into third place. The Conservatives were first, with James Palmer, the leader of East Cambridgeshire district council, eventually elected the region’s first mayor. Turnout was highest out of all the mayoral elections held on Thursday: 33.57%, compared with only 26.15% in Liverpool city region.
The Cambridgeshire devolution deal includes a new £20m annual fund for the next 30 years (£600m in total) to support economic growth, development of local infrastructure and jobs. There is an additional £170m available for affordable housing, including £100m for affordable rental and shared ownership – particularly in response to housing issues in south Cambridgeshire and the city of Cambridge.
In his campaign, Palmer promised to build a 21.76km light railway and an underground from Cambridge to surrounding towns. He also said that he would take Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s businesses on to “another level” in competing with major international companies in America and China.
